Thread: Help Lapping a 12K hone

I'm trying to lap a 12K hone without messing it up. I have an "extra course" (220 or so?) DMT which I was planning on using, but it just seems a bit too rough to use on my 12K (as I read in the wiki here).

Any advice on whether or not its okay to use such a rough stone on such a fine stone?

Should I got the sandpaper route? and if so, what grit should I be using?

Do I need to lap at all?

Obviously I am new at this, and pretty nervous. I just don't want to mess up either my expensive (to me) razor or my expensive (again to me) hone.

Thanks,

Josh

I use the extra course DMT on all my stones. Even the 16K Shapton GS before it was stolen and now my Naniwa 12K.

Yes, it will leave scratch marks, and yes some if not most here will say it's too coarse for it. My thinking is that aside from cosmetic issues it doesn't harm the stones. At least I can't tell any harm.

You may decide you're not comfortable with it. In which case you've still not ruined the stone you'll simply need to get some sandpaper or a DMT "course". *OR* try flattening it with the XC and then rubbing your 12K together with your next finest stone. On my Shaptons this seemed to work, but not on my Naniwas. No clue as to why, I only tried it once on my naniwas out of sheer curiosity. Perhaps I just didn't try long enough.

My 0.02 ...ymmv

The 220 will work fine. I use a 325 on my 12K and it works really well. I actually enjoy lapping my hones. Feeling it go from sort of rough to super smooth is really cool.

I too always use the DMT 220 for lapping my hones. When you think of the fineness of the scratches left by the DMT 220 diamonds, and the relatively vast width of the blade, I think it is immaterial whether you lap with the DMT 220 or 325.

(You might think of the DMT 220 scratches as coarse, which they are. My point is that relative to the width of the blade, the scratches are minuscule. With the DMT 220, the blade might glide over the hone, resting on 1000 or more contact points. With the DMT 325, it might rest on 1300 contact points. Immaterial!)

Okay I am new to this. It just seems to me that my stone is so fine right now and I will rough it up with the DMT, leaving giant (relatively) scratch marks in my smooth stone. Is that not the case?

You're roughing up the surface yes. Think of the scratches like ripples in a sidewalk. Put identical ripples on ice.

The rippled sidewalk is your 1K or 500 stone and the rippled ice is your 12K, and it'll still be slick as snot.


Surface texture, and the properties of what that surface is made out of are two different things.

Originally Posted by Soilarch

You're roughing up the surface yes. Think of the scratches like ripples in a sidewalk. Put identical ripples on ice.

The rippled sidewalk is your 1K or 500 stone and the rippled ice is your 12K, and it'll still be slick as snot.


Surface texture, and the properties of what that surface is made out of are two different things.

So the properties of the hone are what is important, not how rough it is?

May I suggest that you start with the 220 and stay with that grit until the hone is flat. That will leave a coarse texture on the hone which I do not like. The grit size will remain the same but the "feel" of the hone will be coarse. What I do is to follow the 220 with wet/dry sandpaper. 320 grit, 500 grit, 800 grit then finish with 1000 grit.

I have found that using a hone with a 1000 grit texture makes for a more enjoyable honing session.

Just my $.02,

Advice given to me by SRD....use the DMT325 for lapping all the Naniwa stones...I have a 5/8 and 12k...works great.Gssixgun has a video somewheres here showing how he laps with one and it's pretty easy.Glen...could you maybe help here ??

I too use the DMT XX or Extra Coarse for all my lapping needs. I follow with the DMT C or 325. Mine is well broken in, and it takes out the scratches left by the XX. Depending on the stone, or how pretty you want it, you can follow up with Wet Sandpaper, up to 1000 girt as previousy mentioned.
Some stones need the Wet sandpaper, like Swaty's.