Thread: How to Lap a Swaty

Hello All
I was wondeirng if anyone can give me advise on lapping a Swaty.
What grits of sand paper should I use?
Thanks FredC

Try to get some silicon carbide sandpaper. It is much more effective on the very hard barber hones. Start with 600 grit and see how much lapping you have to do. Finish with as high a grit as you can find.

Would you go as high as .5 micron?

No, 1000 grit or so is fine. Once the stone has been lapped a bit its mostly lapping in its own slurry.

Careful that you don't glaze the stone.

I just lapped mine last night on 400 grit and finished on some worn-down 1200 grit. It seems to be working great now.

I'm pretty excited about it, because the stone was a junker I got on eBay for like $5. It had big chips in the edges and some nicks in the faces. I sanded the edges down and rounded out the chips, and now it's very usable.

mparker, how do you know if you've glazed the stone?

Josh

It looks glazed

Dude, that has to be the least helpful answer I've ever gotten here.

When I first got my Swaty, it had what might have been the factory finish on it. It was almost glassy. Once I lapped it, it got more of a matte finish, although it's almost shiny.

Is a glazed stone overpolished, or full of junk from the sandpaper or the stone itself?

Josh

I think what mpaker was trying to say was overpolished.

However, I'm not sure that's possible (but I'm no expert) in this context.

Here's a better explanation of glazing (which indicates heat is required):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact...de_layer_glaze

For our purposes, a hone is likely to be glazed when its shiny due to metal particles clogging the grit - especially on barbers hones, which are often used dry.

Hope this helps.