Besides the fact you don't need to lap it. Btw how do you lap a Norton lapping stone? Sandpaper and granite?
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Besides the fact you don't need to lap it. Btw how do you lap a Norton lapping stone? Sandpaper and granite?
I have both.
The norton is rougher, and maybe quicker than the dmt. IME it tears into any stone fast. It leaves a rough surface.
The dmt is very versatile and leaves a great surface for honing.
If I could have only one it would be the dmt.
The DMT is very verstatile. One guy here uses it for some scale work. It can be used as a slurrying plate for any stone pretty much. It doesn't require the use of sandpaper to be ready. It's always dead flat. It doesn't take up as much space. It requires no soaking(not actually sure about the Norton lapping plate there). It'll half or quarter your sandpaper expenditures. I'm sure there are other differences. These are just off the top of my head.
The DMT is much better for flattening stones. It is also great for knife bevels and razor chip repairs, restoration work.
Everything above and No Grit transfer... The Norton leaves BIG grit everwhere, nothing is worse than taking a beautiful polished W&B wedge to a Norton 1k after the Norton Lapping Stone and getting a nice long scratch right through the mirror finish :(
Yep been there done that :gaah:
In addition to lapping, I use the DMT to trim the claws of my Labrador Retriever, the edge to help me draw straight lines for our hearts score pad, and it was perfect for putting a super sharp edge on our letter opener (see below).
Attachment 118321
I used the Norton lapping stone until I had to lap it, what a PITA. I use W/D sandpaper for lapping now.
I like the DMT because I can use it on all my hones. The Norton plate seems to work best just with the Nortons. I do find that part of the key to using the plate though is that you don't need to use much pressure to get the job done.
Have fun
Can you use a DMT 325 to lap a norton 220? For the 220/1k combo stone? I would think the lower grit would work down the DMT more than the 220 norton...