Thread: lapping question

Hello everyone, im new to honing and ive been looking around on the site and i saw a thread on laping with sand paper and a DMT stone i was wondering is to possible to lap a Norton 4k/8k stone using a Norton flatting stone or is this stone just used to make the surface flat?

Lapping a stone is making it flat.

Originally Posted by Mrnighthawkx

Hello everyone, im new to honing and ive been looking around on the site and i saw a thread on laping with sand paper and a DMT stone i was wondering is to possible to lap a Norton 4k/8k stone using a Norton flatting stone or is this stone just used to make the surface flat?

Hi there,

I started out using a Norton lapping stone with my 4K/8K. It *can* be used, but if you don't already own one, I would suggest holding off and getting a DMT instead. If that isn't an option for you right now you can also do the job perfectly well using sandpaper and a FLAT surface. I have a tile I picked up at home depot that I used for this prior to getting a DMT. I just laid some wet/dry on top of the stone, gave it a soak, and lapped away.

The important thing is to get the surface of the stone flat and smooth, so whatever method you choose to use, there is an easy and important test. With a pencil draw a grid of lines on the surface of your hone. Lap the surface until the lines are gone. Repeat once to ensure that the lines weren't just washed/rubbed away. It's a good idea also to use figure-8 motion, change direction, turn the hone around to face in other directions, etc just to be sure that you're not inadvertently putting uneven pressure on it.

EDIT: +1 to what Ace said. I knew I was forgetting something...

The cheap way which works just fine is to get a few pieces of 220, 330 and 400 wet/dry sandpaper and lay them over a piece of glass. Wet everything and run the stone over the various grits until you get a smooth surface on the stone. Use only the weight of the stone so that you don't round the edges of the stone by holding on to it too tight. Rinse the stone as you go up in grit so that you don't carry coarse grit on the stone to the next higher grit paper.

thanks everyone for your reply i was thinking about getting a water stone it like this one link: http://www.sharpeningsupplies.com/Wa...it-P94C18.aspx tell me what yall think about it and thanks again.

EDit: using the flatting stone to lap the stones or using this Link:http://www.sharpeningsupplies.com/6-...one-P6C24.aspx is acceptable.

I have found two of the DMT plates to be not flat by a significant amount. They (DMT) make a lapping plate for a much higher price. They would not return my request to send the bad plates back.
So, Unless you are restoring a bunch of razors, The extra thick glass plate and sheets of wet / dry paper will hold you for a long time.
YMMV
~Richard