Thread: Lapping hones is tedious

I went to our local hardware store and asked if they had any lapping stones. You should of seen the looks i got . I found a sheet of 180 grit wet/dry sandpaper. I didnt know you had to go up in grit( ill have to rehone a razor). The 180 grit leveled the 8k right up, in a matter of minutes too. But thanks for your help.

Ps. It was gssixgunner's video.

Originally Posted by ace

You'd be surprised what a sheet of 80 grit sandpaper will do to any stone. You have to go up in grit after that, to 220, 400 then 600, but it saves a lot of time.

I've been using the 80 grit 3M paper to do the hard work lapping and love the results. It doesn't seem to leave any deep scratches/gouges and it's very easy to progress up to a 600 grit or further. With that said, I still covet the dmt and atoma stuff...

Originally Posted by clamup1

I went to our local hardware store and asked if they had any lapping stones. You should of seen the looks i got . I found a sheet of 180 grit wet/dry sandpaper. I didnt know you had to go up in grit( ill have to rehone a razor). The 180 grit leveled the 8k right up, in a matter of minutes too. But thanks for your help.

Ps. It was gssixgunner's video.

Yup. I followed Gssixgun's advice on his norton lapping video and never looked back. The only addition I made was to include the DMT 120 in my progression. I draw 4 grids for DMT 120 and DMT 325 and then before EVERY time i hone I give the Nortons a couple quick figure 8s with the 325 to ensure the hone is flat and edges are camfered.

Spent about 40 min today with a norton 220/1000 getting it flat. I used a tile and 320 wet/dry. I used the who package of sandpaper to get the high-center out on the 1000 side. I then gave it a few laps on 600. Nice and flat now and smooth.

That said, it sucked and will try something different next time. Maybe a DMT for lapping and restorations.

I have the shapton lapping plate and use that with silicon carbide. I don't think I've ever spent more than 10 minutes flattening any hone. Of course no matter what you use you had best catch it before it gets too bad.

I grid lapped my Naniwas when I first got them. All 4 of them probably didn't take over 10 minutes. Now, I just give them a few figure 8s with the lapping stone before I use them. That's what Glen does, so it's good enough for me.

I use my sharpening stones a ton as I woodwork with handtools, so I am constantly sharpening dozens of edge tools as well as my razors. I find it is far easier just to give them a short lapping on my DMT plate after every couple of sharpenings. It removes very little and keeps them dead flat with about 10/20 seconds on lapping each stone.

The Norton lapping stone Sucked for me. Wasted a lot of time with it. Anything else cuts better. I recommend anything Else. I'm using a DMT combo for leveling (and all those other things DMT's are good for).

I started off lapping my stones with a tile and sandpaper and when I finally got a DMT I never went back. I will get another before I use sandpaper again. Just seemed faster and a whole lot less of a hassle. I got my DMT though when a tile and sandpaper was taking way to long to lap a PHIG. The PHIG was the perfect stone to break in the DMT.

I have 2 Norton 1k and a 4k/8k combo I keep the 1 k's flat by lapping them together and then use a 1k to flatten the 4k/8k.
Doesn't take too long Iif you do it before every use.