Thread: Lapping hones is tedious

I lapped both sides of my Norton with sandpaper face up on a flat surface. Had to go down to 180 grit wet/dry to make reasonable inroads, & then finished with a higher grit (400 on 4K, 1000 on 8K). I'm too tight/skint to fork out for a lapping stone yet - I'd probably just rip the diamonds out of a DMT anyway, I'm clumsy like that.

I watched gsgsix (not sure how he spells it sorry) video on lapping the Nortons and it didnt take hime long. I think thats what i thought was going to happen with mine. I went to SRD and i have the DMT 325 in my wish list. Ill keep at it today and see if i get to hone anything this evening. I have 4 non shave ready ebay specials that i would love to get to.

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 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 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.

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...

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.