- Joined
- Wednesday August 5, 2020
I lap my stones with 400grit wet+dry sandpaper under running water. Lay it out on something very flat. I use an acrylic sheet glued to a piece of marine ply which also serves as a base for 3M lapping film (the fine grades for sharpening razors).
If a diamond lapping plate is in budget that will be a bit nicer to use and cut quicker. I'm pretty sure you only need one for all the stones.
People seem to recommend you don't use the same stone for knives and razors. I suppose you could lap both sides of the 6k and use one for each.
In theory a x2 jump isn't at all excessive so you should be able to go straight to the 12k naniwa from the 6k. The 12k is a very popular finisher.
The next stone I'd personally want to have would be a 1k bevel setter. I'm learning to hone so I find I keep going back to the bevel-setting stage again and again, trying to do better this time. It gets a lot of use. If the bevel isn't right, nothing which comes after will be.
On the other hand, if you're good at honing, you might hardly need a bevel-setter. Regular touch-ups on a finishing stone and maybe some pasted strops can keep a properly sharpened razor going for a very long time. 3M lapping film to take you up to 6k plus a 12k finisher might be all you need.
I think feedback is much better on a stone so they're better to learn on. Once you've developed a good idea of what the different abrasive grades are doing to the edge, you should be able to get good results with lapping film too.
If a diamond lapping plate is in budget that will be a bit nicer to use and cut quicker. I'm pretty sure you only need one for all the stones.
People seem to recommend you don't use the same stone for knives and razors. I suppose you could lap both sides of the 6k and use one for each.
In theory a x2 jump isn't at all excessive so you should be able to go straight to the 12k naniwa from the 6k. The 12k is a very popular finisher.
The next stone I'd personally want to have would be a 1k bevel setter. I'm learning to hone so I find I keep going back to the bevel-setting stage again and again, trying to do better this time. It gets a lot of use. If the bevel isn't right, nothing which comes after will be.
On the other hand, if you're good at honing, you might hardly need a bevel-setter. Regular touch-ups on a finishing stone and maybe some pasted strops can keep a properly sharpened razor going for a very long time. 3M lapping film to take you up to 6k plus a 12k finisher might be all you need.
I think feedback is much better on a stone so they're better to learn on. Once you've developed a good idea of what the different abrasive grades are doing to the edge, you should be able to get good results with lapping film too.