Thread: prep for frist use for The Natural Finishing Stone - 12,000 Grit is quarried in China

I bought the Natural Finishing Stone - 12,000 Grit is quarried in China, do i need to lap it first? it seems like it has a lot of scratches and stuff in it.

O yes you do draw a pencil grid on the stone and lap it with a dmt or sand paper

a pic of the stone would be nice !

I'll get a pic, but i have two other questions that go with this: 1) i have the 4000/8000 norton and does that need lapping right out of the box and 2) if you use a courser grit than the stone, does that make the stone more course? I've read that using 400 grit paper and a glass plate is the way to go or is the lapping stone better?

and what is DMT?

Yes, you will need to lap both the Chineese and the Norton.

An easy and relatively cheap way to lap is to use wet/dry sandpaper on a glass plate or similar flat surface, be aware that the chineese stone is very hard and will take quite abit time to lap.

A DMT is a diamond hone (small diamont particles on a metal plate), the most commonly used is this one: DMT 8" Dia-Sharp® Continuous Diamond Coarse - 325

Here's a good article about lapping: Hone Lapping 101

yes what that guy said ^

so, I've been working on my honing skills and getting less than stellar results and it could have been b/c i didnt lap them right out of the box? I'd have thought this was done at the factory. They're new.

no its not the norton look like a cinder block when you get then once you lapp then you'll be amazed of how much smoother they get

Originally Posted by weirdbob

so, I've been working on my honing skills and getting less than stellar results and it could have been b/c i didnt lap them right out of the box? I'd have thought this was done at the factory. They're new.

When lapping a hone, either a Norton or a Chinese 12K, both of them should feel smooth in order for them to be lapped good. When I lap my hones for the first time, I feel the different parts of the hone as I am lapping. If I feel a little rough patch, I go back and lap it until it is smooth. Your less than stellar results could be from a hone that needs more lapping, or it could be from honing too little.

and since your new at hone i would tape the spine on the razor so you dont destory it with spine ware