cheapest way to lap a hone ?

[liolo]

Hi all B&Bers,

Here is what go me thinking lately: knowing that I'm now into straight shaving (with a shavette), my dad bought me a old real straight razor for xmas. He got it in a antique shop for extremely cheap he said. He said that I would probably never shave with it and that it was more of a decorative object... so yeah, 3 weeks later, I want to shave with it

I started reading about how to make it shave worthy, and apparently what I need is a flat hone and a strop.

Being still a student, and a very broken one because of all the hobbies and forums :/ I would like to go the cheapest way.

My plan is as fallow.

-get a norton 4k/8k
-make myself a strop with a piece of leather screwed to a flat piece of wood (I have access to wood and leather from a family member)
-make myself a lapping device.

I have read in a few post here and on other forums that its possible to lap a hone with sanding paper and a piece of glass. Can someone give more detail as to how one achieve to lap a hone using glass and sanding paper ?? Is it a good way to do it say for a year or two ? until I have more money to invest in this ? are there other good cheap way to do this ?

Also, since I'm in Canada, anyone know of a good online store to buy honing related equipment in Canada without having to pay almost as much for the shipping than the price of the hone ?

thanks all and do not hesitate to say it if you think that I'm going the wrong way or you know of better solutions.

Lio

 

[Munxcub]

Cheapest way to lap I think would be wet/dry sandpaper on a piece of glass or other flat surface.

 

[Pkrankow]

Get a piece of good glass, at least double strength window glass. If you have a tempered glass shelf or something even better. Place teh glass on a water tolerant surface to stabilize it. A piece of thin plywood on the garage floor will do nicely. Wet the glass, wet the wet/dry sandpaper, apply the back of the paper to the glass and smooth it out. Now add water and rub the stone on the sandpaper in an even pattern.

Drawing a pencil grid on the stone halps determine when your job is done. The grid should be erased completly, redrawn, then erased completly in just a few passes.

Alternative to glass: granite counter top, cutouts from sinks can be had cheap as can large single tiles. Well supported formica is suitable.

Phil

 

[ctkelly]

http://www.grizzly.com/products/9-x-12-x-3-Granite-Surface-Plate-No-Ledge/G9648

I use one of these for lapping with wet/dry paper after using my DMT 325.

 

[Legion]

Get a piece of good glass, at least double strength window glass. If you have a tempered glass shelf or something even better. Place teh glass on a water tolerant surface to stabilize it. A piece of thin plywood on the garage floor will do nicely. Wet the glass, wet the wet/dry sandpaper, apply the back of the paper to the glass and smooth it out. Now add water and rub the stone on the sandpaper in an even pattern.

Drawing a pencil grid on the stone halps determine when your job is done. The grid should be erased completly, redrawn, then erased completly in just a few passes.

Alternative to glass: granite counter top, cutouts from sinks can be had cheap as can large single tiles. Well supported formica is suitable.

Phil

+1 to everything said here and I will add,

Remember to soak the stone for half an hour before lapping.

Use about 360 grit wet dry paper to lap but finish the 8k on 1000 grit to smooth it out a bit more.

Use the 360 grit to round the corners of the stone a bit, you can just do this by hand.

 

[livingontheedge]

Lee valley hardware sells the Norton 4k8k combo. http://www.leevalley.com/en/

 

[Drybonz]

Remember to soak the stone for half an hour before lapping.

What would you do for soaking a stone that is embedded in a wooden box, like an old Thuringian? Do you just wet the surface?

 

[Chimensch]

What would you do for soaking a stone that is embedded in a wooden box, like an old Thuringian? Do you just wet the surface?

Natural stones like Thuringians, Coticules or Jnats do not need to be soaked. Only synthetic hones.

 

[rockviper]

I'm a wannabe honer and lapped my coti with sandpaper. Much easier to do that I thought it would be. If only honing was as easy.

 

[Slartibartfast]

If you dont plan on buying multiple razors over the next 2 years(if I am reading your post correct), you may be better off sending it out for honing and getting a barber hone to maintain it.

Btw, Nortons need lapped/refreshed often. Using sandpaper could be a pain.

 

[Wid]

I refresh my Norton 4/8K with sandpaper exclusively. Never had a problems with this method.

 

[Drybonz]

Natural stones like Thuringians, Coticules or Jnats do not need to be soaked. Only synthetic hones.

Ah... ok, thanks for the reply.

 

[spindlecone]

When lapping use a figure 8 motion,will keep the stone dead flat.

 

[Legion]

If you dont plan on buying multiple razors over the next 2 years(if I am reading your post correct), you may be better off sending it out for honing and getting a barber hone to maintain it.

Btw, Nortons need lapped/refreshed often. Using sandpaper could be a pain.

I have a king stone which is about the same hardness as my norton. I lapped them all on sandpaper first and now, before I use them, I rub them together under running water to lap them. Takes no time and is very easy.

 

[liolo]

Wow thanks for all the answers and excellent informations you all gave me. I'm off to the hardware store tomorrow morning to get some wet/dry sanding paper and a piece of thick glass.

I'm wanting to order a norton 4k/8k, but with the shipping and taxes, it comes around 100$ :/
Anyone know of a store in Montreal,Canada where they sell them or equivalent quality honing stones ? I'm not really considering to send the razor away for honing as I really want to learn the process myself and also would like to be able to sharpen the multiple knives I have around the house.

 

[rockviper]

Between Rasage Poulin, ItalianBarber and Fendrihan (the 3 main online shaving vendors I know of in Canada), I think that Fendrihan is the only one to carry hones. I picked mine up from him earlier this week (6x2 combo coti).

You can look stateside as well at the Superior Shave. I did and his prices are good, but due to unpredictable Canada customs charges, I stayed within Canada.

 

[Luc]

This page might help on where to shop: http://wiki.badgerandblade.com/index.php/Category:Shopping_by_Country

 

[danjared]

Natural stones like Thuringians, Coticules or Jnats do not need to be soaked. Only synthetic hones.

These naturals also do not dish very quickly, especially compared to synthetic waterstones. Judicious placement of the slurry stone during slurry making avoids the need for lapping these natural stones (and wasting precious stone!).

Actually, you could use a synthetic waterstone in a way that foregoes the need for lapping, it just requires more cerebral sharpening. Just watch a video of Murray Carter honing a knife. As he would say, one part of the stone for each part of the edge.

 

[Fletch]

I've been considering the Norton 4K/8K Amazon sells them for a bit under $80

 

[hometownhero]

Just get the norton lapping stone its $25