How frequently do you lap your natural stones?

[Seveneighth]

I run a diamond plate over my synths whenever I use them, partly to clean the swarf out. I check my softer naturals every time but they seem to hold up pretty flat.

Early on I got some advice from a coticule guru that, as long as you build slurry evenly and used all parts of the stone in rotation, you could probably get away without further flattening. I do, however, flatten my coticules quite regularly.

However

My chanley forests, WoAs, and other harder scale stones never seem to malform from honing. A couple have stayed perfectly flat after 2 years regular use.

Still I check them regularly.

Am I being over cautious?

How often do you check and flatten your naturals, especially the hard finishers?

 

[MO1]

I usually build slurry on my jnats with a atoma 1200, so almost every time I hone.
I can have however kept in flat for a while with naguras by rubbing it mainly where it doesn't dish, the stones outer areas and then a few overall back and forth strokes. That kept them flat.
Although with jnats you almost never use them as they are, you build a slurry, may aswell work on flattening the stone when doing that.

Can never be too careful imo, all about eliminating potential problems.

 

[Steve56]

What @MO1 said. I might lap my jnat finishers once or twice a year, they’re fairly hard and you’re using light pressure so they don’t dish a lot.

Dishing adds to the bevel angle and it takes quite a pronounced dish to add a degree of angle. Alex Gilmore made a dished stone that added a degree of angle and the dish was quite noticeable. i keep the synths and midgrits flat, but a small dish in the finisher won’t hurt - so if tape doesn’t bother you, a dish shouldn’t either, they both do the same thing.

 

[stone and strop]

I rarely dress the naturals. I store these flat
I only dress the synthetics when they need cleaning after a bit of use. I also wet both sides in use and store them on their long edges.
I have yet to have a problem being able to use either at will.
I DO however believe that for someone new it will expedite the process by eliminating a variable.

 

[alx gilmore]

I lap my Japanese naturals everytime I use them because I always use an Atoma as a Diamond Nagura. The amount of lapping, not under running water but with just a splash equals the amount of slurry that using a tomonagura would provide. I do use a tomonagura but only for the final finishing phase, using the tomo calms down the surface of the base stone, sort of like burnishing it for the smoothest surface action. One thing I do not do is wash good fresh slurry down the drain. General lapping to flatten the stone requires heavy work to remove a concave. I never have this problem however because of my DN slurry making.

Alex

 

[Gamma]

I lap stones when they're no longer flat, or if they're glazed, or when the surface isnt' where I want it. Those lapping tasks are usually more like a 'dressing' than a flattening. But, once in a while, it is actually a flattening, like after a few serious sessions with Botan Slurry.
No schedule though, I check all the time for flatness and condition, and respond accordingly.

 

[SliceOfLife]

Never. If you’re dishing a stone with a razor, then you’re stronger than I.

 

[bluesman 7]

Dishing adds to the bevel angle and it takes quite a pronounced dish to add a degree of angle.

This is true if the razor is perpendicular to the dish. Imagine a strong heel leading angle with a straight edge razor and you can see the problem that a dish can create.

 

[Yaoshi]

Since I think having a flat hone is particularly important, generally I lap my JNATS almost everytime I use them. I do this with pencil-grit-marks and a 1200 diamond plate. Just a few light passes.

When I use a nagura stone I make sure to create slurry by rubbing them on the outer part of the honzan, this also avoids dishing.

When bevel setting on synthetic stones I do lap the stone more than once (at the beginning, during and before finishing the bevel-setting process) as I do want to be sure that the stone is flat!