In my history of sharpening and honing (not just razors) I was convinced my Norton lapping stone was adequate to flatten my stones. To my eye my stones were flat and I was good to go on sharpening everything. I took blade to stone happily, but was slightly confused when my supposedly non-smiling blades were acting like a smiling blade on my hone. Undeterred I just honed all my blades with the rolling-X motion, and everything seemed to work out and I was getting pretty decent hones on all my blades.
So, fast forward several months and I finally decided to buy a DMT coarse plate for Christmas. When I got home from holiday it was waiting for me and I was anxious to try it out and see just how flat my stones really were. Well, I spent all last night lapping my three stones (1K/8K and 4K) to flat. Boy, was I surprised but the results of just a few minutes. Turns out every one of my hones were higher in the middle and drastically lower on the edges. I spent several hours on all the stones just to get them back to flat and am hoping I never have to lap them to that extent again.
However, I did learn something in all of this: Flat is relative and can be overcome. In that I mean if you don't have a perfectly flat stone, you can still hone and still get to shave ready. You just have to understand your stone and adjust to what is required. I adjusted to my stone without even realizing what was actually at play. I'm excited to see how my newly flat stones act and feel with my next razor that needs a good honing.
So, fast forward several months and I finally decided to buy a DMT coarse plate for Christmas. When I got home from holiday it was waiting for me and I was anxious to try it out and see just how flat my stones really were. Well, I spent all last night lapping my three stones (1K/8K and 4K) to flat. Boy, was I surprised but the results of just a few minutes. Turns out every one of my hones were higher in the middle and drastically lower on the edges. I spent several hours on all the stones just to get them back to flat and am hoping I never have to lap them to that extent again.
However, I did learn something in all of this: Flat is relative and can be overcome. In that I mean if you don't have a perfectly flat stone, you can still hone and still get to shave ready. You just have to understand your stone and adjust to what is required. I adjusted to my stone without even realizing what was actually at play. I'm excited to see how my newly flat stones act and feel with my next razor that needs a good honing.