Lapping hones with sandpaper

[Pumpkin]

I've seen some threads (here and at SRP) saying that you can use wet and dry paper to lap a hone, as long as you've got a level surface under it.

I'm curious to know what grit paper you'd use? Does it vary by the grit of the hone? If you're using a coarser paper would you need to smooth the surface afterwards?

 

[Luc]

Depends on the grit of the hone yes. My sandpaper will be coarser than the hone. I try to use fine sandpaper as much as I can. I used 1200 to lap my barber hone, I didn't find anything finer. I used 800 for ~10 laps as the 1200 wasn't eating the stone very quickly and I finished with the 1200 (lots of laps).

 

[Pumpkin]

Depends on the grit of the hone yes. My sandpaper will be coarser than the hone. I try to use fine sandpaper as much as I can. I used 1200 to lap my barber hone, I didn't find anything finer. I used 800 for ~10 laps as the 1200 wasn't eating the stone very quickly and I finished with the 1200 (lots of laps).

Finest paper I've got is 2500. Progressing through grits with the paper makes sense

Only got the one stone so far (a Chinese 12k), but I'm sure I'll end up getting more

 

[Fairlight]

You probably want a pane of glass in order to have the surface under the sandpaper be really truly flat. To lap a stone you need a coarser grit than the stone you are lapping. For most stones you'd probably want a grit that is close to the stone's grit. For waterstones it doesn't really matter, since the stones are so soft anyway and the scratches will wear away quickly.

 

[PhatMan]

Peter,

I used to go through the sequence 320 - 400 - 600 - 800 - 1000 on my Naniwa (1,3,5,8,10 & 12k) & Norton 4/8 combo waterstones.

I found that little additional benefit was gained from using grits finer than 600.

In the end I got a 325 grit DMT continuous diamond plate, and thats all I use now - no need for anything finer for these waterstones - other stones may have differnet needs.

Have fun !

Best regards

Russ

 

[honed]

I don't think you benefit from anything finer then 600 grit.

 

[Bertilak]

I use 220 followed by 600. Seems to work.