Hi. I'm a newbie to honing. I just received my first stone. It is a Shapton 12k. I purchased this stone because my NIB DOVO Master's is not shave ready so I decided to spend the money I would have spent sending the Razor away and just purchased my own finishing stone. So my question to those in the know. Do I need to LAP a NIB stone? I assume yes. I don't want to spend more money on a lapping plate. Can I build a cheap lapping plate with some Extra Fine 320 wet sandpaper (I have some new pieces in the garage) glued to a piece of flat glass or is there some other 100% flat surface I can use?. I've watched a few honing vids on Youtube and feel confident I can get this Razor shave ready with this finishing stone and a strop. Thanks for your help.
Newbie Lapping my first NIB Shapton 12000
- Thread starter Canada
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+1. I’ve always lapped on wet dry sandpaper or regular sandpaper on glass, or polished stone. You can be certain those are actually flat. Not necessarily so on a flattening stone.
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- #4
Is 320 grit sandpaper a good grit to lap a 12K stone? Is there a recommended grit?
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- #6
Thanks
What Basil said.
Yes, the Shapton Pro 12k will need to be lapped. More than likely, it will need to be lapped a few times before it 'holds' flatness; wet/dry cycles can throw the surface out of whack. W/D paper will work fine. If the stone is way out of alignment, you might want to get 220x to start off with. You really won't need to lap finer than 320x. If you use w/d on a flat surface like a tile or something, I would recommend checking that surface/substrate for flatness. Many glass sheets aren't all that flat. Some are flat enough though. You'll need to check the flatness on the 12k, so getting a good straightedge is a good idea anyway. Lapping off pencil grids is a good start, but the grids wear off long before the stone is atually flat. Checking with a straight edge eliminates error.
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- #9
Thank-you
kelbro
Alfred Spatchcock
Should you soak the Shapton before/during lapping?
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- #11
Not this one. Just splash some water on to the surface and go to work.
Shapton recommends you soak a new stone for 5-6 minutes before initial use.
After that its splash and go.
And yes, I would lap it a little higher for a 12k. 600-1000 W/D minimum.
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- #13
The new packaging contained a whole lot of Japanese that I could not read. It did have a few pics for us non Japanese. One was the stone sitting in a bucket of water with an X through the pic. And a few other pics regarding temp and other environmental factors that might impact the stone. Nothing in English about soaking it for five minutes when new out of the box. Anyway I'm sure it's a good idea and I'll soak for 5 this AM. I did splash some water on it last night and the water disappeared pretty quickly. I found a piece of flat glass and laid the 320 wet/dry on the glass and soaked it really well. A slurry quickly formed and the stone started to become sticky so I rinsed the paper and the stone added more water and gave it another 20 or so strokes. Now I need to find a straight edge to check the flatness. I have been wanting to play with my new 12x Loupe that I purchased to look at the straight edge under a microscope, the loupe allows me to do that. Anyway, if I lay the straight edge on the stone and put a small flashlight behind it, using the Jeweller's Loupe, I should be able to see light coming through under the edge if the stone is not flat. Anyway, thanks everyone for all the advice.
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- #14
After what seemed liked 15 minutes of sanding I think I'm going to need more grit. I can still still see a gap between the straight edge and the 12k stone. 320 is too fine.
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- #16
When I turn the lights out and put a small flashlight behind the straight edge I can see light under the edge from about 1 inch on either end. It's going to take me forever using 320 grit W/D paper. That's enough for today. I'll step up to the plate again tomorrow with a courser paper. Ugh is right..lol
No stone is typically flat out of the box.
I recently picked up a Shapton 1.5 to see if I like it better than a Naniwa ss 1k.
One side was flat right of the hop, I soaked and dressed the next day on Atoma, next day again both sides were not flat.
I redressed on Granite surfacing plate and W/D. Next day flat both sides. You may have to do it more than once.
I have read they don't need to be soaked but the Vendor I use has a FAQ about Shaptons ( I don't read Japanese either)
SHAPTON Co., Ltd. | SHARPEN YOUR LIFE
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- #19
Thanks. I did a read through of the FAQ and learned a lot.
Glad it helped.
Great Vendor, good prices and super fast shipping.
Great Vendor, good prices and super fast shipping.
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