Author: jendereedknife
Date: 2007-11-03 11:24
Bobo,
Lapping means to flatten the stone. It also cleans the stone in the process, since you really take off the top layer of the stone in order to make it even.
The powders are abrasive powders that are used with the compact lapping plate as that particular plate is made from cast iron, and has no abrasive action by itself. The other lapping plates by Shapton are diamond coated, so no powders are used. Each powder corresponds to the different grit stone you are lapping. The coarse powder is used to lap coarse stones, the medium powder for medium stones, and the fine powder for fine stones. (BTW- All Shapton products are meant to be used with water only.)
The idea behind lapping with the powders is the lapping plate is already quite flat (+/- 8 microns), and the abrasive powders take out the high spots on the stone to even it out - so you actually remove the part of the stone that doesn't get used in order to match the part that you do use.
Each type of tool uses different parts of the stone, wearing it differently, so I lap my stones after every use or I may mis-shape the next object.
(If you do sharpen/lap a lot, the diamond plates are a real time and mess saver! I sharpen scissors, dental equipment, reed knives, kitchen knives and folding knives all on the same stones.)
The powders and plates can be used on most waterstones, even if they are not Shapton. I use them to lap everything -my Kings, Nortons, and other Japanese stones I have. You just need to make sure the stones are pre-soaked before lapping.
Hope this helped!
Sincerely,
Tom Blodgett
President,
Jende Industries, LLC
www.jendeindustries.com
|
|
The Oboe BBoard
.jpg){kind=small}
