I have two that should be here tomorrow. Curious as to what to use to lap a strata with. the only lapping stone I have is a Norton, not sure if that's to coarse as this is my first natural stone. what is the best way to go about it? It says it has been lapped with a DMT, am I wrong that natural stones shouldn't be lapped with a diamond plate? Any info is greatly appreciated.
lapping an appache strata
- Thread starter huckelberryhound22
- Start date
It depends on the stone really, whether they should be final lapped with a diamond plate, but it's okay for most every stone I've heard of except the hardest ones (I.E. hard/translucent Arkansas stones - they'll dull the diamond and really slow the cutting speed of the diamond plate ever after). I prefer to lap with a diamond plate and then take a wide chisel and give the surface a light or medium pressure even sort of burnishing to get more of the stone's natural texture personally. I used a well worn Atoma 400 to lap my dark Apache, then gave the chisel a light honing just to knock down any high spots and it's working great.
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Both the apaches I got sent were plenty flat on arrival... thankfully.
Mine was way off - I used SIC powder to level it. 180x, 220, 320, 400x.
Mine were both high-centered also.
all mine were dead flat, polished them up to 2k, I did lap the lighter apache but it was for a test I did, used a 600 diamond stone similar to a dmt, eze-lap I think is the brand and it did the job.
I used my DMT flat plate and then continued to 2000 grit wet dry paper. Tough stone to lap as they are very hard, but once done it produces a nice edge.
Ha! Ever lapped an Ark? That's a tough stone to lap. I've got a found stone I've been using that's even worse! The diamond plate just skids across it. The Apache by comparison is child's play.
yes I have, several in fact the worst was a black surgical from dans, it is dead flat now and a mirror finish. the apache's aren't that tough. if what you have is harder than a diamond you got a tough rock, never wear it out. throw some sic at it and see if it cuts, usually it is a bit faster than plates, but it also has the particles fully engaged at all times and dosent clog up.
It's not harder than the diamond, the diamond does still cut, but very very slowly and it feels like what I'd imagine lapping a piece of ice with another piece of ice would feel like. And prescient call - as soon as I felt what the diamond felt like on the stone I switched immediately to SiC on my lapping plate. Much much better. Although I still need to refresh the grit every minute or less! Raising a slurry is a bear! And I am highly doubtful that it would wear out with several generations of use.
Here's the stone if you want to check it out:
http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/424200-My-new-natural-stone/page5
Here's the stone if you want to check it out:
http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/424200-My-new-natural-stone/page5
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I have to ask, I have an Apache Strata from Terry at Natraul Hones and it seemed pretty flat so how would one know or how do you check the flatness, I only have the one for blade refreshes
I high quality metal straight edge placed on the stone at various angles would work. I opted for penciling a grid on the surface and hitting it with the DMT. High spots will show the pencil marks removed after just a few strokes while the marks will remain on the low spots.
Pretty standard.
Keep lapping and repeating the pencil grid until the marks are removed across the surface of the stone.
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