Naniwa Combo + Lapping

Drakus

Earlier this week I purchased a Naniwa Combo 3000/8000 Hone fron Shaving.ie. When researching the different hones a lot was made of lapping hones even when new, in fact esp when new. When my Naniwa arrived I had some wet and dry sandpaper all ready for lapping the stone but as far as I can make out both sides of the stone are flat, very flat. I used a straight ruler to figure this out so from a scientific pov it may not be totally flat but to my eye and from using the straight ruler it certaintly appears flat as a pancake. Would this be typical of naniwa combos, I would prefer not to mess with the stone if I do not need to, I have lapped my Coticule and using sandpaper for lapping can be messy.

Shaving.ie

Drakus, I would definitely lap it just to ensure it is absolutely flat. It is hard to eyeball it and it is something that will need to be done anyway from time to time.

Drakus

Cheers, I was kinda hoping I would get away with not having to lap it, it does look remarkably flat but as you say, flat to the human eye (esp mine) may not be truely flat. Anyway now my quandry is weather to go for a proper lapping stone like the DMT D8C which is quite expensive (approx €90 del) or use wet and dry sandpaper. I have used the wet and dry for my Coticule and while it works it is a bit messy and time consuming to set up, also over time I can see myself spending near enough the price of the DMT on sandpaper. Ah the joys of straight razor shaving.

hitemfrank

Get a flat surface and use wet/dry sandpaper. Use a coarse grit - say 180 or so - and that should do the job quickly. Then go up in grits once it's flat to give it a nice finished surace.

You shouldn't really need a DMT unless you plan to rehone a lot of razors from scratch.