You do not need to progress through the coarsest to the finest lapping plate when lapping a stone. However, you will notice a definite difference when you lap a fine stone with a fine diamond plate vs. lapping it with the coarsest.

For general use, I don't think the surface texture of the stone will influence too greatly the final edge, however, when you are looking for perfection, it will. If you lap the 30K Shapton pro with an extra coarse diamond plate, the rather deep grooves left in the surface of the stone can and will influence the final edge. With regular knife sharpening, though, this surface texture will wear down as it gets used.

I still don't recommend lapping the higher grits with the coarsest diamonds, though - a coarse DMT if you must, but the 400, 600 or the 1200 Atomas will do just fine.

In general, I will do one of the following:

Coarse stones (#120 - 1K):
1. Shapton Lapping plate with coarse (~80 grit) powder.
2. Atoma #140
3. DMT XXC
4. WEPS 100 diamond

Medium Stones (1K - 4K)
1. Atoma 400 or 600
2. DMT XXC or XC
3. Shapton DGLP (#350 grit)
4. Shapton lapping plate with medium (~800 grit) powder
5. Shapton DRLP (#600 grit)
6. WEPS 200 or 400 diamond

Fine Stones (5K+)
1. Atoma #600 or #1200
2. Shapton DGLP (#350 grit)
3. Shapton Lapping plate with fine (~2K grit) powder
4. Shapton DRLP (#600 grit)
5. WEPS 600, 800 or 1K Diamond

Thanks Tom,
I think that was what Mike was looking for to begin with...

Thanks Tom,
That really sharpens the leveling picture for me.
Mike

Anytime!

jendeindustries wrote:


Tom, you don't list a DMT option here but I'm assuming 1200 (based on the other options)?

Ken