Lapping Film for Honing

Discussion in 'Straight Razors' started by Spyder, Jun 12, 2017.

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  1. Billyfergie

    Billyfergie The Scottish Ninja


    Glass Base Plate Set Up..:)

    Billy..:chores016:
     
  2. Spyder

    Spyder Well-Known Member

    Flat piece of tile with silicone feet. Spray surface of tile with water. Stick film on tile, spray film with water and start honing. Easy peas :)

    IMG_0883.JPG IMG_0884.JPG IMG_0885.JPG
     
  3. Billyfergie

    Billyfergie The Scottish Ninja

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  4. dustmite

    dustmite Well-Known Member

    Excellent! Thank you, I'm going to have to see what I can find. I might just have a nice size sheet of glass I could use for this.
     
  5. dustmite

    dustmite Well-Known Member

    Where do you guys get the lapping paper?
     
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  6. Billyfergie

    Billyfergie The Scottish Ninja

    I Live in the UK..The USA Boys will Steer You Right..Its Lapping Film..Not Lapping Paper..You May get the Wrong Stuff..:happy088:

    Billy..:chores016:
     
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  7. dustmite

    dustmite Well-Known Member

    That'll help with the search!
     
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  8. Bookworm

    Bookworm Well-Known Member

    I picked up some miscellaneous pieces of granite from a broken 6x10 sheet. I also bought a marble tile missing a corner. These/those are so I can use wet/dry sandpaper on some of my chisels and planes.
     
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  9. Spyder

    Spyder Well-Known Member

    Check amazon. Look for the 3M stuff. I bought diamond lp from McMaster Carr and paid way too much.
     
  10. Karl G

    Karl G Well-Known Member

    Here you go. Get a flat piece of tile cut to size, cut your lapping film to lay on top, spray the tile and the paper with some water and you are ready. Shown here are a piece of 3 micron and 1 micron. Most of the time you won't need more than the 1 micron if you are just refreshing. You'll notice a cut to size piece of paper. If you put it under the 1 micron it cushions it a bit and provides a smoother edge. :happy088:

    I got my film on Amazon.

    lapping setup.jpg
     
  11. Willk

    Willk Active Member

    Hi all,

    I did some testing with lapping film recently on my new Gold Dollar 208, and I noticed my lapping film looks quite worn/dirty after one session (about 50-150 laps on each film, starting with a fresh film). It looks like I massacred the film, but I *believe* I used them with appropriate light pressure and technique (following Slash McCoy's Lapping Honing Progression Method). One the 1-micron (yellow/green) film, the film did tear at one point, as shown in the photo, when my blade caught the film at the wrong angle. The film I used I purchased from a gem-cutting store, but the film was unbranded, so I'm wondering if the film I used was inferior quality?

    I also noticed the dark wear marks are near the toe and heel ends of the blade. I was careful to try to ensure the blade was equally aligned to the film all along the blade length, and held the blade near the center of the blade, but the dirt/ wear marks are towards the opposite ends. Maybe it's just the way the slurry is pushed to the ends of the blade? The end result of my honing was my blade was sharper after the ordeal, but not at the level it should be at, so I'm continuing to work on my technique.

    What are your experiences with honing using lapping film? Does anyone have any photos of what the lapping film should look like after one honing session? Here are the photos of my new lapping films after a single honing session (50-150 laps) -note: I did rinse the films thoroughly before taking the photos:

    9-micron:
    IMG_4860resize3.JPG

    6-micron:
    IMG_4861resize1.JPG

    1-micron:
    IMG_4863resize2.jpg

    Regards, Will
     
    Last edited: Jun 20, 2021
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  12. DaltonGang

    DaltonGang Ol' Itchy Whiskers

    Billy(@Billyfergie ) has a lot of experience with this method.
     
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  13. Hammer8

    Hammer8 Well-Known Member

    Did you first set the bevel of the razor?

    What did you use to hold your lapping film? If it’s not completely flat and clean, good results cannot be achieved.
     
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  14. gssixgun

    gssixgun At this point in time...

    Supporting Vendor
    Lapping film works VERY well with many straight flat razors
    I found that when you start trying to do razors with any issues you start running into honing issues with the film..

    Maybe I haven't practiced with it enough, I only did maybe 20 different razors just to test it
     
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  15. Karl G

    Karl G Well-Known Member

    Hey @Willk - good to see you. I have used lapping film for touch ups and even a bevel reset (once.) It’s worked well but a couple of things that may or may not apply to what you ran into: Be extra sure you have rinsed and wiped clean your flat surface of any dust/debris that might cause a very tiny bump in the film when laid flat on the surface. Also, spray the back of the film and the flat surface (I have some flat porcelain tiles I use for this) with water to help the film adhere to the surface and not slide around. Mist the front of the film before lapping. This will allow the blade to move smoothly as well as give you visual feedback to see if the blade is flat on the film (the water will push out ahead of the blade edge or move on top of it.)

    Failing that maybe the blade is far from flat and digging in? Dunno. :signs002:
     
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  16. Willk

    Willk Active Member

    The Razor is new, and is advertised as "Shave Ready", factory honed to 8k stone. I realize that when razors are advertised as "Shave Ready", this is not necessarily true. That is why I ran the progression of 9 micron, 6 micron, then 1 micron. At this point, the razor should be very sharp, enough to tree top several hairs at 1/4". What I found was that it tree-chopped 1 or 2 hairs the first pass, then I could not repeat any tree chopping afterwards.:angry032:

    IMG_4917resize2.JPG IMG_4918resize1.JPG

    For a base, I used an acrylic block that is about 1" thick:
    IMG_4915resize1.JPG IMG_4916resize2.JPG

    Karl - great to hear from you! I used the water spray on the acrylic block to ensure there was very good adhesion of the film to the block, and I misted the top of the film afterwards (similar to how Slash McCoy does it in this video).
     
  17. Hammer8

    Hammer8 Well-Known Member

    While I’m new to straight razor shaving myself, and in no way proclaim to be an expert on honing, I have researched Slash McCoys method in detail, and have used it to great success on more than one razor, including a Gold Dollar 208 from Amazon. I have also used it to improve the already awesome edge on a Ralf Aust.

    The use of lapping film to hone a straight razor is one of several steps to achieve his “Method Edge”. The steps of the process need to be followed closely, and in the prescribed order to get the optimal results. Not doing so will produce an edge better that what you have, but nowhere as good as it can be.

    It starts with setting the bevel of the razor first, with sandpaper or coarser lapping film. Then honing with progressively finer lapping film. Stroping on pasted balsa, then on leather. This link describes the full progression in detail.

    http://www.growleymonster.com/method.html

    Your acrylic block is exactly what’s recommended and what I use, so it’s unlikely the culprit. Most likely the factory edge isn’t as flat as it needs to be and requires some attention.
     
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  18. Willk

    Willk Active Member

    Maybe I have to reset the bevel. But here's another question: in the video, Slash sometimes does passes "the textbook way" (see time 1:20 in the video), but also does many passes on one side at once, as in the time at 1:40. Are both scenarios OK, as long as you do an equal number of passes per side?
     
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  19. Hammer8

    Hammer8 Well-Known Member

    When setting the bevel in this way, you do one side only (half passes), counting the strokes, until a fine burr can be felt along the entire edge of the blade. There is a scrolling note describing this in the video around 1:50. You then flip the blade over and do the same number of strokes on the other side. Final step is 40 or so “textbook” passes- alternating sides, to remove the burr from both sides and even out the edge.
     
  20. Billyfergie

    Billyfergie The Scottish Ninja

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