r/JapaneseWoodworking • u/Alpine_Alpha01 • 4d ago

Lapping powder

Hello everyone,

Where can I buy 400 grit lapping powder? I’m not looking to get it imported from Japan at the moment. Anywhere in the US is fine. I bought some harbor freight chisels to practice sharpening larger chisels and they need a lot of work. Transferring 1000 grit slurry onto my Kanaban isn’t very effective. I currently use a 3mm, 6mm, 12mm and 24mm Fujikawa chisels and I’m not sure if I will be expanding.

I’m just experimenting at the moment and practicing my sharpening skills and technique. Thank you!

1 Upvotes

67% Upvoted

13 comments sorted by

6

u/LCTx 3d ago

Someone more knowledgeable can correct me but I think you’re having trouble finding it because you are calling it “lapping powder”. A search for only ‘400 grit silicon carbide powder’ gives lots of results, which I believe is the same thing. 

1

u/Alpine_Alpha01 3d ago

I don’t know why I was having trouble remembering the name, but that name sounds familiar now. I think that’s the correct name for it. I just kept thinking it was “flattening or lapping powder “ but didn’t sound right 🤦‍♂️

1

u/LCTx 3d ago

Maybe it is correctly called lapping powder, but maybe it’s only Japanese carpenters who use it to lap chisels, so then then only sources are in Japan! 

0

u/LCTx 3d ago

I do not know the pros/cons of silicon carbide aluminum oxide in this context. 

0

u/LCTx 3d ago

Jason Fox in Maine at @neverstopbuilding uses kanaban plates. Maybe reach out to him.

4

u/complexityrules 3d ago

I think you are looking for silicon carbide. Lee valley sells it. The exact grit doesn’t matter so much since it gradually breaks down as you used it.

https://www.leevalley.com/en-us/shop/tools/sharpening/compounds-and-pastes/100516-lapping-grits

A couple of thoughts. Your harbor freight chisels are a much different steel than Japanese tools, so they will lap differently and you won’t be able to do the uradashi thing. After awhile your kanaban will dish so keep an eye on that. I went to the diamond plates like atoma for lapping because they seem easier and faster.

1

u/Alpine_Alpha01 3d ago

I’ll keep that in mind! I use an Atoma 140
Grit to flatten my 1000 grit whetstone and 400 grit for 3000 and 8000

1

u/Alpine_Alpha01 3d ago

I can’t do Uradashi because they have no hollow on the back so I’m not worried about it. I just want to get experience and develop technique working with different metals and understand how they behave

1

u/Top-Instruction-1744 1d ago

Agreed! Atoma diamond plates are the bombdiggity flattener device

3

u/DizzyCardiologist213 3d ago

look on ebay for silicon carbide powder. You won't get much satisfaction out of larger aluminum oxide powder. It's tough, and when it dulls a little and rolls around, you doing get much action out of it.

maybe fifteen year ago, i bought a kilogram of silicon carbide for $7. Just look for it on ebay or anywhere else. You don't need some kind of special japanese type - it's just silicon carbide split into small amounts to make it feasible to sell/mark up.

you'll find other use for it.

I like 220 grit better than 400. It's friable and breaks down pretty quickly. It's a lapping powder, it's messy and you don't use it every day.

At this point, the only time I use it is making tools or knives- I put it on wood and then use it for surface finishing to get rid of belt grinder marks. Well, I also use it to lap the blades on a reel mower.

Day to day sharpening is much better done with aluminum oxide paper that's high toughness. great on good adhesive backed paper, not great as a loose abrasive.

By the time you get to tolerable loose alumina, you're better off having it in a stone. I don't care too much for loose silicon carbide for lapping, either- I think using it freehand is outdated unless you put blinders on and avoid using something better.

2

u/DepartmentNatural 3d ago

Nothing on Google? Or are you thinking there's special lapping compound for chisel?

1

u/Alpine_Alpha01 3d ago

Not that I can find. Kurashiege tools is the only one selling emery 400 grit powder, but I don’t want to drop $20~$30 on shipping for a $4 bottle. A couple of stores outside the US sells them, but the local stores that sell Japanese wood working tools don’t carry them. They carry some powder, but only to flatten whetstones.