Greetings,
Any advice about to get a flat surface on various types of sharpening stones? Is it the same for water stones, oil, diamond?
And about diamond stones, how deep does the abrasive go? I have several that with a tops that have sort of a peg-board pattern on top with small circles of metal (presumably with diamond dust in it) surrounded by plastic.
thanks in advance,
jim e
Replies
Buy ceramic stones and you won't have to worry about it. An alternative is the sandpaper-on-glass or sandpaper-on-granite method.
I wouldn't waste my time with waterstones. These other methods will get you just as fine an edge without sweating when the stones have gone out of flat. Seems really silly to have to own a set of stones to keep another set of stones flat. Really absurd. Some people use sandpaper on glass/granite to keep their waterstones flat. Why bother with this either? Just take the edges straight to the sandpaper on G/G.
Better diamond stones don't have the 'pegboard' look you mentioned, fwiw.
I have a ~220 grit diamond stone I use for fast cutting and use that to keep my waterstones flat. Only takes a minute...been doing this for 15 years and have had no problems with the waterstones. Of course ask 5 woodworkers what they do and you will receive 5 different answers...all good advice.
Have fun,
JimB
I have the Shapton waterstones, and find that they are hard enough that flattening is only a once in a while activity. I use an aprasive powder on a very flat granite floor tile, with water, and it doesn't take 2 minutes to do all three. The 1000 wears more quickly, and the 8000 hardly at all. My preference is for waterstones, but many will disagree. The edge I achieve with the the Shaptons is terrific, IMHO, and absent major error, I almost never have to go back to the grinder. I also have a 220 diamond Norton, which I use for major hogging of metal, but it is not needed day to day. I find these methods quicker than grinding, which is a bit of a PITA. I am not good enough to grind or hone without the help of jigs, and the setup time on the grinder is something I like to avoid if possible.
Alan
http://www.alanturnerfurnituremaker.com
Just rub them on a concrete surface with water or oil.Max
Texas Sharpologist
The way I see it, a stone starts to go out of flat as soon as you start using it. Since I'm not going to flatten my stones every time I sharpen a tool, when I do flatten the stones, they only have to be so flat.
When I had this realization, I grabbed a cinder block, some fine grained sand as a cutting agent, and a bucket of water. I can now flatten my water stones in about two minutes.
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled