Thread: Flattening stone on a Norton

I decided that it was easiest on everyone to use a flattening stone on my 4/8 Norton. Everything soaks in MY dishbucket. All sharpening on a newspaper to soak up spills. When I'm done, out the door with the water and grit. The screaming has now subsided! No more dirty sink or grit all over. The reason for the stone and not the sandpaper on glass.
Am I making (sharpening) life more difficult by not lapping my Norton through the various grades of sandpaper and using just the flattening stone? Also, I have always flattened after a session on the Nortons be it 10 minutes or a half an hour. Seems that could reduce the stone quicker. Does anyone flatten during a sharpening session?

Yul:

I generally lap before a session and that's that until a few sessions down the road but I only have one razor and don't do restoration work.

As to the flattening stone, some like it, some prefer the higher grit sandpaper but Lynn seems to find the flattening stone to be just right and he's gone through about 5 or 6 Nortons.

I think it will ultimately depend on you trying both and seeing which you preferr (sandpaper v. flattening stone).

I like the flattening stone myself. Woodcraft has them at $23.95 this month so I grabbed on. It makes quick work of the initial flattening then I gfollow up with fine wet/dry paper. It removes a lot of time from the first flattening. I was using it on my Hunsrueck hones, not a Norton though.

I reckon the flattening stone has been one of my best buys in terms of bang for buck (weeelllll, maybe except Tony's Latigo #1 ). It saved so much effort and time.

But it's real value came when I took my coticule to it. For a long time I suspected my coticule wasn't flat... boy was I suprised: it was like a hill and valley on a few inches of slate! So I took it to the flattening stone and within 5 minutes I had got as flat a surface as you can. OK, I lost a lot of material (the slurry! sheesh!), but the transformation is evident when I polish my blades now -- so much a better result.

And to get those beveled edges on your stones, the Norton flattening stone is a doozy, as they say.

While neat beveled edges protect the stone from chipping they do little to help the razor from chipping. I always make a nice small radius on the edge of all my stones. This protects both razor and stone eliminating any sharp edge, no matter how shallow.

Tony

FWIW
Sharpeningsupplies.com has it for $25 regular priced and cheaper shipping.
Hartvilletool also has it for $23 and cheaper shipping.

FWIW

Woodcraft is 1 mile from my house and $23.95 Ha! <g>

Tony

I was going for one of the Norton flattening stones myself, but Howard from www.theperfectedge.com talked me into a coarse DMT diamond stone instead. It was a bit more expensive at $75, but worth it and I'm glad I went that way. I can flatten all my stones, including my Norton 4/8 and my Shapton 15k with no infiltration of one stone grit to the other, and I have a nice diamond stone to boot. The Norton is only for flattening. THe DMT is too coarse for any real sharpening on a straight, but it does help me quickly reestablish a new edge when I've had to do some serious blade work on a restoration. As a side note, it's great to sharpen my kitchen knives since it is 11" long. It doesn't wear, so I should be able to give this one to my kids.

- John

I agree the DMT is probably a far better tool to use but I wanted a quick fix. I have enough Hunsruecks comeing I'll probably go for a DMT from Howard. I think he uses them on his belgians before sale as well.

Tony

O.K. I think I got it. It's alright to use the flattening stone on my 4/8 without lapping to finer grit sandpaper, right?
Tony, you threw a curve at me. I've been beveling my stone's edges for years, but am I to understand that you actually crown your stones? Doesn't that reduce actual cutting surface making you repeat the honing process more? I just re-read your thread. Sorry! I get it now. You crown the edge so there is no angle as even a bevel creates an angle. I work third shift and I don't fully wake up till about 3:00am, sorry!