Thread: First hone flattening

Well... my first hone, bought November 2014, was a Norton 4k/8k combo and as all beginners I have probably mistreated it a little in its first few weeks of life. It is a very nice stone from my perspective and I have used it to successfully turn two non-cutting blades into serviceable and useable shaving implements.

I thought I would step into the breach and flatten my stone. Unless someone randomly donates a D8C my way I'm stuck using the flat surface and sandpaper method. Purchasing 10 sheets of 400 grit wet and dry for a festive 3 Great British Pounds, I wetted the surface, made sure my paper was flat and proceeded to move the stone around. As quite a techy guy I have actually lapped copper and aluminium CPU and GPU heatsinks before so I am familiar with the principle of letting the weight of the heatsink (waterstone) do the work as I move it around the sandpaper.

Contrary to my belief, the stone moved around very nicely and did not take very long to lap. The grid lines I applied slowly faded to nothing and both sides looked (personally) better than the condition I received the stone in. All in all it took me maybe 60 minutes from the thought of doing it to getting the flat surface + water, draw my lines, do the business and clean up.

Most proud of my first flattening attempt but most disappointed that I don't really have anything to use on it quite yet as both of my blades are in 'stropping only' maintenance group at the moment.

Apologies for taking up some forum space but I thought I would share the feeling of success whilst it was still fresh in my heart.

To end, what kind of grit paper would I be looking to use to keep a c12k flat? I understand that it is a very, very hard stone and sandpapering flat would probably be considered a day job but I am quite curious as my c12k has a side which is super flat and another which needs TLC and would serve as a good practice platform.

The 400 will work for the Chinese hone, but it obviously will take longer than a more coarse grit.

Did you remember to chamfer the long sides of the Norton?

Originally Posted by Utopian

The 400 will work for the Chinese hone, but it obviously will take longer than a more coarse grit.

Did you remember to chamfer the long sides of the Norton?

Excellent! I do not go back to work until the 2nd so I have a project

Yes, chamfering of the sides was done too.

What the BLOODY hell are you talking about with the 'apologies for taking up forum space' thing? What do you think it's here for?

I think the great think about this forum is the interaction, it's not just some library where people will crossly tell you 'shoosh, I'm reading!'

It's great your hone lapping went well. What did you use for a flat surface? Glass table tops work really well...

Carl

Originally Posted by carlmaloschneider

What the BLOODY hell are you talking about with the 'apologies for taking up forum space' thing? What do you think it's here for?

I think the great think about this forum is the interaction, it's not just some library where people will crossly tell you 'shoosh, I'm reading!'

It's great your hone lapping went well. What did you use for a flat surface? Glass table tops work really well...

Carl

Plenty of forums are like that, with their own cliques and if you don't post what they expect you get the condescending responses and half hearted responses.

I used a sheet of glass and used a bit of tape to keep the sandpaper from moving and curling.

No need to tape the paper, the water will stick it to any flat surface. For the Chinese stone, you may have to go to 60 or 80 grit to get it flat.

Pick up a cookie sheet from the dollar store, it will contain the mess of water and slurry. Mark a grid with a sharpie, instead of pencil, lead will wash off in the first few laps on a hard smooth stone.

You really only need to do one side, loose Silicone Carbide works much faster than Wet and Dry to flatten, but paper will work, just slower. Use the floor and your body weight to flatten, spin the stone 180 frequently.

Once flat, polish on progressively higher grits, polishing goes fairly quickly, use the sharpie to mark new gridlines. I would go up to 1K to polish. Then burnish with hard flat carbon steel, kitchen knives work well on this stone.

If you flatten and burnish this stone, it will perform like a completely different stone, most are nice finishers.

I know my C12k took a brand new DMT to well broken in before I got it flat. Atleast with mine it was a tedious job that took longer than I care to admit. Atleast once you have the DMT you can use it on other stones and to keep the C12k flat. I found it will put a nice polish on it when it has been used quite a bit. There have been alot of things that I regret buying, but my DMT isn't one of them.

A Chinese stone or any novaculite will eat a DMT or most Diamond plates except the extra extra course 120 grit lapping plate.

Loose grit or Wet and Dry and save the plate, for soft stone lapping, slurring and maintenance re surfacing. When you do lap with a plate, do so under running water or in a pond of water.

80 grit loose silicone power will get you flat fairly quickly.

Originally Posted by Euclid440

No need to tape the paper, the water will stick it to any flat surface. For the Chinese stone, you may have to go to 60 or 80 grit to get it flat.

Pick up a cookie sheet from the dollar store, it will contain the mess of water and slurry. Mark a grid with a sharpie, instead of pencil, lead will wash off in the first few laps on a hard smooth stone.

You really only need to do one side, loose Silicone Carbide works much faster than Wet and Dry to flatten, but paper will work, just slower. Use the floor and your body weight to flatten, spin the stone 180 frequently.

Once flat, polish on progressively higher grits, polishing goes fairly quickly, use the sharpie to mark new gridlines. I would go up to 1K to polish. Then burnish with hard flat carbon steel, kitchen knives work well on this stone.

If you flatten and burnish this stone, it will perform like a completely different stone, most are nice finishers.

As soon as water went onto the paper it started to curl so the tape helped keep it in place and flat, and I'll locate a permanent marker to grid up with.

The chinese stone is flat on one side. I just tackled the other side... it's still scratched up on the ends after a lot of 400 grit work but the middle is so darn silky. I'll see if I can find some decent W&D at a store in the city when I'm back at work on Friday. Something like 60/80 to start, then 200, 400, 600 and maybe 800 then 1k?

As I am quite a messy person I think I'm best served with the paper method for now

So far I've found it to be an alright finisher, providing a nice edge after my Norton 8k... however I am still learning it and learning kamisori so we'll see how it goes.

Burnishing? What's that? *Goes to Google in the meantime*

I've also went for the 400/1200 double sided Eze-Lap diamond plate. Set me back £72 as opposed to £60-65 for the single sided DMC D8C. I have no intention of letting my diamond plate near the Chinese stone

Once you got the face as smooth as you can get it, run hard flat carbon steel on it with pressure. A wide chisel, or old carbon knife to further smooth out the face. You are looking for a glass smooth stone face. 2-300 or more hard pressure laps with a little soapy water or oil.

It is a 6-10k stone but burnished will finish like a much higher grit stone.