Thread: Flattening out waterstones

Originally Posted by cariocarj01

Hi,

As a newbie on SR, i have another question on Flattening Stone:

Do we need to flattening the waterstone before every honing session or can we wait 2 or 3 (or more) honing sessions to do that?

see you... Flávio.

Once it's flat and you hone a razor...you will notice swarf or black streaks on the stone...so I always give the stone a couple laps with sand paper/ dmt 325 plate before I hone again...just to have a nice cutting surface.

Originally Posted by cariocarj01

Hi,

As a newbie on SR, i have another question on Flattening Stone:

Do we need to flattening the waterstone before every honing session or can we wait 2 or 3 (or more) honing sessions to do that?

see you... Flávio.

It's better to flatten your stones AFTER a honing session. Some stones have kind of a different shape when dry vs whet.
You don't have to flatten them after every session, or even after 10 hours of honing. It depends from stone to stone. The way I see if a stone needs flattening is, I hold it in front of my eyes horizontally. If it's not flat, it is kind of visible. Another way is, place a ruler or something flat on the top of the stone, and look between the stone and the ruler. if light (or water?) passes through, it needs lapping.
The swarf that stays on the stone after honing is another matter, and it's better to be removed if there is any, but for the shape of the stone, you don't have to lap it after every honing session, unless you hone many razors and the stone is soft.

Word of advice learned the hard way: lap your water stones before you use them... I wondered why i couldn't get a consistent edge along the entire blade and then i decided to check the flatness of my brand spanking new norton, it was as flat as Rob Ford's gut...

Since then, I give my stones a quick lap after each honing session with a grid pattern drawn, as others have mentioned, with wet 325 grit sandpaper suctionned to the counter. My wife loves seeing the granite counter tops being used to lap and definitely doesn't think i'm an idiot.

Originally Posted by superdaveosbourne

Word of advice learned the hard way: lap your water stones before you use them... I wondered why i couldn't get a consistent edge along the entire blade and then i decided to check the flatness of my brand spanking new norton, it was as flat as Rob Ford's gut...

Since then, I give my stones a quick lap after each honing session with a grid pattern drawn, as others have mentioned, with wet 325 grit sandpaper suctionned to the counter. My wife loves seeing the granite counter tops being used to lap and definitely doesn't think i'm an idiot.

That's a good wife indeed, she got any sisters?

She does but they're all married, I got the last one

Originally Posted by superdaveosbourne

She does but they're all married, I got the last one

You lucky bast....

I had a girl like that once, no problem to do whatever, she just help out.
Then she wanted to study but didn't have the guts to move far away and didn't have the money for it either.
So I helped her out and lost her at the same time... still feel I did what was best for her!

I'll throw this note into the mix. I bought a Norton set of stones, the 220/1000, 4k/8k, and leveling stone. I find the Norton leveling stone to be a total CHORE to get results with. I bought a DMT Coarse/Fine and now use that for MUCH easier stone flattening. I'd use sandpaper before trying the Norton leveling stone again, it's that useless (to me).

I'll sharpen my Japanese single-bevel kitchen knives without leveling the stones, but ALWAYS level for SR's.

My bit to the pot.
Do you use your stones just for razors and they are not badly worn/damaged? If yes, then DMT or Atoma would be the best way. Remember to get one which is at least as big as your hones.

Do you plan to use those stones for heavy sharpening and honing or are they damaged? If yes then my recommendation go to your local kitchen top workshop and ask owner if you can have some spoils from their skip. Then look for off cuts of worktops either made of natural granite or reconstituted stone which are as thick as possible (would recommend over 1") to use them as lapping plate. Look at them if they are nice and shiny. From the reflection you can see if they are flat or not (it will distort picture). They have to be slightly bigger than a piece of wet/dry sandpaper (at least 10x 12"). Get some decent wet/dry sandpaper. Start with 120 grit for heavy work and go gradually up the grit. People usually stop around 360. Then just put some water on the tile slap appropriate grit paper on it and off you go. Remember flushing the paper periodically as it can get clogged up.
Obviously you can get a piece of float glass instead of stone but then it is still recommended to put it on something flat.

Do you have enough time to be faffing with the lapping base and papers? If not then get again DMT or Atoma diamond plates. Remember DMT finer than 360 are not recommended for lapping hones.

Make your choice and good luck.

Re using wet/dry sandpaper,

My brand new naniwa #8000 was slightly bowed, (The edges only showed signs of swarf). I then got an absolute flat hard piece of glass and wet it, then placed the paper on it and 'lapped it using a pencil grid. Now it is flat as one could hope. My purposes though are not to spend hours sharpening many razors. I onlu have a couple and it would take years before they get out of shape to the point where they need another lapping. so for newbies with 1 or a couple of razors, a 50 cent piece of fairly fine wet/dry on a proven flat surface will suffice. This is just my opinion, obviously the DMT 325 is terrrific, but it all depends on your purpose. If you have the slightest doubt, send it to someone who knows what they are doing until you can get it right yourself.

Bobski

Cheers Bobski

Originally Posted by cariocarj01

Hi,

As a newbie on SR, i have another question on Flattening Stone:

Do we need to flattening the waterstone before every honing session or can we wait 2 or 3 (or more) honing sessions to do that?
see you... Flávio.

Once the hone is true (flat) it should last some time. The best way to check is to hold a straight edge corner to corner across the hone, and look up to a light. You shouldn't be able to see light under the straight edge.

Check your stone periodically.

Some of us use a DMT or Atoma for creating slurry by doing figure 8's. This also helps keep your stone flat.