Thread: Flattening Glass Plate....

It is best that you don't have films there in Bulgaria, have you ever noticed any of the regular honers using films? NO

Yes, it is a way to get into honing cheaply, but it is also a way for more frustration and you will still have to learn to hone on a stone if you wish to have repeatable results.

Basically, you are just cheating yourself and your face. Yes, I tried films years ago and forgot about them as quickly.

I am a coffee guy and films remind me of instant coffee...not too good compared to fresh ground coffee bean.

Thorlabs.com, buy Aluminum Oxide film, works just as well as diamond for a fraction of the cost. About $1.50 per sheet but you get 4 pieces from a sheet.

Any piece of glass will work even a 1/8 in thick piece, as will any marble or granite tile lapped flat with a diamond plate.

Glass tile is popular now here in the US, and a 3X11 tile is about 5 bucks.

I have even lapped Ceramic 3X8 tiles with great results.

Originally Posted by RusenBG

Here in Bulgaria there is no lapping films , and i whant to try them so badly . Where can i order them , the best quality at the best prise . I have heard only good words for the lapping films .
And 30 $ for a glass plate , wow bwtwr buy a sharpening stone or cut your self a piece of domestic glass .
Glass with paste on it works fine , a little bit slow but fine .

Try garrettwade.com for lapping films. I don't know if they ship outside of the United States, but you should ask. I think just doing a google search for lapping films should turn up sources that you could order from.

You are right regarding the glass plates. It is much cheaper to buy a large piece of float glass, ¼ inch thick, and cut it to the size(s) needed. Glass cuts easy with a glass scoring tool, some instruction, and some care. I think you'll still need to flatten the glass plates. The easiest way to do this is with a DMT diamond lapping plate, or if you succeed in getting lapping films, mounting a 400 grit or so on a known flat surface could be used to flatten the glass plate. I think you'll be surprised how much float glass is not flat, I was.

What I did learn since the original post, is that ¼ inch float glass works well. There is no reason to buy ½ inch glass, and the price difference is enormous for the thicker glass. Like $30 US for ½ inch 3" x 11", compared to $8 US for the ¼ inch. You can buy a large sheet of ¼ inch float glass plate locally here for about $25 that will yield about twelve 3"x11" pieces that you cut yourself from it. That makes it a little more than $2 for each plate, quite reasonable.

I'm fairly sure that you should be able to source 3M lapping films in Europe. Probably Germany is the best bet for sourcing there, since hand work hobbies are a big thing there. You probably know more about how to search for material in Europe than I do. Is there an equivalent of Google there? Going to the 3M international website may also yield some vendors in Europe. Good luck finding the films.... they are fun to work with and yield surprising results when honing razors.

It is best that you don't have films there in Bulgaria, have you ever noticed any of the regular honers using films? NO

Thats why i love stones as they give conctant results , if used properly. We have here fine sandpaper up to 3 000 grit but it clugs and the cuting power goes doun with every stroke ,even cleaned properly it is a chep way to hone a single rasor, i was hopping that lapping films are more durable and wear resistant,just my curiosity and my HAD were activated.

Originally Posted by RusenBG

Here in Bulgaria there is no lapping films , and i whant to try them so badly . Where can i order them , the best quality at the best prise . I have heard only good words for the lapping films . .

Another really good source for lapping films is bestsharpeningstones.com. I don't know if they ship internationally, but you may want to ask.

I'm curious about 2 things.

1/ How does one flatten a 3x11 glass tile with a 3x8 diamond plate ?
2/ Did you check the DMT for flatness ?

Originally Posted by onimaru55

I'm curious about 2 things.

1/ How does one flatten a 3x11 glass tile with a 3x8 diamond plate ?
2/ Did you check the DMT for flatness ?

1. It is surprisingly easy to flatten a glass tile with a 3" x 8" DMT diamond plate. I've done it dry or with water, and it works well with either. I mark the glass tile with a permanent marker so you can see the high/low spots when you begin to flatten with the DMT plate. I have flattened using the DMT plate moving on top of the stationary glass tile, or the reverse, both ways work well.

2. The DMT plate is made of steel impregnated with diamond dust. If you read the blurb on the DMT website they claim that the 3" x 8" plate is "flat" to their specification which seems quite "flat" to me. I doubt that this level of flatness will change with use, after all it is a steel plate. One could also buy the larger DMT lapping plate, which sells for around $170 that has guaranteed "flatness" to, I believe, 0.05% variation from flat. This plate, too, should not change much during use, since it too is a steel plate.

I did not check my DMT steel plates for flatness. I am comfortable going by the manufacturers claim and guarantee.

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Added later: regarding the Dia-Flat lapping plate, from the manufacturers website:

"..hand certified flat to +/- 0.0005”, the Dia-Flat™ Lapping Plate assures precise results when flattening stones."

I believe that the point he is trying to make is that if the item being flattened is larger than the item doing the flattening you probably aren't getting it flat. He would be correct. I tried the same thing with the same size glass and diamond plate and checked with a straight edge. Didn't get very flat. Closer than it came, but not flat enough to be acceptable to me.

It does not have to be, the film is only 9 inches long and while you lap the glass to get the film to stick better, it works even if you don’t lap it flat.

It is not like lapping a stone where a low spot may not be as smooth as the lapped surface, the flim is already smooth and uniform, you just will not be using the film to the fullest potential.

Yes, that is true if you do your full progression on film. But I thought the question was whether it's getting flat, not does it need to be.