Thread: Les Lat repair

I've had this Les Latneuses for a while. It is really nice to hone on, both the coti side and the 'hybrid' side. Lately it has seen use mostly as a prefinisher before going to a jnat, but it works nice standing alone as well.


As seen above it had three recesses, or 'missing' pieces and I've been thinking of filling them up to get a better honing surface. Slurry has the habit of vanishing down in them, and I also wanted to complete and making the long side straight for easier use. I wrote to Ardennes Coticule describing what I wanted to do. I'm thankful to Maurice and Anne-Katrien Celis for finding some small Les Lat pieces for me.

I cleaned out the low lying areas, using mostly my diamond plate. A chisel and an old file proved useful for cleaning out the corners. Then I carefully hacksawed the small pieces of les lat along the separation line between the coti and hybrid layers. The coti layer is incredibly brittle in these thin pieces, and the hybrid layer almost impossible to saw through. Working slow is the key to not making coti gravel.



All gluing surfaces were trued on the diamond plate. When dry I glued them into place with CA glue. Since it hardens really fast no clamping was needed. Just hold the pieces together with pressure for a minute or so. With all pieces in place, and before lapping:


and finally, the reborn surface.



Thanks for watching and keep your projects coming.