Thread: Sawing a Hone

I checked out your photos. I noticed that you had both sides of the stone against the vise jaws. Would it help or not if I would clamp it up in the vise with the top and bottom of the stone against the jaws?

Jerry.....

Originally Posted by mrsell63

I checked out your photos. I noticed that you had both sides of the stone against the vise jaws. Would it help or not if I would clamp it up in the vise with the top and bottom of the stone against the jaws?

Jerry.....

I think how you clamp it depends on the size of the stone. If I clamped that Norton any other way I either wouldn't be able to cut it, or it would not be stable enough to cut (i.e. if I clamped the ends). How exactly were you thinking of clamping it? I think I might need a picture to understand...it's past 1 AM and my brain isn't working too well right now. I would agree with Tom/jendeindustries in that if you do it yourself you should be very, very careful. I took a big risk at doing this myself, it paid off, but I was also very careful doing it.

Which stone(s) were you thinking of cutting in half? If it was a natural or a more expenesive one I would really considering finding someone who had the proper equipment to do it. I only did it on my Norton, which isn't a cheap stone, but it was easily replaceable if I screwed up. So that's something you'll have to consider.

I also would use the Norton 4k/8k. I'm not ready to do it at this time but I think it's going to be necessary for my warped blades. Thanks.....
Jerry......

Originally Posted by mrsell63

I also would use the Norton 4k/8k. I'm not ready to do it at this time but I think it's going to be necessary for my warped blades. Thanks.....
Jerry......

I've since sold my Nortons, but I did like the narrow hone at first. But, I did find it substantially harder to keep the blade flat throughout the entire honing stroke. It is possible, but harder than if you used a wider hone.

From posts that I've read by experienced honers, it seems that's the very little you can do on a narrow hone that you can do on a wider one with a a little experience. What I mean by this is that you can compensate for a warped or smiling edge on a wider hone by using a rolling X, for example. I would be easier to compensate for those razor problems on a narrow hone, I'm just saying that there are techniques that you can use to deal with them on a wide hone.

Unless you have no attachment to these stones, I would try and get to know them better before cutting them. Perhaps you can deal with the problems without resorting to cutting. Not that you shouldn't cut them, it's just hard to undo once it's done.

Originally Posted by StraightRazorDave

Not that you shouldn't cut them, it's just hard to undo once it's done.

Isn't that what duct tape is for?

AaronX and I split a full set of Nortons between us...

The 220/1k was rather easy, and the 4k/8k was rather a PITA...

I used 4 cheap @ss hacksaw blades wrecked all 4 and cut both hones free hand....
I put the ragged cut edges on a 80 grit belt on my bench sander and smoothed them all up, chamfered the edges, and then lapped them all on a DMT 325....

These do work great, to get warped smiling blades whipped into shape but honestly they don't do any better than a 3 inch....
I find myself rarely going to them...If I had to buy the stones to do this project I would not reccomend it, now if you are a luckey SOB like Aaron and get the set free that is a different story.....

I wasn't as lucky as Aaron. OTOH I did get a set from Tools For Working Wood here. At one time they had the 1,4 and 8k in 8x1 1/2 but now it appears they only have the 1 and the 4. I find them to be handy to use when I do use them.

I eventually got a set of single grit Nortons that are 8x3x1. I keep those at work if I want to hone when it is slow. Turn an 8x3x1 on its side and you've got a narrow hone without the hassle of cutting one up or buying one already cut.

Just for reference, I have a coticule that doesn't have the slate attached anymore so that gives me a really narrow hone by flipping it making the width the height and it works wonders on warped, smiling or (insert blade status here) it just does wonders. So instead of cutting a stone if you haven't done it already maybe you should try removing the slate from the coticule. Some of the vintage ones come off really easy and that gives you a bbw and coticule narrow hones.

I'm also in favor of the slender stones for my straights. Love what you did with the norton very handy.

I know ChrisL has cut his share of Chinese 12Ks and a Shapton. If memory serves I think that Philadelph cut one with a band saw and a metal cutting blade with good results.