Thread: Home made Hone...

Old thread but... a 2x8x16 concrete block, sand, water. Wet the sand on the block and rub-a-dub until flat. This method is cheap and effective, even on hard stones. Keep the sand wet, keep adding more sand, and clean off the block periodically. You will need further refinement once the stone is flat such as wet sandpaper on a piece of glass to get smooth. I've done this for severely dished out flea market and yard sale stones.

SiC powder.

I'm not joking.

I received a Gunagxi the other day straight from a quarry. Needed serious flattening. One side was angled so biasedly on one side, I also had incredible sharp ends poking out. This thing was from the ground — it smelled like dirt and rain. Homeboy did bare minimum work with a saw. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if the same guy sharpens Gold Dollars it was so bad. But That's it. Shipped to my house.

The slurry stone was literally a shard from the ground, it was like a rough block with an end that grew so thin it was like a knife. I cut the end with a hacksaw (took ages) and I had to lap that end too!

Sic powder got the job done VERY WELL in under an hour. Perfect flatness, smooth, beveled edges, the whole nine. The end I cut with a hacksaw, the end that looked like it was bit by a shark, was easy peasy. SiC powder, starting at 80 grit, made my guangxi easy as hell to lap, and that stone is harder than a Spanish test. I did an Arkansas Black in 20 minutes. The best part is you can literally shape and sculpt the stone as you go. I had so much much beveling the edges, and creating a slurry stone that feels like a crayon in my hand. You use a DMT, you will lap the DMT, not the stone.

Let me know if you want proof — I can lap and bevel any rock with this crap.

Originally Posted by alx

Hello Nathaniel
This may sound a bit radical, and I am surprising even myself here, but you might want to drag the stone behind your car. I have never done this before and it always sounds like a joke draging something behind a car. But what if you got yourself a good fresh wooden pallet as a skid and hooked it up to your car or truck on a nice quiet Sunday morning on the smoothest stretch of cement highway you could find. Get your friend to pull you behind and work the stone for a few minutes on the pavement as you go along. Maybe not hand held but with a jig of some sort. Anyhow I thought I would give you the honor of trying it out before me. Alx
P.S. don't forget the leather gloves, goggles and a crash helmet. alx

Before the advent of diamond plates a lot of sharpening stone lapping was done on cement blocks which are surprisingly have very flat surfaces. You have to have Popeye arms to do much though, but it will work.

It's on !!!

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Since posting this I have actually made serveral hones from natural stone. One I even use after my Coticule.

The concrete block idea is smart. Kinda like a manual labour lap wheel. I'll keep that in mind.

Alx's idea might sound funny, but I actually did it after. Although I kinda "walked" my pet rock down the road. ahaha. But it made a flat side!

The fact that you've made some of your own hones fascinates me, especially the one that you use after the Coticule (a finisher I assume?). If you have the time and inclination, would you mind posting some pictures and info about the process? Hats off to you for following through on your idea about making your own hones!