Thread: How to bevel the corners of the hone?

The intro article for honing in the library talks about beveling the corners of the honing stones to prevent an accident requiring you to start over.

I can't find anything telling you how to do it. The two ways I can think of are with the lapping stone or a Dremel.

What are best practices for this?

Thanks in advance!

I've done it with a DMT plate under running water and also done it with wet/dry sandpaper (around 400 grit) laid on a flat surface (glass) wet with water and rub edge of the hone a couple times. Doesn't take much, just so the edge isn't so sharp. I would not recommend the dremel.

A few strokes with the DMT will do the job. You don't need to do much to knock down those sharp corners.

Its not so much the corners. Its the edges. Do all 4 edges and the corners will be beveled too. You can use your lapping stone if you dont have dmt i bet. and under running water or in a sink full of water. Good luck. Its not tough to do. Like what was said above, just a few strokes will do ya.

As others have said - I do it with the lapping plate. When I'm lapping I just run two or three strokes from flat to rolling off the edge of the hone on all sides. So the hone is in my hand under running water, the plate in my other hand, and I go from flat - both hones flat together - and then just roll the lapping plate off the edge of the hone a couple of times. That way I'm not just knocking down corners, I'm knocking down edges all the way to the corner. Works for me.

Adam

Pretty much what everyone else said. There's more than 1 way to skin a cat though. You can also hold the stone at roughly a 45 degree angle to put a flat bevel on it rather than rounding it. I like to make one side of my hones round, and the other beveled because most of my hones have a polished/burnished surface (rounded edge) and a rougher edge that gets refreshed more (beveled). Makes it easier to quickly identify the side I'm working with.

There is no need to bevel the short edges.

Aesthetics. All sides MUST match!

I round the edges with sandpaper. I don't have a lapping plate.

Sounds good to me although I go to 1200 or higher to ensure no little pieces or chunks get released. I like the idea of rounding the edge also, but I've never taken the time to do it.