Thread: Bench Hone Lapping

I firstly bought Shapton 12,000 and 5,000 stones and all was well. I then bought a Lithide barber hone as well as a Soft Arkansas 12x3x1 and a Surgical Black 12x3x1........ When I started using the Surgical Black I felt that it was catching on the edge and started to wonder if it was actually flat (I assumed that it would be since I bought it from a known dealer in the US with a good reputation)

Cut a long story short, the Surgical Black was bellied in the middle on both axis and on both sides......and the Soft Arkansas was not great either. The Shaptons however are fine and the Lithide was a bit out but I managed to get it better on a glass plate with some 240 grit wet and dry.

Problem is that several sessions on the glass plate with the wet and dry did very little to improve the Arkansas stones (it seems it will take forever ) Is there a better way to get these flat? (If I lived in the US I would send them to someone but I am here in Sydney and these stones are HEAVY)
Cheers,
Anthony

Thats the best way. Yes, it will take forever. You'll probably go through some sandpaper too. They are as hard as they are heavy.

Can you contact the dealer for the Arkansas stones and ask for suggestions?

I thought about contacting the supplier but did not wanted to get into a slanging match about why they sent me hones that needed so much work on them (especially considering the huge freight costs that would be involved in sending them back on forth to the US for rectification ...... ). I figured to learn from the experience and just try and sort it out here. Would a machine shop which has surface grinders etc be suitable or would it shatter the hone? Are those diamond surface plates any good?

I've had good luck using a DMT diamond plate. My Arkansas stone was out a fair amount but the DMT got it flat fairly quick.

Hope that helps!