basic hone flattening and care

Sorry if this stuff is covered, and it probably is. On a 12k chinese polishing stone, are both sides ok to use? on the one i got, one side was obviously smoother and thats the one i used, but i wondered if the other could be flattened. I don't know why that would be necessary, but i wondered. Is it ok to flatten the 12k with a Norton flattening stone?
Before flattening Norton stones with the Norton flattening stone, should you soak the flattening stone as well?
And finally a comment... i last used my norton waterstone months ago, and i guess i thought it was dry when i put it away but it wasn't, because i took it out today and it had grown mildew! I'm sure that's harmless, but i thought it was funny.

yes you can flatten another side of the chi 12lk but what is the purpose?doesn't make a sense?
when you use norton ,you need to use at least 1000 sandpaper at the end.will make surface a lot smoother

you can keep both stones under constant running water. won't hurt.
hope this helps.

Sorry i do not know much about the Chinese 12k but i do know that the Norton flattening stones (NFS) work best with soft hones like the Nortons. hard hones such as thuringens and barber's hone may wear dips in the NFS if you are not careful. if you want to lap pretty much anything get a coarse DMT hone.

I flattened my chinese 12k stone with the norton lapping stone. it needed to be flattened because i could see light under part of it when it was pressed against the lapping stone. Now its flat, but it seems more coarse than before. out of the box it was very smooth, it didn't feel abrasive at all. Now it feels somewhat abrasive like the 8k hone. I went over it again, not putting any pressure on, but it still feels the same. When i had tried the sandpaper method on other hones, pieces of grit came off the paper and were imbedded in the hone - i couldn't see them, but i could feel them catch on a razor, and this is why i got a flattening stone. is it not 12k grit now?

The norton flattening hone should never be used for natural hones or barber hones. They are both just too hard for it and they are too fine of grit.

Since you have already done it, you will need to fix both your 12K and you lapping hone.

For the 12K, you will need to lap it with progressively finer sandpaper. If you were having trouble with grit getting stuck in the hone, I suspect that you are not using wet/dry sandpaper, which should not release any significant amount of grit. Depending on what you've got or can get, try using about 600 grit and then 1000 or higher. Rubbing the stone with your hand should eliminate any grit.

For the lapping stone, if you were rubbing it against a non-flat 12K, that is no longer flat either. You will need to lap it against a course grit sandpaper.

shame on me! thanks for the help. i have some 3M 1000 grit wet/dry sandpaper i can use. i'll have to start this whole project over again. from what i remember from my earlier attempt i had lapped them with the sandpaper and rubbed them with my hands under running water as best i could, but still had grit stuck in them. maybe i was pressing way too hard on the sandpaper.

I've never had trouble with particles embedding in any hone but maybe you should lighten up your pressure.
Trya few swipes with a Scotchbrite kitchen scourer post lapping if it's still a problem.