Thread: Proper (Norton) stone flattening

I've been working on my honing skills the last few months, and have determined that my Norton 4k/8k is not as flat as it should be. I determined this by putting very little water on the hone and placing it against a piece of 1/4 inch glass. If you have too much water on the hone or the glass, it will look like the whole hone is in contact, when it's really not. I eventually bought the Norton stone flattener for $25, and that helps, but it wears the stone quickly!

My technique is the following:
1. put lines on stone with pencil and work out on Norton flattening stone.
2. go to sandpaper on 1/4 inch glass with 300 grit smoothing
3. sandpaper on 1/4 inch glass with 400 grit
4. finish it with 1200 grit by hand, very gently (also using this to work up a slurry for honing)

I'm not claiming that my technique works well, but rather
I'd really like to hear how the pros on this site do it...

Thanks,
E

I don't know but I'll tell you this. I don't do any part of it by hand and when I'm done I expect the glass sheet to hold the stone up in the air, sucked to the glass. I like your idea about pencil marks. I've always used my naked eye to see the variation. Once its flat I try not to mess with it for a while.

I lay a piece of 600 grit wet/dry on a piece of granite and run the stone over it. I often make a grid with a pencil first on the norton and "sand" untill all the lines are gone.

I used to lap mine on a 9-inch disk grinder. It worked, but the Norton flattening stone is better, IMO. That's about all I do with mine. I'll lap it about every 2-3 honing sessions, just to check and true it up. Seems to work fine. It does suck to the formica countertop when it's done, though.

I find a flat surface, wet the surface, place a piece of wet/dry sandpaper on it, wet the sandpaper, use figure 8 or X pattern strokes until the hone surface is uniform in color and finish.
I start with a 600 grit or so and finish with a high grit sandpaper.

Most importantly, when finished place the hone under running water and rub the hone to remove any embedded grit leftover from the sandpaper.

Hope this helps,

I like the idea of pencil marks! I will give that a try tonite.

Thanks for sharing!

Great advice!

I think I've been doing three things wrong that I can change:

1. I won't use my hand with the 1200 grit sandpaper in the final stage of flattening. I'll stick to the glass the whole time.
2. I won't use the (1200 grit) sandpaper to work up a slurry.
3. I will clean the stone better to remove any sandpaper grit.

Thanks!
E

E,

I'm new to serious honing attempts, so take this with a grain.... I am very familiar with sanding though, and have spent too much time with sand paper in my hands. So far, the honemeisters have mentioned starting at 600grit, while you are starting at 300. Unless your hone is way out of true, 300grit will needlessly take off a serious chunk of stone. If you can start at a higher grit, I would encourage it.

If anyone with more honing experience has an opinion that differs, please post, as I'm only pointing out what I've seen written here. My opinion is not based on my own honing experience, which is really just starting.



Matt

Originally Posted by shavethebadger

E,

I'm new to serious honing attempts, so take this with a grain.... I am very familiar with sanding though, and have spent too much time with sand paper in my hands. So far, the honemeisters have mentioned starting at 600grit, while you are starting at 300. Unless your hone is way out of true, 300grit will needlessly take off a serious chunk of stone. If you can start at a higher grit, I would encourage it.

If anyone with more honing experience has an opinion that differs, please post, as I'm only pointing out what I've seen written here. My opinion is not based on my own honing experience, which is really just starting.

Matt

With one of my stones (Norton 8K), which was shaped like a banana, (not that obviously bent), it was necessary to remove quite a bit of material to get it flat. The lower grit just gets it done faster. The Norton flattening stone is quite low grit, probably about 250.
E

If your stone is not flat a coarse grit will not hurt anything until the surface IS flat. Your goal is to remove the high spots until everything is level. Until you reach that level plane everything is above it is waste so I believe in removing it quickly, BUT, you have to watch as you progress. I resurface lots of older Belgians and Eschers, These usually have a hollow and a rough grit is good here. Keep sanding, a few passes at a time until you see the hollow just start to vanish. At this point the grit used DOES become a big deal as Matt suggests. Once to size you only need to smooth the surface and fine grit rules here.

I start with 220/320 on older stones and finish with 400.

Tony