Thread: Crazy bench-hone idea

It depends on the type of tile how flat it will be. I've seen some very flat and quite true tiles available at Home Depot. As a base for leather, there will be some forgiveness and a perfectly flat surface really isn't necessary, anyway, in my opinion. As a substrate for anything but leather, I'd say perfect flatness is very important and even with leather, flat is good but the thicker the leather, the more minor variation is acceptable. Boards and paddles aren't flat enough to use for sandpaper but are plenty flat enough for leather.

Thanks Robert. That alleviates some of my concerns. Time to find some magnetic sheeting, contact cement and epoxy (for a different project)

This kind of thing is done all the time with sandpaper and plate glass, but I think a ceramic tile is really not flat enough. Something like granite or marble might be cause it's machined.

Also, it's not expensive to get a precision base from handamerican.com. THen, you can also get readymade leather inserts.

Originally Posted by PapaBull

It depends on the type of tile how flat it will be. I've seen some very flat and quite true tiles available at Home Depot. As a base for leather, there will be some forgiveness and a perfectly flat surface really isn't necessary, anyway, in my opinion. As a substrate for anything but leather, I'd say perfect flatness is very important and even with leather, flat is good but the thicker the leather, the more minor variation is acceptable. Boards and paddles aren't flat enough to use for sandpaper but are plenty flat enough for leather.

I would agree if your only talking about plain leather, but as soon as you start adding abrasive paste you're back to the snadpaper problem.

If you think about it, a hanging strop will never be really flat, and many paddles are made to yield so as to immitate the give of a hanging strop. So, if you're only talking about plain leather flatness is probably not much of an issue.

Making our own is a part of the fun though. As I have a nice flat piece of marble, I dont' have to worry about the ceramic surface. My only concern will be the magnetic sheets as they're only 11" long.

Correction.. They're 9" long. My biggest concern would be the adhesive backing. Should I clean the adhesive before using a contact cement or just leave it there?

Originally Posted by FiReSTaRT

Correction.. They're 9" long. My biggest concern would be the adhesive backing. Should I clean the adhesive before using a contact cement or just leave it there?

Your guess is as good as ours!

Originally Posted by FiReSTaRT

Correction.. They're 9" long. My biggest concern would be the adhesive backing. Should I clean the adhesive before using a contact cement or just leave it there?

Clean it.

Remember, my opinion is worth what you paid for it

Ed

Borrow a magnet sign off of a van or truck. They are longer, stronger and have no adhesive backing.

Matt, where can I go and buy one? I wouldn't feel too good about "borrowing" lol.