Flattening a water stone

Re: Flattening a water stone

Will in K.C.

>Mark,

Are you talking about a Japanese water stone?

If so, the following is my flattening system.

I have a very flat (inexpenxive) 220 grit water stone that I rub together in a figure eight pattern with my finer grit stones in order to flatten the softer of the two (with plenty of water). The 220 stone does not seem to suffer at all from this treatment. Furthermore, it seems that none of the grit from the 220 rubs of onto the finer stones. The slurry from the softer stone rinses off easily from the 220 stone.

I saw Rob Cosman do this on one of his videos with two stones of equal grit. What works for Rob works for me. If anyone has issues with this system please speak up. I am married and quite accustomed to being wrong.

-Will

Re: Flattening a water stone

Greg Phillips, Medford, OR

>Mark,

As the old saying goes: "There is more than one way to skin a cat."

I like the method mentioned above, rubbing two stones together. I don't find myself using a stone as course as the 220, so I use two 1000 grit stones. I rub the two together to flatten. The 1000 grit also does a great job on the 4000 and 8000 stones. Since I use the 1000 a lot, I was happy to have two of them.

There are people who use a DMT diamond stone to flatten waterstones. Garrett Wade sells a ceramic lapping stone with grooves in it that is meant for flattening waterstones.

Frank Klaus uses adhesive-backed sandpaper on melamine. I think he uses 120 grit for the 220 and 1000, and 220 grit for the finer stones. I have used this method, but it must be done when the stones are dry and it creates an awful dusty mess. It does work well, and the stones flatten very quickly when they are dry.

After trying several different methods, I like Rob Cosman's the best. It is so quick that it can be done between every use. I stop often and re-flatten the stones when I'm doing long jobs like flattening the back of plane irons and chisels. Using sandpaper, I would try to go way too long and the stones would dish badly.

Regards,

Greg

Re: Flattening a water stone

Ray DuBose, Memphis TN

>220 3M Diamond Stone myslef. Working in the figure 8 like stated above. I've been happy with it. I use Shapton Water Stones and just can't bring myself to buy the Shapton flattening plate.

Re: Flattening a water stone

Tom Williams

>That figure-eight (or any other irregular) pattern is important when using this method. Rubbing two stones together in a straight line will produce well mated stones, but neither are likely to be flat.

Tom

Thanks, I need to buy another stone

Mark McC

>Because I have the combination stone I guess I need another stone to use for flattening.

I see two choices at LV.

A Green Silicon Carbide stone that is 200x and a 250x/1000x combination utility stone.

Will either of these do the job right for flattening?

Re: Flattening a water stone

Don Thompson, Cutler Ridge, South of Miami FL

>I have been using a DMT diamond plate, but I do not know that it is the best way to go. I just happen to have some I got cheaply. You might want to search the Hand Tools messages using the key words FLATTENING WATERSTONES.

Some of the methods advocated by posters here are:

-Another Water Stone

-Diamond Plate

-Garrett-Wade Flattening Stone

-Sandpaper (on varous substrates)

-Drywall Mesh (on various substrates)

-Sidewalk or Concrete Block

-Silicon Carbide Grit (on various substrates)

...and I am probably forgetting one or more.

Re: Flattening a water stone

Haakon

>I normally flatten my waterstones against carbide paper on a flat slab of granite and plenty of water.

Haakon

Re: Flattening a water stone

Alan Hamilton

>Mark,

I have one of those ceramic stone flatteners someone mentioned. It works great on all my stones, from my 220 green stone to my 6000 finishing stone. They are quite pricey, however, and there are lower cost alternatives.

A friend of mine uses a plain old concrete block--a big gray thing--and he is happy with the job it does. An aquaintance says he flattens his water stones on his garage's concrete floor. He too sees no reason to invest in anything else.

Alan