Norton water stones

Re: Norton water stones

Michael Stadulis, in Gloucester County, NJ

>Moses.....

I think you already know this but you, my friend, still got played like a fiddle in that deal. ;o)

I saw the Nortons demoed at the Philadelphia show a few years back and they definetly seemed to be an improvement over my Japanese stones. I wish you luck w/ them and start saving for the Shaptons.

Happy New Year,

Mike

Re: Norton water stones

Jeff Heath

>Moses Nice trade-off. You can pick up a nice Norton flattening stone for your new waterstones for $25 at www.toolsforworkingwood.com. I've got one, and it works great, and a lot better than 75 bucks at other places.

Jeff

Re: Norton water stones

ThomD

>The "other" stones are ceramic of solidish type, like crock stick sharpeners, ceramic seems pretty twist prone I probably wouldn't buy one unless I saw it first. Isn't the norton flatening stone basicaly a carbide stone? I think I may stick with a concrete block for now.

Re: Norton water stones

Joel

>THe Norton Flattening stone (which we had a hand in designing) is silicon carbide in a very hard matrix and is finished on a surface grinder so that it is very flat.

Shapton or not....

Scott Burr in really rainy Ben Lomond,CA

>Your still gonna need to flatten them. Thom likes a cinderblock, I like drywall screens. Either one (becides others) will do a job on ANY waterstone.

Re: flattening

Moses Yoder in White Pigeon, MI

>I have always just used sandpaper on glass to flatten my water stones. I will probably get some drywall mesh, as that will probably work faster. But generally I just use what I have on hand. I would never use a cinder block to flatten my stones, as there is no reason for the cinder block to be flat, and there is really no way that it will stay flat if you keep rubbing sharpening stones on it. It may be flat enough, but my opinion is I would rather use a known flat surface like glass, and then place something on top of it so the flat surface stays flat. Now that I'm thinking about it, I might make a little flattening jig just for my new stones. I doubt I will spend $25 for a special stone to flatten my water stones.

It's a lot faster...

Scott Burr in really rainy Ben Lomond,CA

>Drywall screens don't clog like sandpaper, and you just shake them out as you go. It goes faster than sandpaper for that reason.

Re: flattening

ThomD

>You just pick one that is flat. This took looking through about 3. One of my first purchases was a Starret straight edge, one thou over 36 inches. Most cinder block are flatter than most jointer tables I similarly examined when I bought my jointer.

I think there seems to be too much flatening going on by far. My feeling is that the first line of defence is sharpening, use the whole stone, overlap strokes on the edges. If one ends up with a pit in the center, just "never" sharpen there.

This is just the way I work. I sharpen without a jig, but have one if over time things go a little wonky. I try to keep the stones flat, but I may have to trim them periodically. I try to plaster corners without a cornering tool, but may have to pull one out. I think if one just goes directly to poor chraftsmanship, good craftsmanship doesn't develop.

Re: flattening

Moses Yoder in White Pigeon, MI

>I don't do woodworking to impress my friends. I don't expect to ever end up on Fine Woodworking's cover as the "Sexiest Woodworker Alive". I find processes that are simple and work for me, and then use them. But I do try to improve my work, because it keeps things interesting. I simply do not believe that learning to hone without a jig will make my work better; I think it will make it worse. But if I wanted to prove to myself that I'm a "craftsman", I guess I could always learn to hone without a guide.

"Sexiest Woodworker Alive"

Scott Burr in really rainy Ben Lomond,CA

>Well I don't think you'll make the cut after seeing your pic... There was a female wood worker in Alaska...

I'm a jig user too, along with a lot of other greats (not saying anything here). There's nothing wromg with either IMHO...