Originally Posted by
Doug Hepler
I often see the claim that sandpaper honing is expensive compared to waterstones. These claims are unsupported by the facts, unless you assume that the sandpaper must be changed much more often than is necessary. I think that this assumption, about how often a sheet of sandpaper will last, is actually the root of the disagreement. I do concede that coarse paper must be replaced frequently when you are trying to remove a lot of steel, e.g., flattening the sole of a plane. But when honing already sharp edges, a sheet of SiO2 sandpaper still cuts to a very satisfactory degree after many sharpenings.