Flattening Shapton Stones

[Rick Markham]

What are some effective ways to flatten and maintain a flat surface on my Shapton glass stones. I would really like to avoid buying the $300 Shapton Stone Flattener they sell, are there alternatives that y'all use successfully? Thanks again!

[David Weaver]

DMT or Atoma diamond hone.

If your stones start around 1000 grit and go finer, a 325 DMT or a 400 grit atoma is a good choice.

I like the atoma the best, but it is probably a little more expensive if you shop around for the DMT (should be available in 8x3 duosharp for about $60 on ebay).

Just make sure it's not finer than 400 grit.

If you dress stones often, as you should do, that is plenty fine, even for the 400 grit. Best if you keep those hones for that only.

Atomas can be gotten on ebay sometimes from Alex Gilmore and they can be gotten from japan from a guy who runs a store called toolsfromjapan dot com (he's an upstanding fellow). They are about $100 or a couple of bucks more with a very nice rubber base.

The shapton diamond plate is crazy money. I won't state how much I've spent on stones, it's a significant multiple of the price of a shapton diamond plate, but I still wouldn't think of spending that kind of money when the DMT and the atoma work as well as they do - two squirts of water and a couple of seconds per stone.

[Matt Benton]

I would imagine a granite plate and sandpaper would flatten most any stone....

[Don Dorn]

My sharpening station has a melamine top (got the idea from Frank Klasuz's video) and use 220 screen and a foot square marble tile to flatten stones. So far, so good.

[John Coloccia]

I use a DMT plate. I honestly don't understand the Shapton lapping plate. I'm sure it works phenomenally well, but the DMT works perfectly well too at 1/6 the price.

[Rick Markham]

That was my suspicion, about the lapping plate. Thanks for the info, I will be investing in a DMT or Atoma stone, 400 grit it is! Thanks guys... I'd much rather spend that money elsewhere besides on a lapping plate.

[Thomas Halvorsen]

I use a DMT DuoSharp coarse/fine. This flattens both my coarse and finer grit shapton stones.

[Christian Castillo]

DMT suggests using the DMT continuous surface XXC for flattening water stones. I have one, the benefit is that it does not succumb to stiction when flattening water stones (unlike the DMT continuous surface C) due to the larger spaces in between each diamond tooth, and will wear out far slower due to the size of the diamonds and the deep valleys in between them. From what I've read on knife message boards, the Atoma 400 has it's diamonds arranged in a pattern which allow it to have spaces to clear the slurry and not stick to your stone, users also say that it is flatter and a much nicer performer than DMT's offerings. The Atoma 400 would be your best choice, a DMT XXC and C are the combo that are most recommended by cooking knife enthusiasts. The DMT XXC can level a badly worn stone in less than 1 minute, the Coarse refines the surface (preferable to use it on stones 1000 grit and finer as those will take advantage of a finer surface) to take out the XXC deep scratches.

You would also have the fastest non-machine steel eater, XXC, capable of re profiling bevels, flattening badly pitted or uneven chisel and plane backs ridiculously fast, and taking chips out in no time flat (it is so aggressive, it sounds like you are dragging a shovel along the sidewalk when you use it) and then using the Coarse stone to remove the XXC scratch pattern, which is very deep. A XXC + C combo costs as much as an Atoma 400 + adjustable stone holding base ( a really good one by the way) so you can get either the versatile DMT combo, or a better performing, but more limited, Solo Atoma 400. By the way, if you decide to get the Atoma 400, it is a thin steel plate glued onto an aluminum plate. Seal off where the steel and aluminum meet with marine epoxy as users have reported that with time, water gets in between the steel and aluminum, rusts the steel, and the steel layer beings to warp, unstick from the aluminum and looses its flatness. This results in a premature death, sealing it off, it will last for years.

The cheapest place to get the Atoma 400 is toolsfromjapan dot com if you go that route, though you will have to wait 2 weeks to get it from Japan. I just contacted Alex Gilmore about two weeks ago if he had any more Atoma plates left, sadly, he does not, probably not until later this summer. If you have the money, go with Atoma. Either way you will not lose.

[Steve knight]

sandpaper does not work well with shapton stones. it wears way too fast to be cost effective. I have used a dmt duo for years with no problems. I bought the black/blue. I but the monster sized one as it is easier to flatten if the diamond stone is larger then the water stone. before that I used the lapping plate. but I think it is time to sell it if I can find it.

[Matthew Dworman]

I HIGHLY recommend the shapton diamond lapping plate. It is big bucks, but its worth it in my opinion - the thing is DEAD flat - unlike the DMT stones that I have owned. It is designed for one thing only - flattening waterstones, and it does this very well and very quickly. 3-4 seconds of rubbing, and your stone is completely flat - the grooves in the plate allow for the slurry to build up without interfering.
If you can afford it, get it. The only time you will be upset is when you pay for it, but you will be happy with your purchase every time you use it.

[Paul Davis]

I bought an Atoma 400 from Stu at toolsfromjapan.com last month for $85 including shipping, and it came in 10 days or less. I use it only to flatten Shaptons, 1000 to 12000, and it works great. I like being able to leave the stones in place and rub the diamond plate upside down on them, as the Shapton lapping plate is used. Just a few swirls and they're flat.

Stu is a nice and helpful fellow. I wish I had bought the Shaptons from him in the same order--his prices are very good.
Paul

[george wilson]

I have used the side of a large,old time sandstone grinding wheel. It even quickly flattened a black Arkansas stone. Used with water on the sandstone.

[Orlando Gonzalez]

Ditto on the Atoma 400. I use it to flatten my Shaptons Glass & Pros, the Bester, & Sigma Power that Stu sells. A double ditto on buying from Stu. He is very knowledgeable, helpful, and great to deal with.

[Mike Zilis]

I just switched to Shapton stones from Norton waterstones a couple of weeks ago. I bought a coarse (Blue) DMT plate for flattening them. It works well, although its obvious that the DMT plate is not 100% flat. I'd like to get the Shapton flattener eventually, although the Atoma 400 is starting to sound pretty good.

-Mike

[Rick Markham]

Good information guys, I appreciate it all.

Mathew, in a perfect world I would love to buy the shapton lapping plate, I guess I am just really having trouble justifying the expense of it. Is it really 3x better than the Atoma, since it is 3x the price? I like to buy things that will last a lifetime, but lets face it, sharpening stones aren't one of those items that qualifies.

I guess one way I need to look at it, is since stones don't last forever, and neither will the atoma, DMT plates, Shapton lapping plate, what's the life expectancy of these things, used only for flattening stones? What happens when the useful life is up on the shapton stones? If I decided later I wanted different stones, is the lapping plate good for all other whet stones? or just the Shaptons. I know all diamond stones etc. all wear out eventually. Is the lapping plate going to outlast the other options by 3x? Or is it going to wear in a similar time frame?

Thanks, Y'all for bearing with me!

George, where could I find an old grinding stone? It's an attractive option for many reasons, I just don't have a clue where to start looking LOL