Flattening waterstones

[Brian Deakin]

I am considering purchasing a diamond stone to flatten my Norton waterstones.I have a 250,1000,4000 and 8000 stones

My understanding is to use a course or very coarse diamond stone


Can anyone please advise/comment

Further can anyone advise which diamond stone to purchase


regards Brian

[Jim Matthews]

I use the Norton Flattening stone.

I start with my FINEst waterstone and progress to the coarsest.
This way, any slurry left on the flattening stone is finer than the waterstone at hand.

If you wash the flattening stone between the different grits of waterstones, you can proceed as you like.

[Peter Quinn]

I can't advise on the diamond stones for flattening, never tried it, but I like these Japanese stone fixers the best. I have a norton too, but is one cuts maybe 3 times faster and leaves a better surface.

http://korin.com/Suiheikun-Large?sc=27&category=280111

[Nelson Howe]

Do a search in neanderthal haven. You'll find mountains of info there.

Nelson

[Stephen Cherry]

I use a diamond stone to flatten my spyderco ceramic stone. If it can cut ceramic, it would cut waterstone like butter.

[Chad Bender]

I have a small (8x10) granite reference plate ($25). Combine that with some course wet/dry sandpaper from the auto parts store and I can flatten my Norton stones in just a few minutes very inexpensively. If you can't find a plate, you can use a big tile; won't be perfect, but likely good enough.

As Nelson noted, there was a large thread about this topic just last week in the Neanderthal forum.

[Myk Rian]

I've used my belt sander.

[Jay Park]

I have a small (8x10) granite reference plate ($25). Combine that with some course wet/dry sandpaper from the auto parts store and I can flatten my Norton stones in just a few minutes very inexpensively. If you can't find a plate, you can use a big tile; won't be perfect, but likely good enough.

As Nelson noted, there was a large thread about this topic just last week in the Neanderthal forum.

Good tip,

Another was to go is get a DMT Dia Sharp D8XX. It's good at rough sharpening, plus flattening stones

[Steven Hsieh]

I have used Naniwa flattening stone, japanwoodworker's flattening stone. The problem with these stones they stay flat when they are new. But they will need to be flatten.
I now use DMT coarse. It it pretty darn flat.. I find that it takes too much on my naniwa water stone. I would recommend getting the fine plate.

[Steve Friedman]

I start with my FINEst waterstone and progress to the coarsest.
This way, any slurry left on the flattening stone is finer than the waterstone at hand.

I'm not an expert, but I think I recall reading this to be a bad idea. I use diamond plates to flatten and rinse between each stone, but the theory is that the small grit particles that you get from sharpening the fine stone will clog the pores of the coarser stones. The reverse is not as bad, since the larger grit particles will not clog the pores of the finer stone. The only danger is if the larger grit particles embed in the finer stone, which is why I think it is safer to rinse between stones.

Steve

[Mike Henderson]

I use the Norton Flattening stone.

I start with my FINEst waterstone and progress to the coarsest.
This way, any slurry left on the flattening stone is finer than the waterstone at hand.

If you wash the flattening stone between the different grits of waterstones, you can proceed as you like.

My experience with the Norton Flattening stone is that it's useless. The problem is that the flattening stone has to be kept flat and it gets out of flat pretty quickly. I was working with another guy and I was going crazy trying to sharpen some plane blades. He handed me a DMT diamond plate and I discovered that my water stones were out of flat because my Norton Flattening Stone was no longer flat.

I threw the Norton Flattening stone away and immediately went and bought a DMT coarse/extra coarse diamond plate and have used that ever since - with excellent results.

Mike

[And just to add to my comments, you cannot guarantee a flat surface by rubbing two stones together. All you'll get is two conforming surfaces, usually one convex and the other concave. If you search, you'll find that you need three surfaces, and you need to rotate between the surfaces in a certain sequence, to guarantee a flat surface.]

[ian maybury]

There's a 400grit 'economy' diamond plate made by a Japanese company called Atoma http://www.fine-tools.com/diasharpener.html that's widely regarded by the guys that have done a lot of sharpening as good for flattening waterstones - I've just bought one but haven't used it yet. It's reckoned to be advisable to seal the edge with a line of a clear lacquer to prevent the possibility of corrosion.

Some of the DMT plates seem to draw some flak for not being all that flat, others do very well with them. The trick seems to be to buy in a shop, and to pick one that's flat.

It's been said that very coarse waterstones (120 and the like) are hard on diamond plates, but how much of an issue that may be I don't know..

ian

[Buck Williams]

The Wood Whisperer has a video that is up on it's front page, that recommends a 220 grit diamond stone. The thing I like about it is that the 200 grit can also be used to remove a lot of material from a chisel or plane iron that needs a lot of rehab.

[Christopher Hawkins]

I use the Norton Flattening stone.

I start with my FINEst waterstone and progress to the coarsest.
This way, any slurry left on the flattening stone is finer than the waterstone at hand.

If you wash the flattening stone between the different grits of waterstones, you can proceed as you like.

The finer stones are used to remove scratches from the coarser stones. This results in a edge with fewer valleys. The smoother surface distributes the force from cutting the wood across a larger surface thus making a more durable edge.

[John Piwaron]

I use the Norton Flattening stone.

If you wash the flattening stone between the different grits of waterstones, you can proceed as you like.

Ditto. It works great!