[OP]
Member
I sharpened 6 Marples chisels, 2 knives and a block plane blade so far. From my short experience, I don't see a need for an in between stone. I'm sure there are tools out there that have much harder steel than mine, but until I get some, I thing the 1000 and 8000 and a strop is all I need. Nothing like shiny sharp edges on your tools!!! I don't have my shop back together yet so I can't even try them. Waaa!
I had a shapton 1K + 8K and Chosera 800 and 3000 on my bench side by side just last week. the shapton 8K does polish more than the 3k chosera but I got a better edge out of the chosera. maybe because the shapton could use a stone in between and maybe because I'm familiar with the chosera and how it works. the 8k shpaton is a very decent stone, not my cup of tea but it cuts well and didn't load on me. the 1k shapton is great, and the chosera 800 is very similar, not much between them, but I like the aggressive feel of the shapton.
Member
What's wrong with the glass shaptons? I bought the 1k, 4k, and 8k and they work well for me. Are the pros a better deal or better medium?
that you also aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you...
1 Thessalonians 4:11
Contributor
The negative thing I heard about the glass Shaptons is that the sharpening part is relatively thin. Of course, it takes a long time to wear out a sharpening stone. With the pro Shaptons, if you ever wore them down to the level that you were afraid they would break, you could epoxy them to a piece of glass.Originally Posted by Bob Jones
Mike
Go into the world and do well. But more importantly, go into the world and do good.
Member
Well now in actual practice . . .
. . . . I have used my diamond plate a whole bunch on blade backs . . . eventually abusing the plate by pressing really hard out of frustration with the slow progress (until I got smart and started using zirconia sanding belt on a flat surface; cuts much faster) and used the diamond plate on steel blade bevels for sharpening and still use it for that.
My diamond plate is not ruined or too out of flat to flatten stones on. The grit is so small I find the amount of “distortion” from “wear” is not an issue.
THEORETICALLY there is a wear problem and the plate is not perfectly flat . . . in practice it is not an issue.
I like this plate for the little round holes for the slurry to get out of the way into.
PS: I have checked the flatness of this plate on my Starrett surface plate when I got it and it is very flat.
PPS: the measurement shown is not the distortion of the plate but the depth of the little round hole.
PPPS: Congrats on joining the Shaptonista. I don't think you need the expensive Shapton flattener but a FLAT plate to flatten your stones might be an improvement. Again I recommend the flattening plates with groves or holes for slurry to get out of the way into.
My large pink ceramic stone with big grooves for flattening was not flat and I wound up flattening it on the DMT plate shown.
Last edited by Winton Applegate; 12-14-2014 at 5:36 PM. Reason: PPPS
Sharpening is Facetating.Good enough is good enoughButBetter is Better.
[OP]
Member
Has anyone ever worn one out? I wonder how long they last but I guess that would be different for everyone.
Contributor
This doesn't answer your question, but I dropped my 1000 pro Shapton and it broke in two. I glued it back together with epoxy and also glued it to a Norton 1000 stone I had. So I now have a double sided 1000 stone, one side Shapton and one side Norton.
No problem flattening the Shapton after the gluing and no problem using it since. The epoxy glue is soft compared to the stone.
I guess I could have glued it to a piece of glass, but I didn't have a piece of glass the right size.
Mike
Go into the world and do well. But more importantly, go into the world and do good.
Contributor
Well, as long as we are talking about gluing stones to glass, and I hope the OP doesn't mind me springboarding a question here- I didn't think epoxy would stick to glass. What type of epoxy did you use?
What I do love about the Shapton Glass stones is it's very easy to identify each stone because the grit is printed on the stone, visible through the glass. I know that's a small thing, but I do love it.
[OP]
Member
The grit is written on the back of the Pros as well. I don't plan on using that side for sharpening. Now that I think of it, I could go twice as long between lapping if I did use the other side. Hmmm.
Contributor
I think you need to step up significantly from the Harbor Freight technology for doing this job. They are basically a thin steel plate with some diamond like crystals stuck on. Not only that they are too small for the task you are expecting of them - the diamond plate needs to be about 50% larger than your stone or its not going to get your stone flat. I think something like Winton identified are more like what you need
Contributor
I haven't worn one out, but I was given an almost worn out 1000 grit glasstone. Rob Cosman gave me the stone at the end of a class that my brother and I took up in Calgary a number of years ago (back when Rob was doing the week long classes at the SAIT location). If anyone would wear out a stone it would be Rob, teaching all those classes.
John
[OP]
Member
I will probably get one when I get some more free cash but for now I don't where it's any different from flattening a large bench with a small plane. I'll keep checking the flatness over time and see if I really need the big stone.
Member
Unmodified epoxies were never regarded as great glass bonders. They will make a bond, but over time (with metal parts anyway) tended to come apart as a result of not being able to handle the stresses that arise with temperature changes/thermal cycling. The other big issue with galss is to make sure it's dry/conditions are warm - it's so easy to end up with a film of condensation that messes with the bond.
There's quite a few epoxy based glass bonders about now, so presumably the problems have been overcome. That said the e.g. Locitie professional glass bonder is an acrylic. Quite a bit would depend too on how well matched the stone and the glass were in terms of coeff of expansion - if fairly close it might well be fine...
Last edited by ian maybury; 12-16-2014 at 7:24 AM.
[OP]
Member
Got to try some real hard steel today. One of my coworkers who is a hunter, told me that could never get his Buck knives sharp and would actually throw them away and get a new one when they got dull. This caused me to dig mine out and see how these stones would handle it. It took a surprising long time to raise a burr on the 1000, probably 5 minutes work. This tells me that I need a lower grit stone for working really hard steel. Once I got a consistent burr, I moved to the 8000. Again, a lot of work to get what I wanted. Need the 4 or 5000 in between. All total I probably spent 15 minutes sharpening this knife and a very little time on the strop. It passes the fingernail test.
Member
I have been very impressed with the cutting action of this new bench stone combo. The cutting action on my other brands of diamond stones rate quite poorly in comparison to this new diamond surface. I have been using Dan's Honing Oil as a lubricant for both surfaces.
http://www.heinnie.com/fallkniven-dc521
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