My stone is dished.

[Mo-Dave]

For those of you that use a stone to sharpen with, what do you use to flatten your stones with once they get dished out? I have been using some wet/dry sand paper today, but so far I have only almost gotten one side done. I can't spend much, certainly not anywhere near 200.00 for a lapping stone. So can you give me some ideas or links to where I can get something usable on the cheep? Do I need to worry about using a different grit for the different grits on my stone?
Dave

 

[scaramoche]

Lee valley truing stone item # 08M15.30 got mine for $28.00.

 

[Igotgas]

Never really thought about it myself. I could probably eat cereal out of my stone. I just keep using it.....

 

[CigarHerb]

I got a granite remnant (free from specialty place) and place wet dry on top of that. Flatten after every use.

 

[PanamaExpat]

For sharpening I gave up on the stones a long time ago. I have several wood chisels and have to keep them scalpel sharp and I do my knives the same way. For a REALLY dull knife I have a floor polishing machine that uses various grades of stone for doing marble, terrazzo, etc. I take an old number 2 stone that is too thin to use in the machine and use it to get a basic edge on the knife. Then I have a piece of quartz left over from a bathroom counter top that is about 3 inches wide and 14 inches long. I wet that and soak some 200 and 500 grit wet sand paper cut into strips wide enougn to lay on the stone. The water affixes the paper to the stone and I use it like a sharpening stone starting with the 200 grit and finishing with the 500 grit. On chisels depending on whether they are my good ones or my utility ones I go up to 1200 grit. Works great and leaves everything razor sharp. You could use any piece of polished smooth stone for your base or a piece of 1/2" or thicker glass. If you don't know where to buy one just go to any place that cuts stone for counter tops and flooring and they will probably just give you one out of the scrap pile. You might tip the guy to pass it through the saw to get it the size you want. I am lucky as I have one of those water cooled diamond saws and make my own.

 

[Mo-Dave]

Thanks for everyone's reply. After doing some reading I think I will go with the glass or other flat surface, with either drywall or wet dry sandpaper. I will see how this works, and then decide if I still need some other device to flatten my stone.
Dave

 

[JohnnyP]

Do most of the flattening on a concrete surface such as a sidewalk, driveway, patio or even a concrete block.

 

[Mo-Dave]

Do most of the flattening on a concrete surface such as a sidewalk, driveway, patio or even a concrete block.

I read about that, but they said regular concrete was not hard enough, they recommended some kind of blocks that would work better, I don't remember what they were.
Dave

 

[Mo-Dave]

Never really thought about it myself. I could probably eat cereal out of my stone. I just keep using it.....

Chad I picked up some drywall sanding screen and some drywall fine sandpaper. It did not take much effort to get my stone flat. I took some of my knives that I had just sharpened, thinking they were sharp, and put them to my newely flatten stone, Wow the difference was well worth the effort. If your stone is as bad as you say I highly suggest you try this, but if it is as dished as you say it may take a bit of work to get it flat again.

You will need a pencil to draw lines on the stone so while flattening the stone you will be able to tell were the high and low spots are, sand until the marks are gone. A good straight edge for checking for daylight between it and the stone, and a surface that you know to be flat, I used my table saw top, but am on the lookout for a good hunk of granite or glass.
Dave