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Do I need to prep my Norton stone before first use?
- Thread starter snippy
- Start date
David Martin
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Just look at it to see if it looks level. If it's not then some leveling may be needed. Otherwise I think you can start using it with oil. DM
Last edited:
Gary W. Graley
“Imagination is more important than knowledge"
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
- Joined
- Mar 2, 1999
- Messages
- 27,518
If it's brandy new it's probably fairly flat already. Sometimes stones can arrive with a glaze on them that doesn't allow the stone's grit to cut into the metal as well, so you may need to 'freshen' the surface up. To do that is pretty easy, you'll need a piece of glass you don't care about any more, needs to be larger than the stone as you will be rubbing the stone on the glass surface, which should be flat.
Get some fine carbide grit seen here
Sprinkle just a small amount of that on the glass, you'll want to put the glass plate on a rubber mat to prevent it from moving around on you. Then take and sprinkle some water on the grit and start rubbing the stone against the glass. It'll show any high spots on your stone pretty quickly. And just a word of warning, this is a LOUD operation
my wife just hates this!
Also, while most will use oil, I've found it best to sharpen dry and wash off any grit from the sharpening process. It's a cleaner way, less messy to do too. To clean any metal that gets into the stone, you can do the carbide thing again, but usually you can get it cleaned off quickly with some lighter fluid
Here's my travel kit for sharpening, works pretty well;
Set of Spyderco Profiles, Spyderco DoubleStuff, Rust Eraser for cleaning the ceramics Leather strop, a small fine india and a combo stone with a fine india and a coarse section and a pound of Silicon Carbide grit for resurfacing the stones and lighter fluid for cleaning the stones. I've stopped the oil mess and no looking back!
got this plastic tub from Wallmart, it JUST holds the 1 pound of the Silicon Carbide grit it's varying sized but works well, just use a piece of glass and a little water and you're in business That 1 pound will last you a life time! Don't wash off that glass when you are done, just leave that grit on there and add a little next time you use it.
G2
Get some fine carbide grit seen here
Sprinkle just a small amount of that on the glass, you'll want to put the glass plate on a rubber mat to prevent it from moving around on you. Then take and sprinkle some water on the grit and start rubbing the stone against the glass. It'll show any high spots on your stone pretty quickly. And just a word of warning, this is a LOUD operation
my wife just hates this!Also, while most will use oil, I've found it best to sharpen dry and wash off any grit from the sharpening process. It's a cleaner way, less messy to do too. To clean any metal that gets into the stone, you can do the carbide thing again, but usually you can get it cleaned off quickly with some lighter fluid
Here's my travel kit for sharpening, works pretty well;
Set of Spyderco Profiles, Spyderco DoubleStuff, Rust Eraser for cleaning the ceramics Leather strop, a small fine india and a combo stone with a fine india and a coarse section and a pound of Silicon Carbide grit for resurfacing the stones and lighter fluid for cleaning the stones. I've stopped the oil mess and no looking back!
got this plastic tub from Wallmart, it JUST holds the 1 pound of the Silicon Carbide grit it's varying sized but works well, just use a piece of glass and a little water and you're in business
That 1 pound will last you a life time! Don't wash off that glass when you are done, just leave that grit on there and add a little next time you use it.
G2
Gary W. Graley
“Imagination is more important than knowledge"
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
- Joined
- Mar 2, 1999
- Messages
- 27,518
Most lapidary stores carry it, that link I posted will provide some hint, other than that, not sure where else you can get some at.
If you check any stores that carry stone polishing kits and things, they usually have bags of grit to use in that process.
G2
If you check any stores that carry stone polishing kits and things, they usually have bags of grit to use in that process.
G2
- Joined
- Jun 4, 2010
- Messages
- 6,642
As mentioned above, if its flat, just a half teaspoon of mineral/honing oil and off you go. These stones do sometimes come with a bit of glazing from being surfaced at the factory (or maybe from being fired?). If so, you can generally get them up and running by using a little more oil and just work it good with the back of chisel or some other metal tool that has a surface you can beat on it with. The stone breaks down a bit as it goes, and the surface will self-condition with a bit of usage.
Lapping grit on a plate comes in handy if it starts to dish out and needs flattening. If you pick some up, get a fairly large grit - 80 maybe or 120 and the finest. It breaks down into a finer size very quickly under pressure. As Gary advised, use enough water to keep it moving, but not enough that it starts to rinse away. I find a blob of dishsoap helps congeal things a bit.
Arrowhead lapidary is a good supplier, and the slurry used for sharpening reel mowers will work too.