How do I flatten sharpening stones

[BeagleMaster64]

one of my lansky stone (120 grit) is getting a bow in it

 

[marcinek]

I believe they have stones/plates to do that, at least for water stones.

 

[JupiterPaladin]

You basically use another sharpening stone on that stone. I bought 3 large whetstones that I use primarily to fix my smaller stones with.

 

[waverave]

You can get a flattening stone which is made just for that...looks something like this:

 

[BeagleMaster64]

will it work for lansky alumina oxide stones?

 

[waverave]

Thing is you need it to be harder than the stone you are flattening. 120 grit is very coarse so I'm not sure if that is going to work well. In fact, most flattening stones are ~120 grit and cost about as much as a set of Lansky stones...might be a better recommendation to get a new stone. Just asking but you must sharpen a lot of busted up knives to wear down a 120 grit stone? I've never had a need for anything that coarse before.

 

[BeagleMaster64]

im looking into a 70 grit diamond stone for reporfiling

 

[BeagleMaster64]

and the bow is very slight but its enough its giving convex edges that the other stones have to flatten

 

[waverave]

im looking into a 70 grit diamond stone for reporfiling

Wow...that is incredibly coarse. I've never needed anything more than ~400 to fix chips, reprofile, etc. I just don't think you can flatten stones that coarse without getting creative or more expensive than the stone. You shouldn't have that problem if you get diamond stones.

 

[Diemaker]

Around 60 micron silicon carbide powder, a little water, and a hard flat surface. Glass or hard stone will work fine. While lapping the stone try to lap the plate flat while doing so.

 

[David Martin]

im looking into a 70 grit diamond stone for reporfiling

That would be a good one to flatten your 120 grit stone. Make sure it is SiC grit. Or get the flattening stone it runs about 36$. The coarse stone
is the foundation of a sharpening regiment and it should carry the heavy work load. I have to lap my coarse stone of 120 grit SiC about once every 3-4 years, or less. I use a ACE Hardware coarse stone in 80 grit (192 u) of SiC, 5$. If you sharpen much you'll need to level the coarse stone much more than the finer stones. Mark the stone to level w/ a black felt marker using diagonal lines. Wet the stone and
start rubbing it on the other stone. Check progress often. Retain much of the slurry to use later. Good luck, DM

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

The Lansky extra-coarse (70-grit) replacement hone is under $10; even as low as $5.99 as listed on their own site. Might be simpler just to replace it, as opposed to possibly spending a lot of time and even more money on another stone used to flatten it. Just a thought...

And it may be worth looking at which steels(?) you're trying to grind with it, if it's getting dished. If the steels are higher in wear-resistance, with a lot of carbides, it may be better to use one of Lansky's diamond hones instead. I ruined two of my aluminum oxide Lansky hones on an S30V blade, with dishing & glazing being the result. Didn't waste much time buying the diamond kit, after that.

 

[ahoward2k]

I put a wicked bow in the 120 stone that came with my tsprof, and an edgepro 120 resetting the bevels on my knives and setting the bevels on some customers knives, and my zdp189 endura. I've given up my purist thought process and go to the belt grinder to rough in. There's an old saying, never grind when you can cut. The point is, when establishing bevels, I go with the coarsest stone I have.