The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is ready to order! See this thread for details:
https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/bladeforums-2024-traditional-knife.2003187/
Price is $300 $250 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/ - Order as many as you like, we have plenty.
I use a cheap diamond hone to flatten mine.
Sandpaper on a flat surface would probably do it too.
Dont forget to wash the grit off the stone before you use it though.
Whst grit do you use?I use 8" DMT's to flatten my 8" waterstones most of the time. If I want to go overboard I get out the extremely flat lapping plate...
Would any flat Glass work? Would I just tape the sandpaper to the glass? I don't have any spare glass around the house but I could use the glass shelf in my entertainment center unless the process could ruin them.a piece of glass or mirror with sandpaper. adjust the grit of the sandpaper according to the grit of the stones
I would think that you could use 80-120 grit sandpaper on a piece of plate glass. My dedicated flattening stone is at least that rough, if not more, and I use that on 12,000 grit water stones.
Stitchawl
I use this to flatten my Naniwa stones...works fine and price is good.
Would any flat Glass work? Would I just tape the sandpaper to the glass? I don't have any spare glass around the house but I could use the glass shelf in my entertainment center unless the process could ruin them.
Do I have to use wet/dry sandpaper or any sandpaper?
Any flat glass that is strong enough not to break. Don't use window glass unless it's lying on a flat table. A shelf from a medicine cabinet would work well, or as you suggest, your entertainment center.
Most people do use wet/dry, but in fact, a lot of people just use ordinary sand sprinkled on a cement block! Some folks just use the cement block without the sand on top! The important part is that it must be flat.
Stitchawl
So I could just rub it on a cement cinder block?
If you rub a very fine waterstone on a very coarse cinder block, wouldn't it rough up the surface of the waterstone?
great info. thanksYes, but that doesn't change the grit size of the waterstone, it only changes the appearance of the stone, and to a 12,000 grit stone... Microscopically, valleys, gouges, and canyons left in the stone, but to a knife blade, it's just fine.
When you sharpen a curved blade, the edge is only contacting a small part of the stone at one time. When a stone is rougher than its grit (as almost ALL stones are after flattening, even on a 220 grit flattener) the blade only contacts the stone in small parts too. Quite bumpy compared to the grit size. But the only thing that results is that it might take one more stroke to achieve the final results. Perhaps two strokes.
Stitchawl
Waterstones WILL eat into the nickel plated substrate on diamond hones. Your diamonds will fall out. Use sandpaper, or a Carborundum stone.