Lansky hones for curved blades, different height stones?..

[FloWolF]

Hi folks,
New to this forum but I've read plenty here over the years, and since I have a little job coming up for 10-20 bill-hook shaped foraging knives thought this was the place to be for the millions upon millions of things I don't know and can't fathom alone!

Hiya! <Waves>
',;~}~

Anyway 1st on that list - these Lansky stones for curved blades, I got a set of 4 because they were cheap and handy for this job, to use on my own little sharpening jig and soon as I looked at them I noticed the surfaces of the stones were not all at the same height with the 2 finer grades being thinner stones than the coarser 2, by a good mm or so and right away I can see how this will mean me resetting my jig between grades, or be prepared to cut an almost entirely new bevel half way through and it turns out 'they're all like that' even the replacement single stones.

So that bugged me a bit especially as it seemed 'pointless', except perhaps, because the finer grade abrasive is more expensive...

... And then I started to wonder how those with the Lansky 'guide' cope as theirs aren't infinitely, or even micro adjustable within the range, just a choice of 4 (?) set angles.

How do they cope with these things? Are those jigs just so sloppy the hones would rather follow the bevel already there than follow the hone/jig geometry? If so that sounds pretty much like 'freehand' to me and in which case WTH bother with the jig?

But I'm not trying to tell anyone anything here I'm the one after learning a thing or two aren't I.

Anyone who knows about any of these things care to fill me in?

Cheers folk, enjoy your weekends!

',;~}~

Shaun/FloWolF
(Whalley,
England)

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

They're probably all made using the same molds, and there's a difference in shrink rate during firing because of the different grain sizes requiring different grit/bond ratios. Generally the finer your grains the more shrinkage occurs in firing.

 

[cbwx34]

If I remember the Lansky instructions... when you insert the rod, you're supposed to put the rod and stone on a flat surface... then tighten it down. That should keep everything lined up... regardless of thickness. Since you're using your own setup... don't know if that will work or not.

 

[FloWolF]

The coarser 2 are dome topped with short straight sides like the top 1/4 of a factory sliced loaf of bread and the finer 2 hones are just some fraction of a circle - that's some shrinkage difference there indeed - you'd think the professionals would be able to account for such things wouldn't ya.

It's just a good job I'm flexible<cheap> and can work with imperfect<cheap> tools, and still make the same sub-mediocre outcome I'd get with accurately made tools.

Cheers!

',;~}~

 

[FloWolF]

If I remember the Lansky instructions... when you insert the rod, you're supposed to put the rod and stone on a flat surface... then tighten it down. That should keep everything lined up... regardless of thickness. Since you're using your own setup... don't know if that will work or not.

BINGO! I knew I must have been missing something by how tempted I felt to completely blame the product and condemn it to the 9 hells heheheh.

Yeah their rod is angled at one end and fits into the hone from the side doesn't it, but mine is a straight 6mm rod that fits the ends of the hones I use - cheers fella for putting that light back on - I hate a mystery ',;~}~


Shaun

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

If I remember the Lansky instructions... when you insert the rod, you're supposed to put the rod and stone on a flat surface... then tighten it down. That should keep everything lined up... regardless of thickness. Since you're using your own setup... don't know if that will work or not.

^This.

Lansky's L-shaped rod is designed to allow the hone's surface to be set flush to the plane of the long arm of the rod, by moving the hone up/down the short arm of the rod. This means it'll always be in-plane to the rod, and will never matter if an individual hone isn't the same thickness as others in the set. All that matters, is that the hone's surface and the rod are in the same plane, which keeps everything referenced correctly for the angle.

It's set up according the method cbwx34 described above, by setting the hone face-down on a flat surface, with the short arm of the guide rod inserted through the hole in the hone, and the tip of the short arm pointed upward. Adjust the guide rod up/down until the long arm of the 'L' is also laying flush to the flat surface. Then tighten down the set screw.


David

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

that's some shrinkage difference there indeed - you'd think the professionals would be able to account for such things wouldn't ya.

Not without either seriously impacting the performance qualities of the stone due to having to alter the blend significantly, or incurring a much higher cost due to having to make completely separate molds for each grit. Those are quite expensive, and have to be amortized over unit volume and the useful life of the mold. It's much more sensible to just set your L rods accordingly and not worry about it.

 

[FloWolF]

If I remember the Lansky instructions... when you insert the rod, you're supposed to put the rod and stone on a flat surface... then tighten it down. That should keep everything lined up... regardless of thickness. Since you're using your own setup... don't know if that will work or not.

BINGO! I knew I must have been missing something by how tempted I felt to completely blame the product and condemn it to the 9 hells heheheh.

Yeah their rod is angled at one end and fits into the home from the side doesn't it, but mine is a straight 6mm rod that fits the ends of the hones I use - cheers fella for putting that light back on - I hate a mystery ',;~}~


Shaun

^This.

Lansky's L-shaped rod is designed to allow the hone's surface to be set flush to the plane of the long arm of the rod, by moving the hone up/down the short arm of the rod. This means it'll always be in-plane to the rod, and will never matter if an individual hone isn't the same thickness as others in the set. All that matters, is that the hone's surface and the rod are in the same plane, which keeps everything referenced correctly for the angle.

It's set up according the method cbwx34 described above, by setting the hone face-down on a flat surface, with the short arm of the guide rod inserted through the hole in the hone, and the tip of the short arm pointed upward. Adjust the guide rod up/down until the long arm of the 'L' is also laying flush to the flat surface. Then tighten down the set screw.


David

Yes thanks fella I got all that from cbwx34's post, also seeing how this allows compensation for different amounts of wear to the hones too.

Different matter with mine as I made it to use diamond plates glued to machined acrylic blocks and levels of wear there are not enough to change the cutting angle, so mine just push end-on onto 6mm stainless rods.

Cheers folks,

Shaun/FloWolF

 

[bobobama]

I'm following this discussion closely, and nobody seems to be getting to the heart of the problem. Two of the Lansky curved stones (the fine and ultra fine) are made of a different composition than all the others, curved or flat. They are extremely soft (can't emphasize this enough) and will just start disintegrating as soon as you try to use them. Check out the reviews on the "big river" site and you'll see what I'm talking about. I just e-mailed Lansky with a complaint about this, and I'm curious to see what they come back with.