Lapping A Lansky Stone

Menace · Mar 20, 2011

So the 1000 grit ultra fine stone that goes with my Lansky systems isn't exactly flat anymore, how would I go about flattening it? I'm thinking just some 1000 grot wet/dry sandpaper on a flat surface? Is there a better or recommended way to do this?

Obsessed with Edges · Mar 20, 2011

I've actually done this, to both my Fine (purple hone in blue holder) and EF (white hone in yellow holder). These hones are ceramic. As such, about the only thing that will do it in something-less-than a lifetime, is diamond. The wet/dry sandpaper will be either aluminum oxide (same stuff as the ceramic hones), or silicon carbide (almost the same, in terms of hardness). Either way, the sandpaper won't touch it. On that note, I also use a Spyderco DoubleStuff hone (ceramic) occasionally and, just for grins, I 'tried' the wet/dry sandpaper on it. Makes no impression at all, so far as I can tell.

I flattened my (warped) hones on a Coarse DMT interrupted surface hone. Even then, it took a VERY long time, and added a lot of wear to the DMT. I got it done, but I'm not sure I'd do it again, at least the same way.

The Lansky hones are relatively inexpensive ($10 - $15, give or take). If I were once again facing a warped or otherwise un-flat hone, I'd likely just replace it.

Edit:
Another thing to consider. Lapping any hone can change the way it cuts. With ceramic, this usually means it's less aggressive after the fact. Makes a smoother polishing hone, but it might be slower.

Menace · Mar 21, 2011

Obsessed with Edges said:
I've actually done this, to both my Fine (purple hone in blue holder) and EF (white hone in yellow holder). These hones are ceramic. As such, about the only thing that will do it in something-less-than a lifetime, is diamond. The wet/dry sandpaper will be either aluminum oxide (same stuff as the ceramic hones), or silicon carbide (almost the same, in terms of hardness). Either way, the sandpaper won't touch it. On that note, I also use a Spyderco DoubleStuff hone (ceramic) occasionally and, just for grins, I 'tried' the wet/dry sandpaper on it. Makes no impression at all, so far as I can tell.

I flattened my (warped) hones on a Coarse DMT interrupted surface hone. Even then, it took a VERY long time, and added a lot of wear to the DMT. I got it done, but I'm not sure I'd do it again, at least the same way.

The Lansky hones are relatively inexpensive ($10 - $15, give or take). If I were once again facing a warped or otherwise un-flat hone, I'd likely just replace it.

Edit:
Another thing to consider. Lapping any hone can change the way it cuts. With ceramic, this usually means it's less aggressive after the fact. Makes a smoother polishing hone, but it might be slower.

thanks so much for the response, what pisses me off is that it is brand new, I couldn't tell it was warped until after I bought it and threw away the box so I can't return it

Obsessed with Edges · Mar 21, 2011

Menace said:
thanks so much for the response, what pisses me off is that it is brand new, I couldn't tell it was warped until after I bought it and threw away the box so I can't return it

I used mine for a long while, before I even noticed the warp in 'em. In my case, I don't think it was necessary to flatten the hones to 'perfect', as I was already getting good results. But, being the 'obsessive' one I am, once I noticed the warp, I felt I just had to do something about it. It was partly driven by my curiosity, to see just what it'd take to flatten one of these. Now I know, so it was a 'valuable' learning experience.

The DMT hone I used (Dia-Fold C/F) was one that I'd previously not used much anyway, so I was willing to treat it as 'expendable'. As it turns out, even though I did visibly wear it down, it still does quite a nice job sharpening my pocketknives. Not as aggressive as it once was, but turned out to be a lot more durable than I'd assumed. IF you do decide to try doing this, keep the diamond hone WET. I used a Pyrex dish, filled with enough water to just cover it. I used a sheet of wet/dry sandpaper underneath the hone, to help keep it from moving & slipping in the dish as I worked. Again, I don't necessarily recommend doing this (not sure it was worth the work), but that's how I got it done.