Separating waterstones

C

cap'njake

Joined
Aug 15, 2016
Messages
206
I have a 4000/8000 grit norton waterstone and was thinking about seperating them into 2 stones. Anybody ever do this? I don't really care much for having two grits in one place. Seems like I always get the coarser grit slurry on the finer stone. I was thinking about just going slow and using a hacksaw to split them.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G870A using Tapatalk
 
Huh, never tried

seems like too much work 😂

How about a spray bottle?
 
Probably won't end well but you can try.
 
Probably would just dull the heck out of your hacksaw blade


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Lol well that's why I ask here. I assumed at least one person had tried it. Guess I'm weird. Well I will give it a go and let ya know what happens

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G870A using Tapatalk
 
cap'njake said:
Lol well that's why I ask here. I assumed at least one person had tried it. Guess I'm weird. Well I will give it a go and let ya know what happens

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G870A using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

You'll need to use a diamond sawsall blade or better yet a tile wetsaw. If feeling very daring you could brace the stone up on a piece of steel, stone etc so only one half is supported and whack it with a mallet on a piece of hardwood on the unsupported edge. The two halves might separate or they might break somewhere else.

The wetsaw is the best option, you'll have to make passes from both sides to cut it clean, and it might still be connected along a thin strip in the middle. You'll lose a bunch of stone though...a lot easier to give it a good dunk from side to side and leave it in one piece.

Boiling it might work too, haven't tried that.

Edit to add:
I cut my combination Nortons the long way so I had two approx 1" wide stones. One of the 4k/8k stones broke at the seam after a bunch of use, lost a piece of the 4k when it hit the floor...
 
A powered tile saw would be a better choice but from what I have heard even that does not work so well. I have noticed some the Japanese suppliers using what looks like a wood cutting circular saw blade for natural stones. I also know that a lot can go wrong cutting stones with power saws so I highly recommend against it.
 
I don't see it ending well, regardless of method. Too much that can go horribly wrong.
 
Hi,

I attempted to cut a dollar tree stone in half lengthwise,
it was rather easy to score it with point of utility razor about 2mm deep
in a few minutes,
but it gets more difficult the deeper you go

you definitely need to
clamp the stone
and rig up a cutting guide of some sort
if you want anything resembling a straight line





also, just something to consider,
on ebay now there are 5000 grit waterstones listed for $3 with shipping
~7.2in x ~2.5in
 
Lol I actually have a carbide grit hacksaw blade and took a couple light passes to see what it would do and seemed to cut easy enough. I gotta go to bed right now. Work early in the morning but I will finish it up tomorrow.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G870A using Tapatalk
 
carbide grit hacksaw blade
Click to expand...

That is how I SCORED these and broke them off of larger stones. Nortons.
AFTER I bought the Shaptons shown bellow. I had nothing to loose since the Nortons were made redundant.

I can not imagine sawing all the way. Perhaps the fault line between your stone halves is weak. I kind of doubt it is significantly weak enough to allow you to shear the stones.



I am surprised no one has attempted to introduce order to chaos here but I will try . . .

Setting the price of a diamond saw blade against the price of two separate stones.

add your time
add the pleasure of SHOPPING for new stones

and you get pretty storage boxes color coded just right for each stone . . .

Just a thought



 
Look for a rock and mineral shop. They have big diamond saws. They charge by the cross sectional area of the cut.
 
Wowbagger said:
That is how I SCORED these and broke them off of larger stones. Nortons.
AFTER I bought the Shaptons shown bellow. I had nothing to loose since the Nortons were made redundant.

Click to expand...

Where'd you get the containers?

To the OP, if you should be successful in slicing the stones in half, then you would need to prop them up to give space above the surface so that your knuckles won't get in the way.
 
Where'd you get the containers?
Click to expand...

They come with the Shapton Pro stone.
I don't use them while sharpening, though they are designed to hold the stone on top of the closed box, I just store the stone in them. The box is vented so the stone can dry and not get mold growing on it.
Good stuff !
 
There is probably a cemetery close to you. They all have headstone companies that do nothing but cut stone all day long... They have the tools to cut your stone correctly. That they 'will' cut it is another story, but it never hurts to ask. I had a couple of stones cut down into EdgePro blank sizes many years ago, back when EdgePro was just a fledgling company and no one was selling other stones for it.


Stitchawl
 
I have to ask-how are they joined together? knowing that might help.
 
meako said:
I have to ask-how are they joined together? knowing that might help.
Click to expand...

The one I have that broke in half didn't show any obvious adhesive but I'd say that has to be the case. The 1k and 4k are a vitreous bind and the 8k is a resin bind, so unlikely they're fired together.

Also, while taking a 1/4" slice off the end of one of my 1k/4k stones the halves fell apart the instant they were free, probably a thin slowset epoxy of some sort. The resin base of the 8k makes it tough to safely use solvents but it would almost assuredly survive a boil, a whack on the edge of a cutting board when hot might get er done.

If that didn't work, these stones aren't all that beefy and losing a bunch of material to the kerf on a wetsaw would not make me very happy. If OP likes the stones, buy a single, solid 4k and only use the 8k side on the combination stone - it'll last forever anyway.
 
I tried the carbide grit hacksaw blade I have and made some really good progress before I had to leave for work. Got about halfway thru. It's just really slow but the blade is making it thru. I am only taking real light strokes tho. Took about 15 minutes to get that far. So far no chipping or cracking and the hack saw blade is thin so not a huge amount of lost material. I am staying more on the 8k side since that stone will last longer anyway. Will finish it when I get off work

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G870A using Tapatalk
 
cap'njake said:
I tried the carbide grit hacksaw blade I have and made some really good progress before I had to leave for work. Got about halfway thru. It's just really slow but the blade is making it thru. I am only taking real light strokes tho. Took about 15 minutes to get that far. So far no chipping or cracking and the hack saw blade is thin so not a huge amount of lost material. I am staying more on the 8k side since that stone will last longer anyway. Will finish it when I get off work

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G870A using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Cool!

Be careful when you get close to the last few passes, that's when they like to chip or snap.
 
You also might want to get some glass to mount the stones to. They will not be very strong and will have a high probability of cracking from sharpening pressure.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top