SiC Grits for Flattening Stones

clanderson

clanderson

Joined
Dec 18, 2012
Messages
90
I recently purchased some 100/120 grit SiC to flatten my Shapton Glass Edge Pro stones, but after my work was done, the 1k surface seemed much smoother than the 4k (which felt closer to the 500).

So my question is, do I need to match the microns of my SiC and stones, or will these micro-peaks eventually flatten out on the finer grit stones?
 
If you want to smooth the flattened surfaces, take two stones and rub them against each other. Your 1K and the 4K are the perfect candidates for that. Make sure, you do it under running water and clean them afterwards to make sure, that no other grid remains on the surface.

The Shapton Glass series is a hard bonded stone, so flattening leads to surface scratches, that remain until you smooth it. You can use a natural nagura too. The hardest grit within natural stones is mostly quarz, and since it is softer than corundum it is unlikely to embedd itself in a hard matrix of an artificial stone.
 
Thanks for the tips!

So in rubbing the two stones together, they will knock away the micro-peaks in the striations caused by the 100/120 SiC?

Am I correct in assuming these stones are mostly consistent in grain boundary, so that when they are "smoothed out", their natural "grit" returns (as opposed to surface coated mediums like sandpaper or diamond plates which, with time, ultimately degrade in grain structure)?
 
For 500 grit and higher Shapton Glass use a diamond plate. Atoma 140 works well for this.
 
clanderson said:
Thanks for the tips!

So in rubbing the two stones together, they will knock away the micro-peaks in the striations caused by the 100/120 SiC?

Am I correct in assuming these stones are mostly consistent in grain boundary, so that when they are "smoothed out", their natural "grit" returns (as opposed to surface coated mediums like sandpaper or diamond plates which, with time, ultimately degrade in grain structure)?
Click to expand...

It's not so much micropeaks on a freshly trued whetstone, it's steep scratches. When you hit the edge of the scratch with the knife, it can tear out a bigger chunck than the gridsize suggests. That is why stones, that are trued with SiC sometimes feel excessively coarse.

And on the long term, i agree to Jason B. . There is nothing simpler, than a well worked in coarse diamondplate. And if price is an issue, even the cheapest chinese diamondplate will work well for stone maintenance.
 
Thanks guys. I went with SiC out of thriftiness - found some almost free.

Do you folks have any diamond plate recommendations apart from the usual DMT?
 
DMT and Atoma are tops, you can get cheaper diamond plates but you run the risk of them not being flat. I look at it like this, Shapton Glass stones are all about flatness and precision so to make sure I get the most from the stones I use quality diamond plates to ensure stone flatness.
 
Is there a functional difference between the DMT diamond lapping and and the DMT coarse diamond plate?
 
Only the DMT lapping plates and XXC are approved for lapping duty, all others are use at your own risk.

The Dia-flat lapping plates use DMT's new Hardcoat technology which is basically a stronger bonding of the diamonds to the plate. Simply promotes longer tool life in the tough task of lapping stones.
 
I have Atoma, DMT and DMT "Hardcoat" diamond plates. The Atoma 400 is my pick for most synthetic lapping tasks. Works well, less sticking to the hones. The DMT Hardcoat Lapping Plate has been functionally identical to the DMT XXC as far as I've been able to tell. Both of mine are quite worn out from lapping extremely hard natural stones - For synthetics they hold up pretty well though, the synthetic binders are much less tenacious, so even though the abrasives are harder, they come loose much easier.
 
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