Waterstone maintenance question

M

Mora2013

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Dec 1, 2013
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So I'm the newbie here, and thanks to all those who helped me get my first Mora sharpened up.

In the process, I purchased a King 1000/6000 grit water stone and used it yesterday. Today, after the stone dried up, I noted two things:

1) there are a few gouges I put onto the stone face - likely from catching the tip of the knife a few times into the stone. They're visible, and when I run my fingers over it, i can feel the deformity when I'm looking at it. If I were blindfolded. I'd have a hard time noticing the gouges if I ran my fingers over it.

2) there are a bunch of tiny metallic flakes from the swarf that are embedded into the stone face despite soaking, rubbing it, using soap, and an old toothbrush.

So... Not a problem? Forget about it? Or ... Should I correct these things before using the stone again? How would I correct it? I have a norton coarse/fine India oil stone. Can I rub an oil stone against a Waterstone to clean it up? Rub sandpaper against the stone? What kind of sandpaper? Alum-ox? Silicon-sandpaper?

Thanks for the advice!
 
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Most definitely do NOT let those two stones touch. Or any waterstone and any oilstone for that matter.

I have heard some people use sandpaper over glass to flatten. Seems tedious to me. Use a good quality diamond stone such an Atoma or possibly a DMT. Then you have those stones kicking around if you need to do some repair work or reprofiling.
 
I use sandpaper at different grits depending on stone grit. I wet the sandpaper and lay it on the counter next to the sink and gently work it flat. Then I smooth stone with nagura (basically a smaller stone) so that its not rough.
 
I got a King 1k+6k set recently and the 1k dishes very quickly. Normally I just use a conditioning stone/nagura to clean up the stone after use, but my other stones don't dish as much. Cleaning my King 1k with a nagura after the first use left a black section in the middle of the stone where it had dished (and the nagura didn't reach).

When I do flatten the stones I use silicon carbide powder on a glass plate. I've been thinking about getting an Atoma diamond plate, but haven't pulled the trigger yet. I imagine using a diamond plate would be less messy, but also leave deeper scratches in the stone.

I wouldn't worry too much about the gouges unless you're actually feeling them/catching on them when sharpening. Also, the King 1k releases so much particles when sharpening that you shouldn't have to worry much about the loaded up steel either. It'll probably be released from the stone pretty quickly when you continue to use it. You can also reduce the dishing by trying to use different sections of the stone and rotating the stone between sharpenings (especially if you only use one hand).
 
I'm kind of a redneck but I use the back of a ceramic floor tile. It seems to smooth stones out nicely.
 
sykes3170 said:
I'm kind of a redneck but I use the back of a ceramic floor tile. It seems to smooth stones out nicely.
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Never thought of this. Seems like it'll work better than the sandpaper and glass method I've been using. I use wet/dry sandpaper. Will the standard stuff work with the stones wet? Maybe I'll compare the two methods. See what works best for me.

Note that I have Naniwa Super Stones.
 
Give it a try and let us know. When I got some old Norton silicon carbide stones I just grabbed a spare floor tile, wet the stones and went to town rubbing them on the back of the floor tile. The back of the floor tile is quit abrasive and seemed to flatten them out quit well and it didn't take much time.
 
Nagura or a flattening stone would be useful.
 
The back of a floor tile sounds like a real good idea!
A cheap combination stone can also be used as long as it's flat and hasn't been used with oil or is not pre-loaded with oil (most of the less expensive ones aren't).
Home Depot has a big combination stone in the tile dept used for cleaning up the cut ends of tile - have had good luck with that.
 
Thanks for all the feedback on how to clean up/flatten the stone!

mrdeus (above) suggested not to worry about the gouges/left over metal. Do you mostly agree?

[I'm trying not to develop an obsession/compulsion for sharpening stones if it's possible - but if the gouges/metal will permanently negatively affect the longevity or performance of a $45 stone, Im all up for being compulsive about it.]
 
Mora2013 said:
Thanks for all the feedback on how to clean up/flatten the stone!

mrdeus (above) suggested not to worry about the gouges/left over metal. Do you mostly agree?

[I'm trying not to develop an obsession/compulsion for sharpening stones if it's possible - but if the gouges/metal will permanently negatively affect the longevity or performance of a $45 stone, Im all up for being compulsive about it.]
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I would not worry about the gouges, they will work out in time and will do no harm as they go. The steel debris worked into the stone is a different story, I wouldn't accommodate that for long as it will effect the speed and quality of the grinding action.

Martin
 
OldNavy said:
I'll play devil's advocate . and say it's important to flatten gouges than clean up swarf { black stuff }; a better stone surface = more precise sharpening.
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I'll join you, but with a disclaimer. If the gouge is a wear trench from grinding in one spot with the belly of the edge, then I'll agree you should flatten that stone (and in the process will be cleaning it up as well). If its nothing more than a dig from catching the tip or other stray contact, you'll never know its there.
 
Wow. The back of a ceramic tile? I got plenty of those around.You guys are awesome.
 
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I'm having trouble flattening my Nubatama 150. I got a tile rubbing stone and tried it out. It DEFINITELY cuts, but it's smaller than the Nubatama, so I can't seem to get it to cut down the high spots and leave the low spots alone. I tried doing pencil marks on the whole stone and it just rubbed them all off, leaving the stone still dished.

Then I got frustrated, which is always a problem. I worked on one end of the stone that seemed much higher than the rest and kept working at it, trying to bring it down. The result is that end is now lower than it should be. So I have a stone that's lightly dished with a low area at one end. It really needs to be flattened.

I'm reluctant to use my DMT XXC on it, as they are so close in grit rating, I'm thinking I'm going to damage the DMT, ripping diamonds out of it.

Suggestions anyone?

Thanks,

Brian.
 
use the DMT with light pressure, let the weight of the plate do the work & plenty of water to keep it rinsed. should be no problem
 
Next time you get by a home depot,lowes,ect. stop in and buy a bigger tile. Floor tiles come in all different sizes. Good luck!
 
If you flatten after every use, 3M wet/dry sandpaper on float glass works quite well, when used very wet. As it wears, I sprinkle a bit of SiC powder on it. If the stone has been used a great deal since flattening, I take it to the XC DMT plate.

The trick is to keep them flat, and if you maintain them regularly, any method actually works quite well. My first stone flattening was done on a sidewalk.
 
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