Waterstone questions

B

bones57

Joined
Dec 27, 2004
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17
Greetings

I went to a blade show at the Mandalay Bay in Vegas the other day and picked up this double sided Japanese water stone. I used it on one of my wifes meat cleavers and it took a dull blade to razor sharpness in about 1/2 hour of steady work. I was impressed. Now im pretty much a beginner at sharpening and am learning about knives as i go along.
Now after using the stone for the job, i discovered i had made bevels on the rough side of the stone. Is the stone worthless now or is there anything i can do ? I am assuming i was using too much pressure on my strokes and not using the entire length of the stone.
I am planning to go pick up another one today from the fellow i picked it up from. Cost was $22.
Does anyone have any thoughts on the water stones and be willing to shed some advice ? It would be appreciated.
 
The coarser waterstones wear faster, which is the price for fast cutting action. This is normal and you should flatten your stone when you use it. Many ways to do that... a coarse stone can be rubbed in an X pattern on a smooth sidewalk or concrete block.

For finer stones, they sell ceramic and diamond flattening plates just for flattening waterstones, and you can also just stick a hunk of silicon carbide sandpaper to a sheet of glass or something. I flatten my fine stones on each other.... 15k on 10k, 10k on 6k, 6k on 5k etc. I also have a DMT diamond plate (I have a coarse/fine 10x4 diamond plate that I use for reprofiling... also works great for flattening my 1,000 grit and mountain bluestone)

Here are two ceramic stone flatteners and Shapton's iron plate flattening system http://www.japanwoodworker.com/dept.asp?s=JapanWoodworker&dept_id=12338
(if you're filthy rich or do woodworking for a living, their cadillac diamond reference flattinging plate is here http://www.shaptonstones.com/stones/diamondlapping/index.php)
Sanding screens here http://www.bladegallery.com/accessories/accessory.asp?id=253
PSA sandpaper here http://www.handamerican.com/scpaper.html (also have some great stropping stuff)
 
The stone should dish out over time in a smooth arc from end to end, however if you're cutting bevels into it then you need to work on keeping the knife edge paralell to the stone surface so that the wear and cutting action is more even.
 
I just picked up piece of plate glass from leevalley.com and their lapping grit. Instruction are included and it was cheap.
 
I second the glass lapping plate from www.leevalley.com. You get an EXCELLENT selection of waterstones both from www.bladegallery.com and www.hidatool.com.

For any waterstones with a grid higher than 220 you can use a DMT 220 diamond stone which works VERY well and is a lot cheaper than most flattening systems (you can get one for about $30 if you shop around)

If you can afford it, buy the DVD "sharpening chisels" from www.shaptonstones.com. Excellent information on waterstones and how to use them.
 
You can flatten your hone using 'Wet or Dry' silicon carbide sandpaper. Tape the paper to a flat counter top. Lay your hone worn side down onto the paper. Just work the stone back and forth until it is flat. I would use something like 120 to 220 grit paper. I would wet the stone first.

PS. If you are not sharpening really wide bevels like on a chisel or the full bevel on a scandinavian grind knife a little bowing of the hone surface won't cause you significant problems. I would worry about it if the surface is rough or crooked, but not as much if it is just curved down towards the center.
 
First of all, thanks a lot for the help guys, i really appreciate it.
I thought i had pretty much ruined the stone by using too much pressure on it while rubbing across the choppers blade. I am going back to the show today to get another one and to look around a little more.
But this is good news that i can salvage it after all.
Once again, much obliged to all.
 
For the coarse stones, 220-800 or so, you may want to get single grit stones so you can use both sides... and maybe get two... they are cheaper than finer grit but you use them up a lot faster and they need flattening more often.

The finer stones tend to be used less since they are used for polishing, rather than shaping or reprofiling a blade, so they wear more slowly (I've had this one soft 6,000 grit stone for years and years and it is hardly worn at all, except where I've slipped and gouged out a small groove here and there that I've had to grind back out). So, the finer grits tend to work better in combination stones (the Norton 4000/8000 for example), though you have to clean those well while using them so you don't contaminate the finer side with grit from the coarser side.

When you flatten them, try to push it in different directions (X pattern or even figure 8's if there is enough room) and turn the stone as you grind it. If you just push it back and forth, you grind it down thinner on the end closest to you, since you tend to apply more pressure at the beginning of a stroke just to get the thing moving (don't want to try to get rid of a dish and end up with a hump in the middle instead).
 
Not a cheap solution, but a woodworker told me once that he keeps 2 water stones of each grit. To keep them flat he just rubs them together. Have to use the same grit together so you don't contaminate them.
 
Matt Shade said:
Not a cheap solution, but a woodworker told me once that he keeps 2 water stones of each grit. To keep them flat he just rubs them together. Have to use the same grit together so you don't contaminate them.
Click to expand...

Probably good advise, but I would think if you clean the stones real well after flattening them you could rinse away any cross contamination of grit.

Also after doing this the stones will usually cut faster until they are worn down a bit.
 
You can rub waterstones of different grid together as well, no problem if you flush them really carefully afterwards, the problem with that is, that the stones may end up having matching surfaces which are NOT flat.

On the DVD I spoke of, Harrelson emphasises heavily to "flatten the stone with the tool" meaning to work the entire stone, concentrating on the edges and ends which are naturally neglected with small strokes.
 
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