Flattening a Norton

Hi!

I was looking at Joel's guide for flattening a honing stone, and he does the checkerboard pattern on it and laps the stone till the pencil marks are gone. However, his pattern doesn't extend to the furthest corners on the stone.

I got my stone in the mail yesterday, went out and picked up a flat ceramic tile and some 220 and 320 grit sandpaper. I am outside lapping and remove the majority of the pencil marks; all except the two opposite corners, which are sloping down at very sharp angles.

99% of the stone is flat, except for those two tips of the corners. Should I keep going or call it good?

-Geoff

Depends on the severity of your OCD. As long as they aren't higher it won't affect the edge as long as you keep the spine flat. So you should be good IMHO.

Personally, with my OCD I keep going.

It is totally enough, mine was the same way. More than 1 hour flattening, and a corner was still low. It will be flat after a few uses, don't bother with it.

If the discrepencies are in less used areas (ends or corners) then you are good! Take a few practice laps and decide.

Phil

There's a simple way to decide. Consider your honing stroke and determine if the blade will reach to those corners. If not then there is no reason to lap down to that level as you will just be wasting hone material. If so, then you can either lap farther or else shorten your honing stroke.