flattening stone

Quick question. If I have a Norton flattening stone for waterstones, can it be used to lap a shapton finishing stone? Are there any other stones that can be lapped with this? Thanks.

-------Michael

Shaptons are tricky. They make a very expensive lapping plate, which works great, but it's hard to justify unless you use them constantly (or are nuts ).

I've had mixed success using a standard fixing stone with my Shaptons. They work okay with the coarse to medium/fine stones, but can load up the finish stones, which is what you'd be using for razors. Fortunately, the Shaptons (and most ceramic stones) are very hard, and require infrequent lapping. I dedicated a 12K Shapton to razors, and it will probably stay flat for ages.

If you use the Norton fixer on the Shapton and it loads up, a nagura stone is great for cleaning them up.

Yes, the shapton lapping plate is ridiculously expensive. I can afford the stone but I just can't justify the plate. Doesn't sound too promising to use the Norton lapper. Thanks.

--------Michael

home depot or lowes : buy one of those 3$ granite/marble 1' x 1' tiles they sell. they have isles full of these things to choose from - make sure its the flat top and not all textured ofcourse.

some 800-1k grit sandpaper from the local hardware or car part store (pep boys etc etc carry all grits up to 2k+) ..

A + B = flat rubbing plat for your norton / barber hones

~J

I use a 12" x 12" x 1/2" thick piece of hardened glass with a sheet of wet sandpaper up to 1500 grit. Works perfectly and is substantially cheaper than commercial flattening stones.

I tried the flat tile and wet/dry sandpaper technique, and I wasn't fully satisfied with the results on my norton. The sandpaper kept curling up at the edges, it took a long time, and I went through two or three pieces of paper which was somewhat expensive. The norton attained a very smooth finish, but I'm somewhat dubious that it's truly flat, in particular I think the edge might be slightly raised and sharp. I saw Lynn Abrams' video and he uses the NFS on his stones. The item costs 25$ shipped so lapping a few different stones makes it cost effective, especially if the results are good.


----Michael

The stone that comes with the Nortons is only used to help clean them. I use an old but thick mirror for my lapping with varied grains of wetted sandpaper. It seems to work well.

if you want to test how flat your stone is:

mark your stone with lines of pencil. then put it on your flatting item with some sandpaper or whatever you are using. start to rub.. do a some figure 8's on it... pick it up and look at it. all the lines should be gone or equal. you will find out quick enough if one end or side is not flat as the lines will remain unfettered while the part that was touching the sandpaper has no lines left.


don't forget, you want even pressure as you do this. uneven distribution of hand weight can even cause the stone to be slightly off by over sanding one edge or end.

~J