Lee Valley Truing Stone

[Phillip Ngan]

I'm wanting a way to true my 1000 and 8000 Shapton glass stones. I don't want to pay for the Shapton flattening stone. Currently I'm using 220 grit wet sand paper on a glass plate to flatten the stones.

I was wondering if the Lee Valley Truing Stone would be fit for the purpose?

http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.aspx?p=55067&cat=1,43072,43071&ap=1

[David Weaver]

Looks like the norton flattening stone. It's a ceramic binder, and while it may work with glasstones, it will feel like rubbing two ceramic mugs together (it was a very unsavory feeling to me).

They are also not all flat when they're new if it's the same thing as a norton. Mine (a norton) was crowned a lot from the factory, and took a bit of work to flatten. I used it when I used to use kings, it works better with a soft-matrix stone. It took me a bit to figure out when I first got it that it was out of flat, but it was definitely out of flat, and not from use.

I'd suggest any of the high quality diamond hones, even though it's tempting to try to save the money, it's just not the right tool for a really hard ceramic matrix stone.

EDIT: I stated a ceramic binder above, which is not correct. What I was trying to get across is the binder is the same type of material as what is in ceramic stones - resin instead of clay. Same effect for the rest. I ended up giving my flattening stone to someone when I sold another stone (I think).

[Tony Shea]

I agree that you should save your money on that Norton looking flattening stone. Not sure if it's actually the Norton or not but am sure that it's very similar. You will end up spending the same amount of time trying to flatten your flattening stone as you will your Shaptons espcially considering the hardness of the Shaptons. The Norton flattening stone actually goes out of true from just using regular waterstones, I'm sure the Shaptons will wear it out much quicker.

I also think you should go the route of saving for a larger Diamond Stone in a medium to coarse grit. I have both medium and coarse and tend to use the medium more often as the coarse will leave some scratches. But if I go a bit without flattening my waterstones I end up starting with the coarse and finishing with a swipe or two on the medium. But then again I am very anal about my stones and sharpening in general.

[Frank Drew]

I pretty much exclusively use Japanese water stones; spread some fine sand and water on a cement block for a fairly quick, and accurate, way to flatten coarse stones, and then use the coarse stone to flatten the fine stone.

I didn't come up with this on my own, I got the method from some Japanese carpenters I was working with.

[Jim Belair]

I have it and yes it is the Norton. (I sure wish LV would indicate the makers of their items)

Since I have it and am aware of the issues, I have been able to make it work OK for me. Not great, just OK.

Jim B

[David Castor]

FWIW, I watched the Frank Klausz DVD on hand tools not too long ago and he used a roll of self-adhesive sandpaper on a piece of melamine for flattening waterstones, as I recall. He claimed the melamine board is flatter than float glass.

[paul cottingham]

LV grit on glass. works great.

[Phillip Ngan]

Paul, Which grit size do you use? the 90x? Do you use the plastic sheets too?

Sounds as if the Norton flattening stone is not without its drawbacks.

[paul cottingham]

I'm pretty sure it is the 90 grit. I don't use the sheets. flatten with water until the glass sticks to the stone (so to speak.)

[Don Dorn]

FWIW, I watched the Frank Klausz DVD on hand tools not too long ago and he used a roll of self-adhesive sandpaper on a piece of melamine for flattening waterstones, as I recall. He claimed the melamine board is flatter than float glass.

I have that video and admire Frank a great deal and believe what he says. However, I would go broke buying that much sandpaper if I trued the stone as much as it needs to be - which is after every use.

My method is similar in that I use a 12" square tile and lay a piece of 220 sanding screen on it. I rub the stone on the sanding screen while holding it with the other hand and it takes just a few seconds. It works well and doesn't take too much material and I can use each piece of screen a couple of times. It's still based on Frank's method, but a little more cost effective and cleaner.

That said - I think I'm going to take the advise of many here and go to a course DMT stone which can be done from the top and would be very quick.

[Zach England]

I have been using that on my shaptons and feel like I have had good results, but I did true it on a granite plate first. It was slightly concave.

[Terry Beadle]

I use a granite stone as a flattening base and use used sanding belts as the media. I cut the belt and cut it to fit the granite plate. Seems just about not to wear out. I was using 220 wet/dry but I went through $5 pack in short order. The sanding belt media gets the stone almost flat. I use my DMT XCourse to true and the Course side to final flatten. This keeps the cost down and stretches the life of the DMT.

Yet another way to do it... :)

[Phillip Ngan]

What grit and size is the coarse DMT stone should I use to flatten the 1000 grit shapton stone?

I like the idea of using the 1000 grit shapton stone to flattening the 8000 grit shapton stone. I tried it last night and worked very well. Of course, the 8000 grit was not very out of shape.

Another thought, I'm going to try free hand honing the blade onto the shapton. I find that the (LV and Eclipse) honing guide use only part of the stone. And even if I turn the stone, it is very easy to apply more pressure at the beginning of the stroke, thus wearing the stone so that it is high in the middle and low in the top and bottom. Free hand will allow me to use the entire length of stone, and even perhaps allow me to apply more uniform pressure over the length of the sharpening stroke.

[Tony Shea]

I use a granite stone as a flattening base and use used sanding belts as the media. I cut the belt and cut it to fit the granite plate. Seems just about not to wear out.


Terry, how do you keep the peice of the belt paper flat on the granite plate? Do you use spray adhesive and press it on the granite or do you just hold the paper on with your hand? Also, do you do this process with your stones wet or are they dry? The wet or dry question is for everyone with waterstones. I seem to have better luck flattening while the stones are dry but end up having to do the process outside while wearing a mask as the dust created is nasty.

[Chris Friesen]

I have that video and admire Frank a great deal and believe what he says. However, I would go broke buying that much sandpaper if I trued the stone as much as it needs to be - which is after every use.

It may not be that bad. I use wet-dry silicon carbide sandpaper on granite for truing my waterstones and it lasts a long time.