quick question about flattening a waterstone

[David Wadstrup]

Hello,

I've got a quick question. I need to flatten my Norton 1000/8000 waterstone. I have a granite block that I can use with a sheet of sandpaper. My question is... What grit/kind of sandpaper should I use? I have no idea. Also, how would you recommend me securing it to the granite surface? I love to not have to clean up any adhesives afterwards. Any tricks? Will beeswax keep it from sliding around while I flatten?

Thanks for your help,

David

[Charles Brown]

David,

I use 220 grit sandpaper from the home centre that is placed on a granite block and spitzed with water. Works fine for me. I flatten my 1000, 4000, and 8000 grit Norton waterstones with it when they need it. Charlesworth says you can use 320 on the finer grit waterstones, but I haven't had any complaints with using the 220 on all my waterstones. You can also put a grid-like pattern of pencil lines on the waterstone before flattening to check your progress and let you know when to stop.

It is no messier than the rest of the waterstone sharpening process.

best,
cb

[Jon van der Linden]

Whatever your flattening agent, sandpaper, dmt, whatever, it should be finer for finer stones. With many stones you condition them to give a finer or rougher polish when you flatten them. You might want your finish stone to be flat but also as smooth as possible.

This technique is used on some commercially available systems like the Tormek where they use a grading stone to vary the speed and finish of the cut.

I've used Norton stones, and there is a noticeable difference in finish quality on the 8k stone when using various grades of dmt plates for flattening.