Got some new stones..

[Rick Fisher]

Got some new stones from loml for our anniversary..

The idea was to round out my current stones which are;

Sigma power 1000
Norton 4000/8000


The new stones are Sigma power 120
Sigma power 400
And my favorite, the Sigma power 13000

Yesterday I went to the local LN event and used the LN Scraper plane. I knew right away that my Scraper plane at home was not sharp enough. So I started with a scraper plane iron.

Kinda odd.. The Sigma power 120 is narrow.. That was a bit disappointing .. really not suitable for a plane iron.

The Sigma 400 is an odd duck .. it seems to cut slower than my Sigma 1000.. I actually wondered if it was the wrong stone in the box.. lol .. It also left a somewhat polished finish which I did not expect from a 400 grit stone.

The Sigma 13000 is spectacular.. I used it to put a final edge on my scraper iron and can report that it now takes actual shavings.. Also honed a Paring chisel and its the sharpest its ever been .. That is one beautiful stone.

Wife got these from Stu .. Toolsfromjapan.com

[Stuart Tierney]

Hi Rick,

Thought you knew about that... :)

The #120, thing is that it thrives on pressure so the narrowness means you can lean on it, even with some blade hanging over the side, and it does it's job well like that. Odd, but it's how it likes it contrary to what folks keep telling me.

(I've got 3 of them I think. Dunno why, just making sure?)

The #400, again lean on it, you won't hurt it and you won't dish it.

And believe me, it's working harder than a #1000 can.

It is possible that there is a hard skin on the stone, which might explain the slowness and polishing.

I know I've given mine a hard time this past week with flattening some chisels and a plane blade, and taking a leaf out of Archie's book of "dropping down a gear" and that #400 has been a big time saver.

Either way, good to hear they got there in one piece, and that at least one of them is working well.


Stu.

[Rick Fisher]

Hey Stu..

I am sure its just a getting used to it thing... I played a bit with the 120 grit .. wow, that is an aggressive stone.. Tomorrow, I will lean on the 400 and see what its got.. I must admit I was pretty easy on it when testing it out..

[Stuart Tierney]

Hi Rick,

Pay attention to the bit of paper and loose grit that comes with the #120. You think it's aggressive now, wait until you start tweaking it. The only way to properly describe it is that it shreds metal when it's on song. But it's not without it's idiosyncrasies.

The #400, don't baby it. It might be no-soak, but it's not a Shapton. After putting a lot of time on mine, it's still making a stupid grin on my face. And the dang thing just stays flat. I hope I can convince Sigma Power to make more stones like that one, because it's amazing that it works well without all the nasty side effects that stones in this grit range usually have. I love the dang thing.

I hope I'm not rambling too much. Kind of tapped emotionally today, and feel like a bit of a zombie at the moment. Don't know which way is up or down or sideways. Nor why I'm actually functional rather than a quivering mess.

Stu.

[Rick Fisher]

Hey Stu..

That 400 stone needed a good cleaning .. I started over with it and prepared the surface.. Its impressive how fast it hogs material off with a fresh face. It seems to bog up quickly, but a fresh face is amazing .. It seems like it needs to be cleaned more often than any other stone I have, but as you said, it hogs material off when its clean ..

Pretty impressive stone .. I suppose any lower grit stone will glaze over fast, but when its not glazed over, wow does it cut fast..