Silicone Carcied

[Jerry Thompson]

I purchased some 60 grit silicone carbide granules to use with plate glass to flatten water stones. Does one use water on the plate when flattening the stones?

[Stanley Covington]

I purchased some 60 grit silicone carbide granules to use with plate glass to flatten water stones. Does one use water on the plate when flattening the stones?

I suppose you would use water, but using grit in this way will do damage to both your stones and whatever blade you subsequently use the stones to sharpen, unless, that is, the waterstones you intend to flatten are 60 grit too.

[Jim Belair]

Yes, I used water when I flattened stones with loose grit and didn't encounter any embedding of the coarse grit in my finer waterstones. I've since acquired a diamond plate that I use for flattening.

[Patrick Chase]

Yes, I used water when I flattened stones with loose grit and didn't encounter any embedding of the coarse grit in my finer waterstones. I've since acquired a diamond plate that I use for flattening.

For flattening water stones, yes, use water. You want enough water that the SiC "coats out" to ~single-grit thickness, but not so much that it runs off the glass plate. You'll know the right amount when you see it.

This is very much a matter of preference, but I use heavy laminating sheets (like the ones Lee Valley sells, but I get them in volume from craft supply outfits) on the glass. The main benefit from doing so is that the lapping goes a bit faster because the soft laminating sheet tends to hold the grit stationary w.r.t. the stone.

[Pat Barry]

You don't mean using the silicon carbide directly on the glass plate do you? That doesn't sound right. You normally want to charge the reference surface with your lapping media and I think would therefore want something softer than glass. Industrial lapping processes we use have either cast iron or soft ceramic plates and diamonds in a water glycol slurry. The particles get trapped in the top surface pf the lapping plate due to pressure. Will that happen into the glass plate?

[Patrick Chase]

You don't mean using the silicon carbide directly on the glass plate do you? That doesn't sound right. You normally want to charge the reference surface with your lapping media and I think would therefore want something softer than glass. Industrial lapping processes we use have either cast iron or soft ceramic plates and diamonds in a water glycol slurry. The particles get trapped in the top surface pf the lapping plate due to pressure. Will that happen into the glass plate?

Yeah, that's exactly why people use laminating sheets on the glass, as do I.

With that said, plenty of people just use bare glass and It Works Well Enough For Them (tm).

[Kees Heiden]

Sometimes when I need something very agressive I use silicone grit on a marble floortile. Indeed with a spray of water to make a slurry. This grit breaks down quite rapidly, so add new grit as you find the cutting is less. The floortile wears too, but I have quite a stack of them.

[lowell holmes]

Sigh!

It must be the season. I've been wondering what Silicone Carcied is.

Oh well, blame it on the season.:)

[Roy Lindberry]

I purchased some 60 grit silicone carbide granules to use with plate glass to flatten water stones. Does one use water on the plate when flattening the stones?

Water would be fine for that.

Be careful, though, if you are using it directly on the glass. Silicone Carbide will scratch the tar out of the glass, and eventually it will no longer be flat. Using disposable sheets (I don't remember what they are made from, but Lee Valley sells them) is one solution.

[Patrick Chase]

Water would be fine for that.

Be careful, though, if you are using it directly on the glass. Silicone Carbide will scratch the tar out of the glass, and eventually it will no longer be flat. Using disposable sheets (I don't remember what they are made from, but Lee Valley sells them) is one solution.

The LV sheets are a very heavy clear plastic laminating sheet. I suspect they're polypropylene based on gloss level and feel, but they could be polyester as well.

[Warren Mickley]

I use silicon carbide grit with water on glass to flatten water stones. Both the silicon carbide and the water stone grit break down in use so using them dry would result in a lot of small broken particles. The water makes kind of a paste with deteriorating grit and stone slurry, which can be freshened with judicious additions of water and grit.

I have used ordinary glass for over 35 years. A piece of glass is kind of vulnerable in a small full time woodworking shop, so I have broken a few pieces in that time, but wear on the glass has not been an issue. For one thing a high degree of flatness is not needed on a stone the way it might be on some optical instruments. We deliberately sharpen a plane irons with convexity. And if the stone is used in such away as to distribute wear, the stone lasts longer and flattening the stone is a rather occasional operation.

I have at times used kerosene for use with oil stones, but water works as well.

[Mike Null]

I have never used silicon carbide for this purpose but I am surprised that it works. In my business I use 150 grit silicon carbide for sandblasting glass and marble recognition awards. Silicon carbide cuts into glass and marble almost like a diamond would so it seems to me that the glass would be destroyed after one use.

I am able to recycle the SC for countless re-uses.

[george wilson]

If you can still press edit on your post,then press "go advanced",you can then change the title to correct it. I think not many know this.

[Brian Holcombe]

Sigh!

It must be the season. I've been wondering what Silicone Carcied is.

Oh well, blame it on the season.:)

Holiday 'spirits' are to blame?