Please recommend a lapping stone

[Frederick Skelly]

Hi folks,
I searched the archives but didnt find much recent info. I'm looking for a good quality lapping (flattening) stone for my Shapton Glass sharpening stones. I have grits from 500 to 6000. I'd say my budget is no more than $200. What are all of you using to flatten your Shaptons?

Some background.
* I've tried using my DMT diamond stones and the stiction makes that a pain. I've also used a flat granite tile wirh silicon carbide paper glued on. Again, the stiction is a pain.
* I keep eyeballing the Shapton diamond flattening plate, but just havent been able to convince myself to drop $400.
* Sharpening Supplies sells this one, but I dont know if it's worthwhile. LINK (https://www.sharpeningsupplies.com/Double-Time-Flattening-Stone-P1545.aspx)

I'd appreciate any experience or advice you can share.

Thank you,
Fred

[Howard Pollack]

I bought a relatively large one from Tools for Working Wood, I think made by Pride abrasives, for a reasonable amount of money. I'm quite happy with it. Howard

[Justin Hoshue]

I have the Shapton Glass HR stones, 1k, 4k and 8k, and use an Atoma 600 diamond ‘stone’. If this ever wears out, I will replace it with the 400 instead.

[Ed Mitchell]

I've been using the DMT lapping plate for years, love it. Before that I used an Atoma 400, it worked very well, but it's not built with the durability required to constantly flatten stones (neither are the DMT sharpening plates for that matter), so when it died I switched. The DMT lapping plate is crazy flat and makes quick work of flattening my stones. It's also bigger than my Atoma, so it's much easier to use and easier to get perfect results.

[Tom M King]

I use Atoma replacement sheets on a granite surface plate, 140 and 400 grit. Stu used to sell them in larger sizes than you typically see, but I don't know where to find the 4"x8" (about-metric sizes) now. The sheets will be replaceable whenever they wear out, and no question that the surface plate is flat. I haven't worn out the first ones in some years, but I use softer stones than the Shaptons.

[Rafael Herrera]

Have you considered a glass lapping plate and silicone carbide grit? It's a much more economical solution and very fast.

[Todd Sebek]

I think the best two options are DMT Dia-flat lapping plate or the Shapton Plate. I believe they are flat to .0005”. I flattened with the Trend Diamond plate for a while and realized that they aren’t flat. The DMT plate can be purchased on Lie-Nielsen’s site for $195. It is bigger than the Shapton, which is nice. The Shapton is also awesome because of the built in base, making it more convenient to take the stone to the flattening plate or the other way around. Either one will be VERY aggressive for the first several stones, until you knock down the first layer of diamonds. I would get one of these two, since the are flattest out there, to my knowledge.

[William Fretwell]

Just mentioning the CBN double sided plate for completeness. Cubic Boron Nitride is just below diamond. My plate is large and the prices have come down substantially since I bought mine. Flattening is very quick, the stiction tells you it’s flat!

I wanted a change from diamonds as my sharpening plates wore out quite quickly.

Flattening plates and abrasives work, done that but are less convenient and messy. Ten seconds with a CBN plate under a running tap and you are done, just dry it quickly.

[Luke Dupont]

Just mentioning the CBN double sided plate for completeness. Cubic Boron Nitride is just below diamond. My plate is large and the prices have come down substantially since I bought mine. Flattening is very quick, the stiction tells you it’s flat!

I wanted a change from diamonds as my sharpening plates wore out quite quickly.

Flattening plates and abrasives work, done that but are less convenient and messy. Ten seconds with a CBN plate under a running tap and you are done, just dry it quickly.

Stiction! I thought I invented that term! Either it's catching on or I'm not the first to come up with it :D

Anyway, I'm curious about those CBN plates. Diamond stones wear out really quickly for me, and I'd love a stone that can lap Arkansas stones (which pretty much destroy diamond plates).
Are CBN plates more durable? Do they just have a thin plating that wears off like diamond stones, or is there more "substance" to the stone? (Or at least, the particles are better embedded/attached so they don't come loose quite so easily?)

[William Fretwell]

Not a thin coating, the coarse side is very pronounced. The fine side very present but more even. Clearly the particles are much larger than diamonds. The large plate makes it easy to use.

[Frederick Skelly]

Thank you folks! Sounds like there are several good options out there. Now I just need to make up my mind. :)
Fred

[Jason Lester]

I bought this one from Amazon a couple of months ago:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BB2SNLO/

It works much better than the DMT coarse plate I was using. I had let my stones go for too long and it still did the job fairly quickly. I have Shapton Pro 1000, 5000, and 12000.

[Andrew Hughes]

This is the one I use Fred. https://nanohone.com/products/nl-4-lapping-plate
It cuts my Shapton pro stones very fast. And leaves a nice fresh surface
Good Luck

[Richard Hutchings]

I use the HF 6" diamond stones and have no issue. Epoxy a block of wood to the back and good to go. They're pretty cheap to replace when they get worn.

[John Stankus]

Stiction! I thought I invented that term! Either it's catching on or I'm not the first to come up with it :D



First know use of stiction was 1946 as per Merriam-Webster https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stiction

[Frederick Skelly]

Thanks again guys.I looked at all the ideas you suggested and ended up buying this one from Sharpening Supplies. LINK (https://www.sharpeningsupplies.com/Double-Time-Flattening-Stone-P1545.aspx)

They warned me that if Im not careful, it will get out of flat. They discussed with me how to avoid it.

The CBN lapping plate was especially interesting, but it was 80 grit on one side and 1000 grit on the other. I wish they made something in the 220-320 grit range.

Anyway, thank you again. I'll post a short review after I try it out.
Fred