Shapton diamond flattening plate

[Henry Cavanaugh]

I use the sphapton stones 1,5,8 and flatten with there magic dust on the steel plate from shapton. I was very interested in there new diamond plate to level stones untill I saw the $300 price tag. Has any one purchased one and was it a better system then the old powder way. Is adding a 16,000 overkill now that they have the thinner less expensive stones.

[Chris McKimson]

Hi Henry,

I just got the Glass Diamond Lapping Plate a couple of days ago, haven't used my verison but did use one of the ones Harrelson brought with him to his side sharpening class recently at my Woodcraft. (He did suggest that is was much, much flatter than the $125 iron plate.) I had planned to sell the iron plate to help with the expense of the GDLP, but the rubber stone holder they sell is as much as I could get selling off the iron plate. Guess I keep the iron plate to hold a new 500 and new 16000 grit glass stone also purchased. (The GDLP does not double as a stone holding device) They suggest not using the GDLP on anything less than 500 grit, so the I can use the iron plate should I ever get a 250 grit Shapton.

I did like being able to keep the stones on the bench and use the GDLP over the stones. It was easier than flattening stones using the iron plate. I guess at this point that would mean I would be more likely to flatten the stones more often, which is good. Harrelson suggested there was a big difference in actual flatness between the GDLP and the iron plate. (nobody mentioned this at woodcraft when I bought the iron plate last year, though the GDLP wasn't around. :) )

In actual use, I noticed I had an easier time getting results in class using the GDLP. How much of that was due to the sharpening plate, or the glass stones vs. the Pro series I have at home or the class environment, I'm not sure, but I have no plans to dump the pro series Shaptons for the glass stone versions.

Is the GDLP expensive. Yes it is. Like most things in the shop, I will (hopefully) enjoy it's use far longer than I will remember the sting of the pocketbook. YMMV.

I'm looking forward to practicing the sharpening techniques I learned from Harrelson in class at home.

Chris