The care and feeding of Waterstones

[James Davis]

I recently bought some used waterstones from a fellow creeker. The stones are in excellent condition, but never having used them before, I am not sure how to get the best from them. Should they be stored in water? Soaked just prior to use? or as I have seen mentioned somewhere, should they just be spritzed with water during use?

Any help or direction would be greatly appreciated since right now they are just siting in a drawer with me too dumb or scared (or both) to use them

Thanks in advance,
James Davis

[David Weaver]

Find yourself a reference surface to flatten them, and get yourself some wet and dry sandpaper to do the 800-1200 grit type stones. Write on the stones with a pencil and then run them back and forth over the reference surface until there is no more pencil on the face (that tells you they're flat, obviously). Make sure to write a grid of pencil over the whole face.

Even if they're not out of flat, it's a good check and you'll need to do it regularly, anyway.

* You don't have to keep them in water, but all but the polishing stones (4000 and above - the whitish ones) should be soaked for at least 20 minutes before using. The polishing stones need only to be sprayed before using, and during use if they dry up.

* Keep them away from freezing temperatures. You can imagine what it does to them if they freeze and the water expands between the clay and abrasive matrix

That's about it.

They wear while you're using them, which is why it's good to get comfortable flattening them every couple of uses. Even though it may feel bad to run "good material" off the stones while you're flattening them, don't worry about it - they'll last a long time.

[David DeCristoforo]

I have an 80 grit stone that I use to flatten my other stones. I do it by "lapping" the stones together under running water until both faces are "clean". Finishing stones can be lapped with a 700 grit stone. Actually, in a pinch, I have flattened stones on the side if a cinder block under an outdoor hose bib.

[Pete Bradley]

There's no need for rocket science or special skill. A little practice is all you need. A rolling sharpening guide helps getting started also. As with any sharpening stone, you need to step up from coarser to finer grits. For maintaining an edge, I spend most of my time at the 4000 level, with a quick touch at 8000 for some tools. If you have a big divot in a blade, you'll want to get it out on a grinder or stationary belt sander before you resharpen.

I keep water stones in a plastic tub full of water and flatten them as necessary. For flattening, I use 400 grit wet/dry paper on a marble tile, but a plate of glass would be fine also.

Pete

[Don C Peterson]

Other than the Shapton waterstones it is fine, but not really necessary, to keep waterstones submerged in water. The benefit to doing so is that they are ready anytime you are. If you don't keep them in water, you should soak them before using them.

I use DMT diamond stones and a Hard Black Arkansas stone to sharpen. I used to use a Shapton 8000, I liked the end result, but got tired of having to flatten the thing.

With the Shaptons if you keep them submerged, you'll ruin them. All you need to do is sprinkle water as you use them.

[Don Naples]

James:

A couple of good papers about how to care for your water stones are at:
http://japanwoodworker.com/page.asp?content_id=2650
You do not want to soak the natural stones, but can soak the synthetic stones.
Don