Granite tile for sharpening plate

[Mike Hoyt]

Hi guys, I just wanted to see what you thought of this. I have a couple of left over granite tiles and was thinking of using them as the plate for a sandpaper based sharpening system. Do you think this would work or am I better off using a piece of plate glass. My gut says that the stone will work fine but I was hoping for a more experienced opinion.
Thanks,
Mike

[Robert Rozaieski]

Your gut is right :). The tiles will work fine.

[George Sanders]

I picked up an 18"square x 3/4" thick piece of granite at an auction for about $3. I use it to sharpen all my chisels and it works fine. I was amazed at how fast and well this system works.

[Brian Kent]

I use a polished marble tile from Home Depot. Works well with micro-abrasives. I checked it out with a straight edge and it was just fine.

[John Thompson]

If the granite is flat now.. it will always be and that's why it it used in machine shops.

Regards...

Sarge..

[glenn bradley]

Tiles come in varying qualities of smoothness. I'm betting yours are probably smooth enough just because you are asking about using them. I use some polished tile pieces for the rougher grits in my scary-sharp setup (a few bucks for a 12" x 12" and they'll cut it down the middle for free at the BORG. They work fine through about 400 grit. From 600 grit through .3 micron film, I use glass.

[michael osadchuk]

....marble tiles and "blacksplashes", while marginally softer than granite, are also excellent as very flat surfaces and, in my experience in buying both granite and marble recycled pieces from my local Habitat for Humanity "Re-Store" center, are smoother and more frequently available than granite..... I've used marble down to 3/8" thick for this purpose sucessfully and backsplash material typically comes in 5/8" and 1 and 3/8" thicknesses....

.... btw, because I found sprayed adhesive creates 'lumps' that telegraphed thru the sandpaper, I've gone to sticking the sandpaper/micro-adhesive sheets to the stone with two sided tape applied to the perimeter of the paper....even using the thinnest two-sided tape I've found - Lee Valley's .002" thick 'transfer tape', telegraphs thru/creates a raised ridge of sandpaper finer than about 120grit to the whatever you are flattening, so I go with perimeter taping.....

good luck

michael

[Mike Hoyt]

thanks for all the replies, it just confirms for me to always go with your instincts. Thanks again guys, Mike

[Wayne Cannon]

Be careful. Some granite and marble (especially those with green hues) will warp like a taco when exposed to water. You can't even lay them with regular water-based thin-set. A local convention center had to re-do their entire lobby when their green tile "turned taco" on them.

[Wayne Cannon]

The warping of the tile is caused by organic content, predominantly in the green hues of granite and marble.