I'm working on restoring an old plane. The iron in it was in pretty bad shape, with the cutting edge far from perpendicular to the iron, so I elected to replace it with a Hock iron. My understanding is that the Hock irons should come in pretty good shape and just need a little bit of work to sharpen them initially.
My current equipment:
8" DMT DuoSharp bench stones (220, 325, 600, 1200 mesh)
Norton waterstone (4000/8000 grit)
Veritas honing guide
I started by using the DMT bench stones to lap the Norton waterstone. I started with 220 mesh and finished with 600 mesh.
Next I moved on to the blade, and began by attempting to lap the back side. Using the 220 and 325 mesh DMT stones, I worked for several hours on the 1" nearest the cutting edge. I didn't make a whole lot of progress, and the time investment was significantly more than I expected.
Wondering if the Hock iron was not as flat as originally thought, I took it to a machine shop and had the back stone ground flat. It was only necessary for them to remove .001", so clearly it was pretty flat to begin with and my DMT stones weren't removing much material.
After getting the iron back from the machine shop, I cleaned off my DMT stones with soap and a nylon brush hoping that would improve their performance and the blade would just need some quick work at this point. Not the case at all. Another 15 minutes of work and it became apparent the DMT stones are not removing material evenly. I don't think they're flat, and I don't think they're doing much.
What equipment do I need to pick up that will allow me to successfully sharpen a new plane iron? I think the DMT stones are making it more difficult than it needs to be. I am thinking I might scrap the DMT stones, add a 250/1000 grit combination waterstone and a Norton flattening stone.
Thanks
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