Shapton glass stones

David Turner

David
Corporate Member
I have the set of Pro Shapton glass stones and I am having trouble getting them flat between uses. What do you guys use on these?
 

Mike Davis

Mike
Corporate Member
A large diamond plate works great or sandpaper on a glass plate.
Mine don't need it very often but did you say you need to flatten between each use?
Think you may be a bit too aggressive?
 

David Turner

David
Corporate Member
A large diamond plate works great or sandpaper on a glass plate.
Mine don't need it very often but did you say you need to flatten between each use?
Think you may be a bit too aggressive?
Well it's probably not between each use but when I use my diamond plate to flatten, it creates such a suction between the stone and the plate, I can't move it. The plate advertised in Woodcraft's catalog for flattening the Pro stones is $329. That's ridiculous so I was looking for a better/cheaper way.
 

creasman

Jim
Staff member
Corporate Member
No personal experience, but this guy recommends using the 300 side of a 300/1000 diamond stone from Trendlines for flattening his 16000 Shapton glass stone. See video at about 3:30 minutes in. It's about $100 on Amazon.
 

Mike Davis

Mike
Corporate Member
Not really as it still has a dark place some 2" in diameter in the middle of the stone(s).
Dark is just dirty, not necessarily concave.
Lay a straightedge on it and see if it really needs flattening.

Also the dark should be equally all along the stone.
 

Oka

Casey
Corporate Member
I just flattened my Shapton stone. I flattened with a 220 diamond. But, then I noticed when trying the 2000, I saw the scratches and saw what looked like a low spot. I went back and cleaned them up with my 1200 diamond and then the dark staining and the scratches went away. Just did this yesterday, it was the 1st time I ever dressed these stones.
 

Newboy

George
User
It may be possible that the ceramic in that area is discolored.

It may be the diamond plate you use is not flat. The reason those flattening plates are so expensive is their guaranteed precision. You will not have that when you buy the cheapest product. I had an inexpensive plate that would flex when you used it.

I use a lot of the glass stones. I just scribble over them with a pencil, and then abrade the pencil away.

I do not know the thickness of a pencil mark, but It is fine for me.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 

David Turner

David
Corporate Member
Here is my reason and experience: When flattening and polishing the back of a plane blade (I have 18 hollow and round blades to flatten/polish) I start with the 1000 grit until all the surface depicts scratches. Then I move to the 5000 grit stone and the it never abrades flat from the 1000g so you start basically over and get the entire surface with the 5000g. Then on to the 8000 grit and again it is not flat and again it takes forever to get the surface abraded. Larry Williams says the topography of the stone is the most important item to sharpening. Until I can get all three stones with the same topography, I am not going to get consistent sharpening.
 

ShortRound84

New User
ShortRound
I use the Trend 300/1000 diamond stone for flattening my Shapton stones, works great on the 300 grit side. Just make sure to use plenty of water to keep the slurry wet otherwise it can be hard to use. The initial purchase is a bit steep but its handy for dressing chipped plane irons etc.
 
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