Fear of Sharpening Stones and Freehand Sharpening - Page 3

Just got myself a Bester 1200 and a sink stone holder to try my first wet stone sharpening.

Can someone explain what and how to use this drywall screens you're talking about?

Drywall screen is used to flatten and chamfer your sharpening stones by rubbing the stone(s) across the screen, much as you would use sandpaper.

 

Flattening is to insure a smooth sharpening face on the stone.

 

Chamfering, i.e. beveling the corners, is to minimize chipping and breakage.
 

 

I just tuned up my new Bester 1200(damn you BDL).  It took an hour on a 100 screen and then another 15 minutes or so on a 150 screen.  So, in other words, it may end up being quite a bit of work.

 

Here's how.  Get some sort of hard flat surface. I use a piece of a granite counter top.  You can go out and buy a cheap flat and smooth 12" tile,. Take yor drywall screen an put it on the spritzed tile.  Take your stone and using a pencil mark an X or scribble back and forth over the stone.  Take the stone and rub on the drywall screen until the pencil marks are gone.  Your stone will now be flat.  This--in machine shop talk-- is called blue printing.  The water may keep the screen in place as you rub the stone, but more than likely you will have to hold it down with a finger.

an hour and 15 minutes on a new stone... that certainly doesn't make drywall screen sound very appealing as a flattener.  I wonder if others have found that much work necessary?

 

I was feeling silly for having overspent on a DMT XXC a while back.  (I had a bit more money then, too -- now it'd be out of the question).  But if that thing gives in 3 or 4 minutes what the drywall screen would give me in 75 minutes, I feel better about it.

 

I like the idea of drywall screen because it's more travel ready.  I could put it in a bag and get on a plane when visiting family, being it's sort of my job to sharpen knives whenever I see any of them, now.

I have very little experience with water stones, but have been following the discussions for some time  with an eye toward purchasing.  I have flattened King brand waterstones using drywall screen and at other  times using garnet paper on a granite tile.  I found it a bit tedious to flatten them, but the longest I ever spent was probably 2 -3 minutes.  What would be considered typical amount of time flattening a Bestor using drywall screen?  75 minutes seems like too much time to invest for me. 

I have a small glass board for flattening stones and polishing knives and flattening a King is a breeze as long as you don't let them dish too much before you flatten.

 

75 minutes on any stone seems extreme. What backing did you have for the screen?

 

The only issue I have run into was trying to flatten the silicone oxide grading stone for my Tormek. Drywall screen uses S/O so it was equally hard surfaces and the stone quickly destroyed the screens S/O bond. Maybe if I had 20 screens it could have been done but that would have cost more than a replacement stone.

 

Jim

EVERYTHING -- including the stone -- must be well and truly soaked before flattening.

 

BDL

 

 

Thanks for all the answers.

I was just about to ask if the stone had to be wet. Should it be soaked as long as you would normally if you were to sharpen a knife?

Also what grit number should I get for the drywall screen? Odd the above mentioned 100 and 150 good enough?

Soaked as long as you would for sharpening?  At least!

 

80, 100, 120 are okay.  80 is the fastest, obviously.  150 and 220 are a little slow, but fast enough to start the lapping process.  It's not necessary to lap with screen though. 

 

Some people lap with naguras or compound, but I lap by rubbing the flattened stone against the other stones, all the way through my set's progression until the next finer stone in my set.  So, I rub the flatten the 400 and rub it against the 1200.  Flatten the 1200 and lap it on the 400 and 3000, etc.

 

BDL

Yup, 75 minutes.  I soaked the new stone for 4 hours  It was low in two diagonal corners.  I took a new 5000 stone to the screen and it took 30 seconds.  Could I have received an out of wack stone?

i think if something took me more than a minute to flatten, i'd be frustrated.  Two minutes and i might give up.

There's a man who's done a LOT of flattening.  It takes me more than a minute just to find a pencil, if I have to go through that part of the exercise.  Still, 3 minutes seems about right.  Especially if counting search-for-pencil time.