How to flatten a whetstone?

[heavyfoldersarebest]

I have a whetstone that is older than me, I'm 19 and that stone's fine side is completely curved in the middle. Only way I can think of flattening it is by laying sandpaper on a flat surface and running the stone over it until its flat but what grits should I use?

Whetstone is probably medium/fine, really don't know since its older than me. It still sharpens my knives but I have to sharpen them in a weird position that REALLY hard for curves.

 

[Thomas Linton]

I can report that my Grandpa used bricks and sand to dress his whetstones, but he never let them get much out of true.

 

[David Martin]

What color is your stone? Can you post a photo of it? You can go about leveling it on coarse sandpaper 100-150 grit. Or on flat smooth concrete with water. Don't put it off as it sounds like its going to require some work. DM

 

[Komitadjie]

There are several ways you can go about it, but perhaps the easiest in your case might be the sidewalk-and-lots-of-water method. Silicon carbide sandpaper (Again with plenty of water) is also effective, as is a piece of glass sprinkled with silicon carbide grit, or a diamond plate. If you don't have a good, coarse diamond plate yet, this might be an excellent excuse to pick one up. The DMT XC plate can be had readily and for not a tremendous amount of cash, it is well-suited to both stone flattening, and bevel-setting on blades. Since you described this stone as a medium to fine one, an XC diamond plate would make an excellent rough-stage companion for it, and greatly ease repairs and chip-removal.

 

[willseeyalater]

A concrete patio block works well since they are fairly consistent with regard to being level. Most of us have some of those somewhere at home. If it is winter and all frozen up at your house you can stop off at your favorite home center and pick one up for a couple of bucks and use it indoors to do the job.

 

[phillipsted]

Norton and several other companies make stones that are designed for flattening waterstones. They usually have channels to allow the swarf to run off. These stones run anywhere from $20-$50. I've had really good results with my Norton stone.

http://www.amazon.com/Norton-Flattening-Stone-Waterstones-plastic/dp/B00067ZSJ0

TedP