Photos Lapping a BADLY loaded India stone

[danbot]

I've had this Norton India stone for ~20 years now! I use it at work for stoning machine tables and De-burring steel etc. Sometimes I will sharpen a knife on it too, but I have one at home as well that I use for knives. Anyway, I keep it in a container of mineral spirits and I just dip it as needed while I use it but we ran out of mineral spirits and I've had to use it dry for awhile.

Here are the results:

Coarse side

Fine side
So...I went out and bought a glass lapping plate and some 90x and 280x Silicon Carbide grit.

Using about a half teaspoon of 90x and some water I lapped the coarse side in a figure 8 motion until it felt nice and smooth.

Then I cleaned the plate and lapped the fine side with more 90x.
This is the coarse side after the 90 grit:

And the fine side:

Then I lapped the fine side with the 280 grit:

I'm not sure what the discoloration is on the fine side, but the stone feels very smooth and clean!
Thanks for looking! And if you guys have any tips for me, I'm all ears!

 

[David Martin]

I wouldn't keep it in a container of mineral spirits. I'd save that for cleaning it. I'd use mineral oil on it for sharpening. Your leveling looked fine.
I would do both sides on just the 90 grit and see if that will get you level. I do my coarse side twice as much as the fine side. The fine side of my stone will go 10 years before it needs some leveling. That's with sharpening 4-5 knives a week. So, yours will likely go for a long time before it needs it again. DM

 

[David Martin]

Is your stone a 2X6"? Just your one stone with a strop will take you a long way to a good edge on many steels. DM

 

[deltaboy]

Nice job!

 

[danbot]

Is your stone a 2X6"? Just your one stone with a strop will take you a long way to a good edge on many steels. DM

Yes, that's the stone I use at work. I use it pretty hard too! I have a 2"x8" India and a DMT duo sharp at home for my knives.

 

[David Martin]

I have the 2X6" and 2X8". I like sharpening on my 2X8" more but I'm always surprised how the 2X6" can handle a 8" blade. Good work. DM

 

[danbot]

I have the 2X6" and 2X8". I like sharpening on my 2X8" more but I'm always surprised how the 2X6" can handle a 8" blade. Good work. DM

Thanks DM! I actually sharpened my boss' Cold Steel Kukri on that 6" stone at work! Recurve and everything!
It turned out really well.
(That was before I used it dry and loaded it up.)

 

[hiwa]

The 90x silicon-carbide grit powder from Lee Valley works great for lapping stones and is what I use. Try putting it on glass or something hard and flat ( I've used sheet metal , granite ,etc.) Flattened my DC-4 ceramic side with it also.

I had a Norton India with the same issue and had good results.

 

[abey67]

Nice work! Where did you get your lapping grit?

 

[danbot]

Nice work! Where did you get your lapping grit?

Thanks! I got the lapping grit at Lee Valley. I work just down the road from there, so that's convienient!