Wet/Dry Sandpaper vs Silicon Carbide Powder

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Erniewong

Joined
Jun 9, 2014
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Is there any difference between the two for Lapping or Flattening? Like if I wanted to Lap or Flatten a Spyderco Benchstone or the Venev 4" Dog Series Dual Side Diamond Set (Updated) with 100% diamond concentration.

I'm about to get a flat glass plate but the powders seem expensive and messy. Any help would be appreciated! Thanks In Advance!
 
There is no comparison IMO. Sandpaper isn't nearly as fast and will wear the periphery of the stone more than the center, as in they won't be nearly as flat. Loose abrasive used correctly, there is some technique to it, is much faster, can get a plate dead flat if done right, and will open up the bonded abrasive much much better than sandpaper. The downside is the loose abrasive will wear your reference plate too, so you really need 3 so you can keep them flat.

Thinking about this some more. I can say that dressing Matrix stones with sandpaper is about 25% as effective as using loose abrasives in how the stones work after dressing. I have only tried dressing the older Venev stones once, and did not notice any difference before or after in the scratch pattern on the bevel under a microscope. The Venev stones are a lot different than the Matrix stones, and I don't have enough experience with Venevs to say how to dress them properly.
 
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I can say that I avoided using loose grit for a long time out of concern for the mess, only to end up being ANGRY at myself for not adopting he method sooner when I finally discovered how much faster and more effective it was as a method. Could have saved myself a LOT of time and effort if I'd started using it sooner.
 
Yup. It's like the difference between a dull axe and a chainsaw. SiC grit is faster and leaves a much better cutting surface.
 
I agree that it works much better and faster. I just wanted to add to not do it over the sink. Sic powder will clog your drain. Ask me how.i know. Lol.
 
I use a plastic bus bin to contain the mess and empty it outside.

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A 2 pack of plastic bins holds twice the mess, and you only have to empty it half as often. Brilliant!

Parker
 
Lapidary diamond is what you'll want to use on them. What grits? The coarsest you can get for flattening, but for surface conditioning it'll depend on how fine a surface you want. Sintered stones function more like a file, so how you finish the surface will affect the finish it produces.
 
I've many times used my natural stones to resurface each other by rubbing them on each other. I don't know but I would at least try rubbing them two stones together to see what happens. But to flatten as was said lower grit. When I use sic is to initial flatness and then I use my atomas to finish the job.
 
Bill3152 said:
I've many times used my natural stones to resurface each other by rubbing them on each other. I don't know but I would at least try rubbing them two stones together to see what happens. But to flatten as was said lower grit. When I use sic is to initial flatness and then I use my atomas to finish the job.
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All you'd end up doing with Spyderco bench stones is end up glazing the surfaces. I would STRONGLY advise AGAINST doing that.
 
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