A place to discuss tools specifically relevant to knife making and restoration. But since Boys (and girls) like toys, we'll likely end up talking about tools in general anyway!
Lapping plates
Being we’re all into sharp & often pointy tools ..aka.. knives … there exists a good chance we own some natural sharpening stones. With use .. these natural sharpening stones loose their "flatness” & can benefit from the occasional “lapping”. Lapping being the process by which the stone's surface used for sharpening is returned to a FLAT state.
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I found there are plenty of products on the market to assist in this process. Until recently ..last night.. I had no idea how downright pricey they could be. WOW, one can easily spend literally hundreds of dollars for some of these tools. Likely .. worth it if one makes their living from sharpening tools & owns stones worth literally thousands of dollars. For me .. it would be far more economical to simply purchase a new sharpening stone.
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Anyway .. I would like to offer a slightly less expensive approach to attaining the same end result. That being .. a flat surface on the sharpening side of one’s natural whetstone.
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In March of 2016 .. I went on a buying binge of diamond whetstones. At the time .. I owned only 3 of EZE-LAP’s DIAMOND HONE & STONEs. At the same time .. I’d come to own enough D2 & VG10 core laminated blade steel that I needed the diamond whetstones. In that process .. I obtained a whetstone that did NOT have a solid coverage of abrasive material. Instead .. it had a hexagonal honeycomb arrangement of pads of abrasive material.
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NOTE: I cannot & will not recommend this type of whetstone for common sharpening of a tool / knife. I of course tried it .. as I did them all. However .. with this honeycomb arrangement of abrasive pads .. I (almost instantly) caught the edge of one of the pads with the cutting edge of the knife I was sharpening & immediately DULLED the cutting edge to the point of expressing profanity .. loudly !!! It has not been used for that purpose since.
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However .. during another project .. I used it for “lapping” some mating parts of a handle for a knife I have under construction. At which time .. another iKC member chimed in with the suggestion that I might find the “honeycomb” whetstone useful for lapping natural stones. And indeed .. I have found it works wonderfully for that purpose.
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Thank you, John !!!
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I can also state it works well for “lapping” scale material ..&.. just about any other material one needs to evenly & flatly mate up against a flat surface ..or.. each other.
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NOTE: These are all 0.040” or 1mm thick ..therefor.. they will require a FLAT backing surface of some type. Personally, I use a portion of a laminated table leaf left over from a previous project & cut down to the appropriate size. I’m confident we can all come up with some FLAT material to provide the required FLAT backing support.
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The particular whetstone I’m referring to is a 1000 grit hexagonal honeycomb padded diamond whetstone I purchased for a whopping $4.54. That exact stone is no longer available from the vendor I purchased it from back in March of last year. However .. the same stone is available through other vendors. Also .. for the purpose of lapping .. coarser grits may occasionally be preferred. Toward that end .. I did some further research and have a few additional options listed below. The first list offers examples of the same size I originally presented in the other knife project. These all can be purchased for under $5.oo ea.
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For the purpose of lapping .. larger sizes can be beneficial. Toward that end .. I have listed some examples of the larger sizes. Specifically . A 6” X 6” .. a 7.8” X 7.8” ..&.. a 9” X 3.14”. These larger sizes do not exceed $20.oo a piece in price.
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All .. well below what I was finding on the net for “official” lapping plates.
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All the whetstones listed in this section are of dimensions = 150mm X 63mm X 1mm
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……… OR ……...
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5.963” long X 2.480” wide X 0.040” thick.
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1000 grit diamond hexagonal “honeycomb” whetstone … $4.65 ea
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1000 grit diamond hexagonal “honeycomb” whetstone … $3.99 ea
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400 grit diamond hexagonal “honeycomb” whetstone … $4.91 ea
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For the purposes of lapping .. larger sizes are more versatile & sometimes preferred .. depending on the size of the stone being lapped. SO0o .. here are some options addressing that issue. NOTE: These larger whetstone sheets have a solid abrasive surface ..NOT.. the “hexagonal honeycomb” style of the smaller whetstones listed above. As such .. I would expect them to require far more frequent cleaning during the lapping process.
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6” X 6” size … available grits include 240, 500, 600, 800, 1000, 2000, & 3000 … $15.99 ea
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7.8” X 7.8” … available grits = 240, 600, 1000, & 2000 … $18.75 ea
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9” X 3.14” … available grits = 80, 100, 120, 150, 180, 240, 260, 320, 400, 500, 600, 800, 1K, 1.2K, 1.5K, 1.8k, 2K, 2.5K, & 3K … $7.99 ea
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As always .. comments are welcomed.
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Enjoy
D ale
In Memoriam
D ale
Thanks, John .. that's the info I needed.
I'm in the middle of something at the moment
..but..
before the day is out .. I'll PM you a few options.
D ale
John Bamford said:
Apr 11, 2017
In Memoriam
D ale
John
Did you get the PM I sent ??
D ale
Apr 12, 2017
John Bamford
Yes I got it this morning thanks Dale . didn't have much time to check it out until after work and the weekly shopping trip though . I have sent for one of the diamond plates , the one Manx recommends looks good but would cost more in shipping than the one from China has cost in total.
Apr 12, 2017