a note to Steve (and the forum)

[tooljunkie]

Lower left? Keyboard code?

If you use the Quote option you will not see the smiley faces.

Have a look at the user help

http://forum.tormek.com/index.php?action=help

[Steve Brown]

Anybody using a "stone pond" like Veritas or Shapton? Or how 'bout a plastic lunch tray??
Steve

[tooljunkie]

Hi Steve

I am using The Stone Pond by Veritas.
It does work good & is adjustable to fit different size stones & holds 2 stone ready & will hold 1 or 2 more in the bottom.
The stones in the holder do rock a bit but doesn't pose a problem.

I love the look of the Shapton Sharpening Pond but it looks like it may be very specific to fit their stone but I don't know for sure.


The price is a little scary at $198.95.
The Stone Pond by Veritas is $62.50

[tooljunkie]

The picture did not come through so I will send the ink to the page.

http://www.craftsmanstudio.com/html_p/Q00POND.htm

[Steve Brown]

Hi Ionut,
You still out there? Just wondering, when you go from the 1000 stone to the 4000 stone, do you leave the tool in the jig and just start sharpening, or do you have to re-adjust the tool for the different stone? I just got the 4000 yesterday.  This could be a question for Jeff Farris, as well. Thanks,
Steve

[Jeff Farris]

If the diameters are different (and they are) you will have to readjust the Universal Support height, but there's no reason to make any adjustments to the jig.

[Steve Brown]

Jeff,
I was thinking about this. The diameters of the wheels will surely be different. Maybe the best thing would be to use the magic marker to make the adjustment to the 4000, and as you say, not necessary to make any adjustments to the jig.
Steve

[ionut]

Of course I am here Steve, I am just pretty busy.
You will have to re-adjust the height of the universal support because the wheels are most likely different in size and also the wear rate would be different. What I do to minimize the setting time is first time after I finish with the 1000 setting is to find out the offset between the wheels by turns of the adjusting wheel of the universal support. I re-mark the bevel with the waterproof marker and follow the setting of the bevel angle procedure, making sure that I note how many turns and in what direction I have to move the adjusting wheel for the 4000 stone in order to polish the bevel left by the 1000. After that when I re-sharpen that tool or any other tool I just dial in the offset and I start honing with 4000. Once in a while you will have to re-check and update this offset, it is depending of how much sharpening you do especially whenever after truing any of the stones or whenever you see that the honing does not happen at the location you want, and most of the time you do that on the fly without the need to mark the bevel, for me this happens once in probably 4-6 months. When I switch from 1000 to 4000 I keep the tool in the straight jig without changing anything, not other setting change is required than the adjustment wheel.
Be careful with truing the 4000 stone and always take very small slices when you need to true it. I never go with depth of the cut larger than 1/12 of the adjusting wheel and if the truing is not complete I  will continue with as many small passes as necessary.  Also during use keep the stone clean or steel particles between sharpening session, use only the fine side of the grader stone and with light pressure holding the grader along with the grinding stone and not across it so the risk of taking it out of square is minimized. For cleaning and maintaining to stone you can also use a small 2/6 DMT (325-600 mesh even finer if you want) diamond stone clamped in the straight jig just like a tool. If you have to switch the wheels on one machine I would also advise as I said in a different post, changing the water in the trough or having a spare one with clean water for the 4000 one to avoid larger size particles form the 220/1000 stone to contaminate 4000 stone.

Ionut

[ionut]

Also Steve if you use the honing wheel after the 4000 minimize as much as possible the use of it on the freshly polished bevel on 4000, you only need few light swipes on the back and the bevel for cleaning the cutting edge from microscopic burr traces.

Ionut

[Steve Brown]

Ionut,
Excellent feedback, thank you. I think I put it in my post to you, but in what container do you put the Naniwa stones while sharpening? I've bee looking at the Veritas and Shapton, but I don't really either one for various reasons. No rush on this if you're busy. Be well,
Steve

[ionut]

Hi Steve,

Don;t try to be to fancy with the stone container, at least I wasn't even though there are some practical aspects related to it, I still kept my things simple, so intialy I just used a large soup bowl to soak the stones and soon after I got my rear kicked so I started looking for a quick and "butt safe" solution, and I found it, an inexpensive lunch box in which I keep only the 1000 and 800 stones They are immersed all the way under water and the box has a cover. You do not need to keep the 4000 and 8000 soaked all the time, you can just sprinkle some water on the when you need that. When I use the coarse ones I just take them from the water (lunch box) and use them, when I am done I put them back in the box, that's pretty much what I do, that also forces me to keep the stone clean. At the end of the day it really doesn;t matter, find a clean container preferably plastic, if you intend to use a metallic one I guess that should be from some stainless steel, and have a proper cover for it.

Ionut

[Steve Brown]

Ionut,
I didn't realize that the coarser stones need to stay immersed. That changes things. Thanks for the heads up.
Steve

[ionut]

Sorry , I probably put it in the wrong way, they don't need to be stored immersed in water but if they are dry before using, then you need to let the soak for few minutes until the stop releasing bubbles.  At the time when I was doing my sharpening only with bench stones having to soak them every time before sharpening was a waste of time so I decided to keep them all the time immersed. Today I use them only when I flatten something or when I am playing around things but I still keep them like that. It is a matter of choice.

Ionut

[Steve Brown]

Got it.
Steve

[Ken S]

ps....Be sure to watch the sharpening and "large format block plane" you tubes on the Lie-Nielsen site.  lots of solid info which works equally well with Lee Valley planes and other stones.

Ken