Japanese Waterston Flattening

[chiamsi]

My new water stone 200mm was not round (2mm off!) and I used the tT-50 to flatten it.
How can I now get a moth surface again?
I used the fine side of the stone with a rough and a fine side but it still is rougher than the initial stone

Ernst

[micha]

Hi Ernst,
I think that's perfectly normal. Even the fine side of the stone grader is far coarser than the SJ-Stone. It will revert to very smooth after some short time of use.
If you're hesitating because of having a most delicate blade, you may want to start with the edge on another knife/chisel/tool.

[RichColvin]

I use a Nagura stone like this one

https://www.amazon.com/Iman-Nagura-Stone/dp/B0037M4R7A/ref=sr_1_3?crid=18Z5K4CR8QF43&dchild=1&keywords=nagura+stone&qid=1586481958&sprefix=natural%2Caps%2C690&sr=8-3

It works well.

Rich

[RickKrung]

I use a 1000 grit diamond plate to smooth the Japanese wheel (SJ-250). 

I also use it on the standard grindstone (SG-250).  I only use the SG wheel as a second stage after the Blackstone (SB-250).  I use a dedicated grading stone (SP-659) for the SB and the fine side for the SG before the diamond plate.  In short, I keep the SG graded as finely as I can and never use it coarse any longer.  I use the SJ wheel after those two. 

When I use the diamond wheels, it is coarse (DC), fine (DF), extra fine (DE) and SJ

I use a paper wheel with 1 micron diamond paste as the final honing after either of those routines.  Clearly, I am not sharpening for speed (and I don't do farmers markets anymore)

Rick. 

[chiamsi]

Finally I use the fine diamond stone from my old Lansky. That works very well.

[Scotty]

Just finished some work with the SJ 200.
That wheel rocks. Mirror finish bevels. Very cool.
Noticed that the wheel seems to be loading up a bit. Or that may be normal?
I used it both edge leading and trailing, with almost no pressure.
Looking for advice on the care and feeding of the SJ.
Have read some about using a diamond plate to dress it and I thought I read somewhere that some used the Tormek dressing stone. On the fine side.
I am a little reluctant to try that as they are real proud of the SJs and I do not want to screw it up.
Thanks in advance

[Ken S]

Try using a pencil eraser, preferably a pink eraser. If that works, but you would like something beefier, try a rust eraser (you should already have a set of three) or a nagurastone.

Ken

[RickKrung]

Personally, I would not use the grading stone, either side.  I have used a 1000 grit diamond plate to dress it and the truing tool to square and true it.  Your subject says "flattening".  I would only do that with the truing tool.

The buildup is normal.  The best options I know of are 1) Nagura stone and 2) Sabituro Rust Erasers.  I have both and think the Sabituro work much better.  Do searches for these on the forum, there has been a lot of discussion.

Rick

[John_B]

Personally, I would not use the grading stone, either side.  I have used a 1000 grit diamond plate to dress it and the truing tool to square and true it.  Your subject says "flattening".  I would only do that with the truing tool.

The buildup is normal.  The best options I know of are 1) Nagura stone and 2) Sabituro Rust Erasers.  I have both and think the Sabituro work much better.  Do searches for these on the forum, there has been a lot of discussion.

Rick

Not to hijack the thread but the rust erasers work great to clean the bottom of pots and pans where grease has cooked on.

[RickKrung]

...snip...
Not to hijack the thread but the rust erasers work great to clean the bottom of pots and pans where grease has cooked on.

Very true, and they even remove rust from tools left out all winter, and such...

[casher50]

The buildup is not much of a problem if you clean your SJ wheel frequently. I use Rust Erasers, often several times per knife. If you clean off the metal buildup very often the gunk comes off quickly and easily because it hasn't yet embedded into the surface of the wheel. It only takes 20-30 seconds to have a nearly clean wheel again and it does it's job better also.

[Tool Junkie]

I saw a YT video wherein a guy puts a scotchbright pad lodged in the back of his water trough and that helps to clean the wheel as he's using it. He also put a rubber liner on the trough on the downwheel side, which helps to keep the water falling into the trough (I wish Tormek would widen the base of the trough on that side, too).

He does the farmer's markets and has sharpened over 53k knives and has gone thru 17 stones. Sounded knowledgeable.

[Scotty]

I purchased a small Nagura stone on Amazon.
Ran it over the SJ (wet).
Cleaned it like new

[tgbto]

...snip...
Not to hijack the thread but the rust erasers work great to clean the bottom of pots and pans where grease has cooked on.

Very true, and they even remove rust from tools left out all winter, and such...

Yup, and where I come from, we use these to remove rust from ski edges, as well as dull the tip and heel of the edges to ease turn entry and exit.

I saw a YT video wherein a guy puts a scotchbright pad lodged in the back of his water trough

The scotchbrite pad is used a lot as well for cleaning high end japanese wetstones or glass stones when mounted on blanks for edgpro-like tools.

[BeSharp]

KnifeGrinder's latest video on grading stones, including the Tormek Japanese stone:

"A better way to true and grade your stone wheels - Part 2: Grading" :  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=141hD1d1zj0