How often do you flatten your stone?

[slowtyper]

Say you have 4 knives to sharpen, does anyone flatten the stone quickly between knives or just once at the start (or end) of the sharpening session?

[Citizen Snips]

depends on the stone really. my blue aoto 2k i never flatten because its so soft that moving my sharpening around on the stone does a fine job at keeping it pretty even. i just look at the stone before i start to find the places i need to work on the most. for a beston 500 on the other hand i flatten it about every time i use it. if that gets a high spot its much harder to work it out by moving your sharpening around.

it doesnt hurt to flatten every time you sharpen, in fact if you are a beginner you should flatten every time. this will give you the best training for your eyes and hands to feel what is going on for every section of your blade. the only thing you lose from sharpening is some life of your stones. personally i buy the stones for performance and i dont feel like flattening a $40 stone every time you use it will create a big enough dent in my wallet even if i sharpen 4 or more times a week. ive had my current setup for over a year and i sharpen about twice a week and the stones have plenty of life left in them.

now if i had natural stones it would be a completely different story. i dont think i would ever let those things touch a flattening stone...

[99Limited]

If I'm sharpening two or three knives at a time, which is the most I ever do at once, I don't bother flattening between knives. I do on the other hand flatten my stones at the beginning of each session.

[Dave Martell]

When they need it.

[Eamon Burke]

Yeah, it depends on the stone. Some stones dish fast, others not so fast. I'm not fond of flattening, another reason I like Shapton Pros. They are somewhat unresponsive, in trade for being very slow wearing.

[JeffS]

Depends on the stone and how many knives I am sharpening.

In most cases I will hit the stones with my DMT before I start. A few passes lets me know if it needs more work or is good to go. If nothing else it cleans anything stuck on the surface or in the outer "pores" before I set to sharpening.

[tk59]

What Dave said. When I sharpen I basically avoid focusing on the center of the stone. I end up with high edges and corners which I periodically wear down with a "diamond nagura" deal. I do this with all of my 1k+ stones. I flatten my sub-1k stones before using them since they dish quickly and I generally put a lot of wear on them when I use them.

[DwarvenChef]

Good ol generic answer... When needed... When I work on my AS knives I flatten after each knife. On the other hand when doing my razors I only flatten after avery 10 or so razors depending on results.

[MadMel]

I have never flattened my stones.. Maybe cause they are kinda new. I sharpen every 4 days or so. I don't think I would flatten my stone unless I can see and/or feel a deform in the stone..

[mr drinky]

I used to do it before each sharpening, then I got lazy for a while and realized how much longer it took to get the flat back, so now I do it more frequently again. If I just touch up a knife, I don't worry about though. But do you flatten before or after use?

k.