Flattening natural whetstone

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Nathan Ford

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Hi, sorry if i've posted this in the wrong place.
I just pick up a piece of rough uchigumori. How can I flatten this? It would be great if I can keep the leftover as polishing powder !
Thank you!
 

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you can use an atoma diamond plate ($70), or a tungsten carbide sanding block from perma grit ($40).

A drywall sanding screen works well too ($5 for multi pack) or sandpaper, and is probably the cheapest for this purpose -- just know that the sanding screen might release loose grit, and the sandpaper, too
 
refcast said:
you can use an atoma diamond plate ($70), or a tungsten carbide sanding block from perma grit ($40).

A drywall sanding screen works well too ($5 for multi pack) or sandpaper, and is probably the cheapest for this purpose -- just know that the sanding screen might release loose grit, and the sandpaper, too
Click to expand...
I see, thank you. Btw, Is there any idea to keep the removed material? I plan to use it as the polishing powder. If I use a sandpaper,...the uchiko powder will be mixed with the tungsten carbide abrasives, right?
 
perform the flattening over a plastic sheet, like the kind you buy for painting. A large trashbag can do, as well.

Honestly. . . do the flattening inside the trashbag, not your body . . . just the stone and the flattening device. Should catch most of the powder
 
refcast said:
perform the flattening over a plastic sheet, like the kind you buy for painting. A large trashbag can do, as well.

Honestly. . . do the flattening inside the trashbag, not your body . . . just the stone and the flattening device. Should catch most of the powder
Click to expand...
Then, do I need to add some water?
 
I'm sorry I don't know. I just remembered they existed, but you may lose a bit more stone than you want. But it will be loads faster. Still need some final flattening with a plate, but I'm afraid you'll burn through a plate or maybe two doing it all by hand, could be expensive. Hard problem with home hand tools only.
 
i can gouge stones with a knife . . . i think regular saws may work too, but they will dull.

unless it's a razor stone, then that stuff is too hard . . .

uchigumori fingerstones are medium hard / soft (depends). . . so saws might be able to work
 
captaincaed said:
I'm sorry I don't know. I just remembered they existed, but you may lose a bit more stone than you want. But it will be loads faster. Still need some final flattening with a plate, but I'm afraid you'll burn through a plate or maybe two doing it all by hand, could be expensive. Hard problem with home hand tools only.
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Yeah, It really hard with limited tools.
refcast said:
i can gouge stones with a knife . . . i think regular saws may work too, but they will dull.

unless it's a razor stone, then that stuff is too hard . . .

uchigumori fingerstones are medium hard / soft (depends). . . so saws might be able to work
Click to expand...
I known some use hand saw to make fingerstone, some use a knife. In my case, the cutting section quite big so...Better to stick with plan A, lol.
 
If you're using a fresh diamond plate to flatten and also trying to save the powder, be warned that a loose diamond can make its way into your powder and wreck havoc on a polishing attempt... Ask me how I know :rolleyes:

I've flattened an uchigumori koppa that looked very similar to that - not something I'd attempt to do 100% by hand again. I had decent results with a little orbital hand sander and plenty of super coarse (60 grit or lower) sand paper. Did it dry and outside, wearing a respirator, to handle the dust plume. I did the final bit with an Atoma 140 to get it level then an Atoma 1200 to dress the surface.
 
Anytime I'm polishing with an Uchigumori or finer I keep a drip pan under my sink bridge and rinse the stone into it when I'm done, capturing slurry and mud. Let the pan evaporate and harvest the remnants. I found that the mix of slurry and fine mud/powder is an ideal finishing compound in a polishing sequence. I apply it with a mineral oil felt pad and I feel like it really helps the details in iron cladding or a hamon pop.
 
ethompson said:
Anytime I'm polishing with an Uchigumori or finer I keep a drip pan under my sink bridge and rinse the stone into it when I'm done, capturing slurry and mud. Let the pan evaporate and harvest the remnants. I found that the mix of slurry and fine mud/powder is an ideal finishing compound in a polishing sequence. I apply it with a mineral oil felt pad and I feel like it really helps the details in iron cladding or a hamon pop.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the tip, this's the first time I heard about that mix. Btw, I just found that when using the uchigumori as a nagura on Iyoto, the slurry really good to make the hamon pop, faster than only the uchigumori.
ethompson said:
If you're using a fresh diamond plate to flatten and also trying to save the powder, be warned that a loose diamond can make its way into your powder and wreck havoc on a polishing attempt... Ask me how I know :rolleyes:

I've flattened an uchigumori koppa that looked very similar to that - not something I'd attempt to do 100% by hand again. I had decent results with a little orbital hand sander and plenty of super coarse (60 grit or lower) sand paper. Did it dry and outside, wearing a respirator, to handle the dust plume. I did the final bit with an Atoma 140 to get it level then an Atoma 1200 to dress the surface.
Click to expand...
I don't have orbital hand sander, but I realize that the uchigumori pretty soft that I can use the hacksaw blade (metal cutting type) to "plane" the surface, lol.
 
Nathan Ford said:
Thanks for the tip, this's the first time I heard about that mix.
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Just want to be clear, I’ve never seen anyone use that mix before either. Just saying that in my experience it’s worked well. Others here have far, far more polishing experience than I and I’d defer to them.
 
Hassanbensober said:
Fastest best way to flatten stones I have found is with heavy silicone carbide floor sanding belts. I cut the belts and lay them out on a board or steel plate with glue. Flatten the stones face down. Refine the surface afterwards with diamond plates.
You won’t be able to save the powder though.
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Yeah, this stone quite expensive, so...
ethompson said:
Just want to be clear, I’ve never seen anyone use that mix before either. Just saying that in my experience it’s worked well. Others here have far, far more polishing experience than I and I’d defer to them.
Click to expand...
Will that mix rust? I means, the slurry will turn to yellow soon or late?
 
Hassanbensober said:
Fastest best way to flatten stones I have found is with heavy silicone carbide floor sanding belts. I cut the belts and lay them out on a board or steel plate with glue. Flatten the stones face down. Refine the surface afterwards with diamond plates.
You won’t be able to save the powder though.
Click to expand...

I have some 4*22 belts leftover from sanding my deck. And several stones that need flattening. I'll try it
 
Hassanbensober said:
The process I described may sound a bit aggressive however I can assure you this is the same technology used by suehiro in the lapping flattening plates on the market. For 1/10th of the price.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I saw something similar on the youtube chanel of ken-syou.
 
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