Which flattening plate for honing stone

[novo]

Till now i have three stones, all Naniwa Professionals, a 400, 1000 and 2000 grit respectively. I use an Atoma 140 grit Diamond plate for flatenning those stones.
I'm just about to order a finer stone from the 5000-8000 grit range for honing and i was wandering if my Atoma will be still ok or shall i buy a finer plate for flattening my honing stone?

 

[Pensacola Tiger]

I flatten all my stones, including a 10,000 Naniwa SuperStone, using an Atoma 140. Works just fine.

 

[mark76]

I wrote a blog post on this: What should I use to flatten my high grit waterstones?

"This is a question I’ve asked a number of times to various people and on various forums. I got two different answers: a rough diamond plate and a fine diamond plate. Only one of these answers could be right. Which one?"

The correct answer: a finer diamond plate. For fine details and nuances, see the blog post.

 

[Pensacola Tiger]

I wrote a blog post on this: What should I use to flatten my high grit waterstones?

"This is a question I’ve asked a number of times to various people and on various forums. I got two different answers: a rough diamond plate and a fine diamond plate. Only one of these answers could be right. Which one?"

The correct answer: a fine diamond plate. For fine details and nuances, see the blog post.

Actually, both answers are correct. While there may be a certain roughness left by the Atoma 140, any roughness will disappear within a half dozen sharpening passes.

 

[_PixelNinja]

Jon (Broida) has mentioned to me in the past that the roughness left by a coarse diamond plate can give an edge with more bite, which may or may not be interesting depending on what you are looking for.

 

[idemhj]

I wrote a blog post on this: What should I use to flatten my high grit waterstones?

"This is a question I’ve asked a number of times to various people and on various forums. I got two different answers: a rough diamond plate and a fine diamond plate. Only one of these answers could be right. Which one?"

The correct answer: a finer diamond plate. For fine details and nuances, see the blog post.

Wether that is "THE CORRECT ANSWER" or not depends completly on what you want from your edge. If you like a very fine edge you can still flatten high grit stones on a coarse plate and then refine them with a nagura or one of your medium grit stones

 

[JBroida]

Jon (Broida) has mentioned to me in the past that the roughness left by a coarse diamond plate can give an edge with more bite, which may or may not be interesting depending on what you are looking for.

not necessarily more bite, but better tactile feedback from the stone surface and better water holding... also slightly faster cutting speed with more exposed surface area. But the level of polish decreases.

 

[_PixelNinja]

not necessarily more bite, but better tactile feedback from the stone surface and better water holding... also slightly faster cutting speed with more exposed surface area. But the level of polish decreases.

I must be loosing it Jon; I could swear you told me that in one of our email exchanges and that you have also mentioned it elsewhere. Thanks for clearing that up.

 

[JBroida]

there are cases where it is the case, but not always

 

[mark76]

A course finish doesn't necessarily imply more bite. Als given the remarks in the thread, like:

Wether that is "THE CORRECT ANSWER" or not depends completly on what you want from your edge.

Of course, if you want a courser edge, a courser finish on your stone may help. But generally, if you go to a, say, 8K stone, you want an 8K finish.

I think the main point I'm trying to make is that the lapping plate does have an impact on how the sharpening stone will function. Even though this effect will disappear quite quickly as the stone wears. (And again: for the finer points, see my blog.)

 

[malexthekid]

Yes and no. Fundamentally the grit in an 8k some is the same size. The grit of the flattening stone is only going to affect the surface roughness. And as you point out that is only likeky to last the dust sharpening.

So there is no correct answer. It is a preference thing. Personally i think i would go the course route so it flattens quicker. But the again i currently use a larger paver to flatten as i haven't found an atoma at a "reasonable" price level for me.

 

[jacko9]

I use the Atoma 140 for my stones and I wore out a 3M Diamond plate (abused it by using it dry). While I won't make the same mistake with my Atoma 140, I was wondering about the longevity of the Atoma flattening hard stones like the Shapton Glass and ******** *** and Bamboo stones?

Has anybody considered using the Shapton Flattening Plate for long term cost savings if it ion fact might last longer then multiple Atoma plates?

Jack