Replies

1. 
   vincentedwards | Dec 05, 2006 03:13am | #1

   Have you found any answers to your question?
   I'm in the same boat with my set of Norton stones-
   I have heard a lot of buzz about the Shapton stones, but very little conclusive feedback.

   I know that they're formulated to cut A-2 steel much better than the professional series
   stones. Also, they are supposed to stay flat longer/ wear much better than the nortons.

   I am wondering how well they work on japanese #1 white steel, and also
   high-carbon steel found in two cherries carving tools...

   please let me know if you've heard anything more, or purchased a set of your own.

   Vincent

1. 
   BG | Dec 05, 2006 05:22am | #2

   Vincentedwards,
   They demoed the new Shaptons at the Lie Nielson tools show this past Friday/Saturday. I have the old fashion Shapton 1000, 4000 so I was interested in seeing the 8000...and determining if it was worth it.
   My first impression was the new stones are made to wear much faster than the old ones(I may be totally wrong). Second, I was kinda turned off by the cost of the diamond plate for flattening..$289...and it was used a lot.
   I asked Chris Schwartz and Peter Horn what they thought. Both were very positive and Peter showed me his 2-cherry chisel that had been sharpened on the Shaptons. Chris did share that maybe 8000 was a bit beyond what the craftsman of yore used...
   I noticed on the Lie Nielson sight you can use the W&D sandpaper to level the Shaptons...which is what I use. I'm still debating and will experiment with green rouge on MDF to see how close i can get to the 8000 that way.

1. 
   vincentedwards | Dec 05, 2006 09:12am | #3

   Thanks for the feedback-
   It's good to hear directly that the two cherries steel sharpens well with the Glass Stone.Here are a few points you might find interesting.1- I saw the same reference to W/D sandpaper and I was very glad to find an alternative to
   spending $290 on a flattening plate. I would advise, however, that you find a VERY flat surface to use as a substrate for the sandpaper. I would reccomend either a machinists granite refernce slab (lee valley tools, $35) or a piece of float glass (garett wade, also $35).
   I sent an email to shapton asking whether their stones could be flattened using a DMT duostone, and they wrote back that the DMT diamond plates are not flat enough to be ideal with the shapton stones. They also said that the abraisives in the Glass Stones could pull the diamonds right out of the cheaper diamond plate. Wow. It sounds like the effectiveness of the whole system seems to depend on this extreme level of flatness.2- The stones, properly maintained, are really supposed to wear very slowly. If you saw significant wear in that demonstration, then that would be a major drawback (since they're so thin). Hmmmm. I think I'll try to find out more about this before I buy.3- Last but not least, you might try using water based diamond paste on FLAT pieces of hard maple to get that final edge. It cuts faster than green honing compound, and the abrasives are more precisely graded. It is available from Tools for Working Wood for $15 per tube, and comes in .5, and .25 micron grits for final honing. It also got a really positive review from fine woodworking in a sharpening test.
   -take this last comment with a grain of salt, I haven't tried diamont paste yet... I use a hard felt wheel with green compound for final honing on carving tools, and my 8000 grit norton stone for plane blades... and I am getting good results.my only reason for looking at the shapton stones was that my Norton stones are getting thin, and it's always nice to see if there's something better out there. -all that being said,
   good luck and stay sharp!

1. 
   BG | Dec 05, 2006 01:20pm | #4

   Vincent,
   Thanks for the information.
   I don't want to overstate the "wear" issue...it may just be my inexperience. I'm used to the pro models and they are very hard and will last a long time. However, I've never tried the 8000 grit in the pro model so it kinda shocked me to see all the particulate matter being washed off the 8000 glastone after re-flattening. I also noticed he re-flattened frequently; I asked him "how come so frequently?" he talked about the micron size and the need to keep an extremely flat surface. It made me wonder about the use of a Naugua (sp?)stone and how flat that surface is afterward...

2. 
   cscwem | Dec 05, 2006 05:33pm | #5

   shortly after my initial post i bought the shapton's through 8000 and the flattening plate...

   i have used them exclusevily since that time...they work very well on the steel in pfeil and L-N chisels and hock and L-N plane irons as well as the random assortment of other manufacturers that i have...

   the stones came dead flat and ready to use, i lap each one on the flattening plate quickly after each use and have not seen any problems with excessive wear.  they now offer them in a thicker configuration (more money) that was not available when i purchased mine.

   overall i really like them and would buy them again....