Hone Help - Lap Advice

[silversid]

Hi All,

I'm looking for some advice as what to do with the below stone. Looking through pictures on here I think it's a Coticule, although I couldn't tell what type or where from.

As you can see from the pictures it's really dished. What would be the best way to flatten it (should I flatten it?), would my Naniwa Flattening stone be able to remove that much material without ruining it or the stone, or would a a belt sander be better?

Should I try and remove it from it's (what looks like) original box and see how thick it is and give it a clean up?

Any advice greatly appreciated.

 

[PaulMallorca]

I've laped a couple of old beatiful stones like this one, and I've always regret it. Use it only a couple of times, then when I look at it , they have lost all the soul they had. Just another coticule on the shelf...

If you have other stones to shave with, there is no absolute need to lap this one.

If you decide to, the first thing is to clean the sides to see how much coticule is left.

 

[Legion]

It will need to be lapped if you want to use it for razors. For knives you can probably use as is.

The last one I did that was that dished I did with 120 grit wet dry sand paper on glass until flat, then finished it on an Atoma diamond plate.

To get it out of the box try heating the bottom with a hair dryer while pulling on it.

 

[thp001]

SiC powder on a glass plate should do it, alternatively you could use wet/dry paper. Diamond plate would be another option if you have one. Like PaulMallorca said, you want to check how thick the yellow layer is before proceeding. I wouldn't use one of those flattening stones, they aren't actually all that good for flattening since they tend to end up concave over time I have found.

 

[Empire straights]

Hi All,

I'm looking for some advice as what to do with the below stone. Looking through pictures on here I think it's a Coticule, although I couldn't tell what type or where from.

As you can see from the pictures it's really dished. What would be the best way to flatten it (should I flatten it?), would my Naniwa Flattening stone be able to remove that much material without ruining it or the stone, or would a a belt sander be better?

Should I try and remove it from it's (what looks like) original box and see how thick it is and give it a clean up?

Any advice greatly appreciated.

View attachment 1307339View attachment 1307340View attachment 1307341View attachment 1307342

That stone looks like a PDSO to my very untrained eye. Nice find!

 

[Slash McCoy]

Wow, not much meat left on that one. It is glued to the surface of the wood, right? Or is it set down into the wood? If what we see is all you got, then I would not remove it from the wood. It would break pretty easily. If you want to use it for razors, it needs to be lapped, but you aren't going to get a lot more use out of it anyway. I would consider retiring that one. Or using it for maybe a filet or boning knife, without lapping. But if you want to lap it and use it for razors, go for it, without removing it from the base unless it is coming off already.

 

[cotedupy]

If you want to lap it then yes - as others have said - you need to remove it from the box, to give you an idea of what you have to play with, and how you want to do it. (It is a coticule yep, I would put a decent amount of money on that).

Getting it out of that box may well be tricky though...

Different adhesives respond differently to different types of heating, and your best bet is to use a combination of stuff, slowly. One or more of the following; 100 degs c oven, steam from a rolling boil kettle*, boiling water poured on it, hairdryer, any other method of heating the thing up to about that temp. Also useful is a thin knife or scalpel to go down the side between the stone and wood once you've softened the adhesive. Be very gentle with both heating and force. You're not going to have a huge amount of purchase on that stone when trying to pull it out, so could take a while to loosen it sufficiently, but better safe than sorry!

Good luck


* Unless you're in America, where apparently people don't have kettles?!?!!

 

[Slash McCoy]

If you want to lap it then yes - as others have said - you need to remove it from the box, to give you an idea of what you have to play with, and how you want to do it. (It is a coticule yep, I would put a decent amount of money on that).

Getting it out of that box may well be tricky though...

Different adhesives respond differently to different types of heating, and your best bet is to use a combination of stuff, slowly. One or more of the following; 100 degs c oven, steam from a rolling boil kettle*, boiling water poured on it, hairdryer, any other method of heating the thing up to about that temp. Also useful is a thin knife or scalpel to go down the side between the stone and wood once you've softened the adhesive. Be very gentle with both heating and force. You're not going to have a huge amount of purchase on that stone when trying to pull it out, so could take a while to loosen it sufficiently, but better safe than sorry!

Good luck


* Unless you're in America, where apparently people don't have kettles?!?!!

YEs we have kettles. In fact, I have a 16 gallon brew kettle for making beer. There are bigger things for boiling crabs shrimp or crawfish in, or for deep frying a whole turkey, but they are called pots. MIne is I think 30 gallons. THere is also something called a "tea kettle" but I am not quite sure what they are used for, so we don't have one.

 

[haggis]

I could lap up some kettle corn about now.

 

[cotedupy]

YEs we have kettles. In fact, I have a 16 gallon brew kettle for making beer. There are bigger things for boiling crabs shrimp or crawfish in, or for deep frying a whole turkey, but they are called pots. MIne is I think 30 gallons. THere is also something called a "tea kettle" but I am not quite sure what they are used for, so we don't have one.

Ha! Very good! Are you sure you're from America though? You seem to have a suspiciously deft understanding of irony...

(Other thing that's probably obvious, but I'll mention anyway if you are trying to remove - don't go straight into steam / boiling water - warm it gently for 5-10 mins in the oven first, so there's not too much shock).

 

[silversid]

Thanks for all the info. I popped it in the over for 10 mins after dinner and it came right out, it's about 3/4" thick so lots of life left in it. I do get your point @PaulMallorca about loosing it's soul, but now it has a new lease of life and should be usable for many more years to come.

It lapped fairly easy with W&D and feels buttery while honing. I just need to learn how to use it properly.

 

[Gamma]

Fixing up that old stone improved its soul, good on you for taking the time and putting in the effort to get it back in the game.

 

[Toro Blanco]

Nice job! Came out looking good!

 

[Empire straights]

Beautiful work! Now to get to know each other...