Shapton Glass Stone vs. Professional?

[Maxwell Lol]

I just got the Lee Valley Low Angle smoothing plane, and LOVE it. Very easy to use out of the box, and very sharp. Now I have to get a few more blades so I change change angles to work with different hardwoods.

I also have Steve Knight, Lie Nielsen planes, Japanese, Stanley, etc planes.

I have several planes that I'd like to improve and maintain the edge.

I have some old waterstones, including the King S-1 and Gold (8000 grit) I've heard a lot about the Shapton stones. Steve Knight's comments about the Professional series (as he uses them a lot) is valuable.

Now they have the new Ceramic on Tempered Glass stones.

Are the Shapton better than the older waterstones, like the King? Are the Glass stones better that the Professional? Any wearability issues?

The Glass Stones are said to work better with Japanese and A2 steel blades.

I also heard that the Glass do not cup/warp as much as the Professional. They are cheaper, and may not last as long as the Professional.

Steve - have you tried the Glass stones? I'd really like to get your opinion.

As an aside, I am also looking for a way to store my planes - perhaps build a box. Trouble is, I have a mish-mash of varieties.

[tiredofspam]

[ROY!]

That side to side method, is it the Harrelson Stanley method? I see that he has a jig and video on that. Do you use his side to side sharpening jig?

[Larry Blanchard]

I had heard that the sideways grooves left by sharpening sideways would weaken the edge and cause it to break off sooner. Has that been disproven or is it still a consideration?

[ROY!]

Larry, have a look here:

[Maxwell Lol]

would be a problem if you skipped grits. But when Brent shows a photo with the micro-bevels, he used different angles to show the affects of the each successive bevel, and each grit erased the grooves of the previous grit. So if you grind with a 200 grit wheel front to back, and hone with a 1000 side to side - it might be a problem. So don't do that.

The other thing I noted was that in the free Harrelson Stanley video, (not the one you buy), after honing on a stone, he removes the burr on the back side with a quick swipe before he moves on to the next grit. I think that would prevent a big honkin' burr from dangling off the edge and cracking off,

As for the jig, the Brent page describes a great and cheap little jig that I plan to make. As he says, you can make 6 in the same amount of time as you can make 1. And each costs a buck or so.

And his jig outperforms the $150 Harrelson Stanley, according to his tests. And I like how he has slips so you can do microbevels.

The page is excellent, and those who want a sharpening system that is economical and high quality whould check it out. It combines scary sharp with jigs.

I'm still thinking of getting a set of the GlassStones, however. I like that you can get a set in 500, 1000, 2000, 4000, 8000, 15000 so that each stone uses grit 1/2 the size of the previous stone.

Brent's system uses 15 micron (600 grit), 5 micron (1200 grit) and 0.5 or 0.3 micron (2000-8000 grit)

I'll have to experiment and see if microbevels work better than just grinding the entire surface. If it takes a minute or less in either case, what's the difference?

In other words, with Brent's jig, you put a thin piece of wood (0.06 inches for the first micro-bevel, and 0.10 inches for the second).

This will speed up the sharpening as less metal is removed, but how much?

[Michael Faurot]

I had the same issues with gouging and then somewhere along the line I found doing it side-to-side stopped with the gouging and was just easier. I also find it's easier to locate and hold the bevel to the stone doing it side-to-side as well.

[ROY!]

I'm not understanding why this would be a problem. What am I missing?

Big honkin' burrs? Yeah!

[Maxwell Lol]

The same as going from 200 grit sandpaper, to 1000 grit. You can't remove the big scratches with ultra fine sandpaper.

If you did side grinding with 200 grit, and then tried to hone at

1000, there may be a big groove parallel to the edge, that might break off.

[ROY!]

Thanks for the clarification. My brain was headed down a different path.