I just watched the EP company vids for the 12th time...on flattening the stones what do you guys use? The glass disk and 60 grit stuff they sell looks OK but is there an easier way?

I use fine sand outside on a flat concrete surface. Here is a quote from Ben regarding the stones and flattening from an email correspondence I had with him

"You do not need to clean you stones after every use but you should level them after every 5 or 10 uses. Leveling them also cleans them. You can use sand on concrete. A sidewalk or driveway works best. You do not want to use a inside floor because they have a finish on them and using to level will remove the finish. You can use any sand. Put down about a tablespoon of sand and grind the stone in circles. Keep grinding until the surface of the stone is all one color. Now it is flat and clean. Sometime a stone will stop cutting because it is glazed and this will also remove the glaze. The second method is to use silicon carbide on a sheet of glass with water. We have a stone leveling kit for $30. or if you have a sheet of glass you can get a 1/2 LB bag of silicon carbide for $3. The silicon carbide works a little better then the sand but need a place to store the glass with the silicon carbide on it, for the next use." (Ben Dale, 2009)

Thanks Trevor!

I use the carbon dust he has and a sheet of thick glass........
You can use sand and a cinder block (what ever you use , make sure its flat) a driveway or side walk may not be perfectly flat.
You can tell a difference when you clean the stones , sharpens much eassier.
My 2 cents

I need to do this to mine i bet i have sharpened 50 knives and never leveled the stones who knows how bad they are now, makes me feel stupid for not thinking of doing this alot sooner.

Does anybody have any ideas on what i could buy locally to do this without having to order the carbon online and wait for it. Would home depot or lowes carry something?

quote:

Originally posted by sampson2269:
Does anybody have any ideas on what i could buy locally to do this without having to order the carbon online and wait for it. Would home depot or lowes carry something?

Cinder block and fine sand

In lieu of money, cinderblocks, or carbon dust I do have a lot of 80 grit paper left over from another lifetime.

Found an large extra floortile from the closet and spent an hour leveling the stones and thought I did a pretty good job, the next sharpening was much faster as a result.

Sampson, it doesn't take a big production to do this. I just went to the local park and scooped up a few cups of play sand that you find near the swings, then did the work on the concrete floor of my basement. Any concrete area will do, like your garage floor.

Remember not to push too hard. Let the rolling sand do the work. After rubbing the stone for a minute, look at the stone surface...it will be easy to see how much more you need to remove.

Awesome thanks for the advise ill get started on this right away.