FJ, I'm going to try that also next time. No concrete in the house but around the complex there's plenty, AND a large playground nearby for sand.

Still can't believe how well the EP Apex works, what a sharpening tool. My own from Johnno's on its way cross country...

...and again thanks Skimo for the loaner.

quote:

Originally posted by fastjan:
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.

This is very unusual but Fastjan just gave some good advice

Another thing ......IMHO a garage floor will work , but to be sure your stone is flat , you should use a flat surface to work off of.
Dont get me wrong , but side walks and such are usually not gonna be perfectly flat. Thats why they say to use a Cinder block.
Our sidewalks around our house arent that great ......but better than nothing.
Just my 2 cents worth

I actually wondered whether I needed to worry about using a perfectly flat surface, but I picked a 2' diameter area of floor that looked flat and it worked great. Remember, the stone isn't actually touching the floor, but is riding on a surface of rolling sand. The sand fills in any imperfections in the small concrete area.

Another couple quick points: If you do this flattening about every 5 sharpenings, it only takes a few minutes and you always have a nice flat stone to work with.

If you get down to the point where your coarse stone (the main stone that wears out) has been flattened down to very thin and your next stone is full thickness, you will notice that the sharpening angle changes as you change stones. To prevent this problem, I have a few coarse stones and I try to pick one that is about the same approximate thickness as the other stones I'll be using. Unless they are at these extremes (thickest vs thinest) you can ignore this issue.

Granite benchtops work fine too,just watch out for the backhander from the missus when she see's what you are doing.(hate grubbing around on the floor)

i use some cheap diamond stones i got at harbor freight