EZE-LAP sharpening stones worn out after flattening a couple of plane irons
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Tagged: Worn out diamond stones
- This topic has 36 replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 4 years, 2 months ago by Jaime Clifton.
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Echo what mooncabbage said about expectations. It can take a while to flatten the back of irons if they are badly out. Usually way longer than seems reasonable – if the stones are still cutting you will see clean lapping fluid darken almost immediately.
Hoping someone with EzeLap stones will comment on those specifically, but for comparison, I have DMT stones and although they are not super aggresive grits, I have flattened the backs of maybe 15 plane irons (end 4cm or so) of various types using DMT stones and the stones still work fine. Zero problems.
Paul talks about using EZE Lap stones daily in his schools for many years so they should be able to last more than a few days too.
22 March 2017 at 4:05 pm #310390I second what Mooncabbage says. I have Diasharp plates which I have been using for a couple of years with no issues. I use a light oil as a lapping fluid.
I have no experience of the EzeLap plates, but from online comments, they appear to be equivalent to the Diasharp plates. If cleaning the plates does not work, I would see about exchanging them, or if that doesn’t work, contact the manufacturer.
“…combination of Stanley and Record Tungsten irons”
Tungsten? Really? Never heard of a “tungsten iron” before.If I recall, tungsten is very, very hard and quite brittle. This would explain why your stones have experienced such wear in a short period of time.
22 March 2017 at 10:13 pm #310404Most old Record Irons were marked “Tungsten Vanadium Steel” I think this simply means small amounts are added to the steel.
Anyway I have the Eze-Lap 8″ x 3″ plates, single sided in 250, 600 & 1200. I’ve been using them around 4-6 weeks now and whilst I’ve noticed a slight drop off in performance (as expected) they still cut well and I’m very happy with them. As well as regular sharpening I’ve flattened the backs of several plane irons and a new set of six chisels will no ill affect. I use regular household glass cleaner and wipe them with a cloth after use.
So your experience isn’t the norm I think and as others have already said perhaps there’s a fault (unlikely on all the stones though I would think) or they are indeed clogged.
I hope you find a solution as they’re the best method I’ve used for sharpening and you should be having a good experience too.
Best regards
Craig
22 March 2017 at 10:56 pm #310408Hi, thanks again everybody. I’ve already tried Paul’s method suggested by Mooncabbage before – that is, put the iron on a wooden surface and hit it with a chisel hammer (since I’ve been watching Paul’s videos religiously and already knew about the advantages of having a hollow in a plane iron instead of a belly). I also know that a few flat millimeters along the edge is enough so that there is no gap between the cap iron and the blade and I was aiming for that only. Not a single blow (softer or harder) has had any effect on any of the irons and with my last blow i shattered one of the Stanley irons into pieces. Since then I’ve been reluctant to try this method again with such a little experience. That’s why I decided to use the diamonds. I’m glad to hear that you have a better experience with them cragglerock.
Hi,
I realise this is an old thread, but as i’m having similar problems thought I would post.
My eze-lap plates are not very good now. I’ve bought multiple coarse plates thinking maybe I had abused them in some way, but all fairly quickly go full.
I have coarse, fine, extra fine in my sharpening station, and only the extra fine causes any Black to collect on the plate to show it’s cutting.
By contrast I have an extra extra fine DMT stone that cuts instantly and really well.
Now, by its nature it hasn’t had the use of the coarser stones, but I cuts just as well after 2 years as it did on day one.
I’m going to replace my eze lap coarse with a dmt one and see how I get on.
Before I replace any though, does anyone know how to test the eze-lap stones to see if they still have diamond left? I read something somewhere about testing with a glass but can’t find the article any more.
Thanks
Darren.
22 December 2018 at 11:54 pm #554082Ok. I don’t have a laser to measure how level the DMT plastic backed stones are. I also don’t know how to measure the wear BUT I KNOW my DMT stones are worn and not flat enough to use to lap blades.
First the wear. I am trying to lap my Veritas plane blades. I start with the 220 grit, use a magic marker and watch the pattern as I lap the blade. Slowly the 220 got to the whole blade (an area about 2 + 3/8″ wide by 1″ deep). I noticed that as I moved the pattern around the stone there was a significant difference between the sound and the resistance. The middle of the stone is much quieter and easier to stroke. I tried alcohol or water with a little dish soap and the difference was the same (meaning to me that the stone was not dirty). The stone didn’t look dirty either.
Now to the flatness. I got to “flat” on the 220 grit. (Flat was defined as all polished and no trace of magic marker.) Then I went to the 600 grit. I started lapping while occasionally looking at the back. I could easily see a different pattern of polished metal than the one I just got with the 220 grit. Just for grins I went to the 1200 and a different polished spot appeared.
It is clear to me that these plastic backed stones are not up to the task of lapping.
Isn’t this due to the manufacturing process as explained one Eze lap stone package? It says that the first layer of stone will fracture rapidly, but what remains will last for years. Paul also wrote in his blog about this. He said that he presses quite hard on them when sharpening. And although they will get smoother with use, relatively to each other they will stay course, fine and super fine. But he says they will last for years.
Or is there another issue at hand?
I’ve been using the same diamond plates for 4 years without any issues. I haven’t noticed any degrading of the plates and I do a fare amount of sharpening. Not letting the stone load up is probably key to maximizing the cutting ability of the plate. It looks like every possible solution has been covered in this string so I really have nothing else to offer. But if the plates did actually wear out after just a few uses, they are probably defective. It can happen. Good luck!
27 December 2018 at 6:59 pm #554121I think Nikolaj33 nailed the problem (initial wear-in) I was seeing where there seems to be wear in the middle compared to the edges. Remember I am lapping here which uses a large surface compared to the bevel creation I did after the lapping. Doing that the stones seemed to cut better so I think Nikolaj33 diagnosed the problem.
Sandy1man, I tried both alcohol and then water with just a little dish soap. I also cleaned the surface of the stone and the iron every 100 strokes. I think I kept it clean.
As far as my other problem (not flat enough) I am not sure what is going on. When I lap with the 200 grit I get one pattern, then I shift to the 600 and suddenly there is a different shaped area being polished, then I shift to the 1200 and yet a different “flat” is being defined. It is like chasing your tail.
I just used a machinist rule to tilt the blade up very slightly and lapped the very edge. That works for plane irons but not for chisels. I tapered and rounded a 10 foot yardarm today with no problem. Nice smooth cutting number 6 Stanley. Right through the wood and epoxy “like butter”.
28 December 2018 at 2:50 pm #554134I’ve used DMT plates for about 20 years and never had a problem. The grit probably changes slightly as bigger diamonds are removed but I’ve only once seen a problem: it was with the little DMT sharpening paddles with the plastic handles. I suspect those are made to a different standard and are meant to be almost “disposable” quality.
I’d expect this one to last more than a few days;
Amazon
Eze-lap Fine Grit Chisel Care Kit (600) by EZE-LAP
4.1 out of 5 stars 3 reviews from Amazon.com
Price: £4,895.00 FREE delivery.
1 new from £4,895.00Attachments:
You must be logged in to view attached files.Hello everyone,
I also have 3 new eze-lap diamond stones(250, 600, 1200 grit)
I’ve bought this from amazon: https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B018S1WRJ4/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03__o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
is this fine or I will destroy them?
also, how much pressure should I use when I sharpen my chisels and planes?
How I should cleanup the stones?
What should I do use it more than 2 year in a very beginner way 🙂cheers!
- This reply was modified 5 years, 3 months ago by Claudiu.
- This reply was modified 5 years, 3 months ago by Claudiu.
15 March 2019 at 12:47 am #555545Sporadic use but a few days seems like a manufacturing defect.
Or a clogged stone. Clean it.
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