Greywynd

Fine for tooling, but if you need it to be flat (to sharpen a splitter knife for example) I wouldn't use a chunk of counter top! Also, not everyone has a counter top place around, so this still may be of interest to some. (Doesn't matter to me either way, I have 2 or 3 surface plates, and a 4" thick chunk of granite for tooling...also, That is an American supplier, I'm in Canada.)

This was on another forum, but Enco has granite surface plates on sale right now. Enco has most smaller plates on 1/2 off sale right now. Use code PRSMAR for free shipping to sweeten the deal even more! http://www.use-enco.com/CGI/INLMK3?PMK0NO=1009324 These are the plates that are flat and true, great for uses other than just stamping!

Henry, Hope to be in touch soon, I'm into Toronto every time it snows these days (plowing commercial lots). I'll try to remember the next time I'm heading down to take your number with me.

Seems we have two parallel threads going on this subject......for my reply and a link to stitching horse plans, look here.

I'm not an experienced stamper by any means, but stamping isn't what I would call 'pounding' hard...and the leather is cushioning the blows from the stone. Personally, it's not something that I see a reason for, particularly with thicker stones, but was always taught, and I guess always stuck to it. I would refrain from heavy blows though, and personally, prefer setting rivets, snaps etc on an anvil or other metal. Thinking about it, I'd also keep the cutting board for large punches off it too, but that's more a personal thought. Heck, for $28, if you find you like it for tooling, in time buy another and have one for sharpening, one for tooling!

Farm Woodworking can be found there. I couldn't seem to get the pdf to work, but the flip version works fine and includes all images. Pages 99-104 show plans and instructions for a stitching horse. Interesting book! I have a few old ones like this that were in my fathers family....might be about time to dig them out again and browse through them.

New surface plate....almost a new topic! Now, I'm sure at this point you don't plan on using it for precision measurement, but I thought I'd mention a few things about these stones. They are flat....and also stable. They will stay this way with relative ease and little maintenance. Surface plates have also been made in steel and cast iron over the years. Both of which can rust, and change due to temperature differences. Basically, to look after these, don't abuse them (surface plates should never be hammered on!), and keep them clean. There are actual surface plate cleaners that are available, but almost any mild cleaner that doesn't leave a residue will work well. In a pinch I've also used rubbing alcohol. If you're using them with abrasives, try to keep it off the surface of the stone, or clean it immediately after. To make these, they are lapped with an abrasive and another stone, so if abrasive is left on it, over time you can wear one are more than another, causing an out of flat condition. When not it use, a cover to protect and keep it clean is a good idea too.

I found the scopes he talks about online for $100. Wish I had some play money! lol Actually, I have a scope here already, but I think it only goes to about 50X magnification. If you have decent eyesight (corrected or not doesn't matter) even invest in a 5-10 dollar eye loupe, or maybe you have one of those bench mounted magnifiers? Even using those to look at your edges you will be surprised what you can see. My last job everything was small enough that eye loupes were carried in our pockets, and sat on our benches. Even though I have excellent eyesight (at least for now) I doubt there was ever a day that I didn't reach for a loupe at least once a day. Actually....some of those on here might enjoy a piece of rigging that we had available as well. The head mounted visors with magnifying glasses built in. Something like these... Visors (First find of a google search, no particular affiliation.) I can see that the right set could be great for tooling, and reduce some of the eye strain from lots of close up/detailed leather work.

Bree, he has some interesting info on there. Most of my magnification work usually stopped at about 50x magnification, so some of this is rather interesting to me. (Though it may be overload to some!) I'll have to take a look around for the razor blade that I ran a bead of weld along the cutting edge and see if I can get a picture......not that it's pertinent to the topic at hand, just a fun thing to demonstrate some small work.

Stones....oh boy. There are a LOT of different stones, and amongst those, even more different types. My knowledge is better on grinding wheels then stones, but there are a lot of overlaps too. Let's see, where to begin. Grit size. This also applies to sandpaper. Basically, the bigger the number, the finer the grit. Woodworkers, they are used to seeing 80, 150, 240, maybe 400 grit sandpaper at times. Stones can go as fine as 4000, 6000 and finer. Most of teh stone work I do is for polishing purposes, but since it's hardened (sometimes very hard) steel, I would usually go to about 600, maybe 1000 grit with stones, then I would go to a diamond compound beyond that. For sharpening, at least as far as touch up stuff that would be the norm, I would suggest around a 6-800 grit, maybe 1000. You cold step up to a 2000, or if you can find one, something in between first. Beyond that, switch to rouge and strops, or other 'soft' material as a carrier for the compounds. Fine, hard stones, a lot of times called Arkansas white, will often be finer than this, and are great for removing burrs and other touch up work. Stone material. There are different materials used for stones. Aluminum oxide, carborundum, and others, even diamond can be used. Stones are a little different than grinding, as the heat buildup isn't as severe. When grinding, one wants the material to 'break down' exposing a new sharp cutting edge on the surface. If the grit gets rounded over, it no longer cuts, and causes extra heat buildup. Bond. This is basically the 'glue' holding the grit together. Again, you want it to let go when a piece of grit gets dull, but not too easily, or it results in premature wear of the stone. Another term, I can never remember the proper name, I'll call 'density'. If you think of a stone as a sponge, is it full of big holes, or all small ones? With stones, if you are using them wet (regardless if it's water, oil, whatever), you want some porosity to it to hold some of that fluid. Using them wet is a good idea, if you're removing a lot of material, the resulting slurry will help with the cutting action, and help to carry the cuttings and small fragments of stone away. Not enough, and the pores of the stone plug up, resulting in a poor cutting action. Cheap stones...well, they sometimes can be just that. One of the biggest problems will be soft material, and poor bond. These will wear down quickly, and have a short lifespan. Norton is a good name for grinding wheels and stones, most of the other stuff I'm familiar with is from industrial suppliers or diemaking supply places. It's easy to find a variety of 'ways' to sharpen stuff, whether it be knives, leather tools, whatever. What works for one person, might not for the next. Same from one tool to the next. One tool might be a harder steel, and need one type of stone, another a softer steel and require a softer stone. A couple tricks that may come in handy....if you need to shape a stone for a particular use, there are different ways it can be done. Stinky and dusty, a bench grinder or belt sander will shape some stones, but use caution, they can and will break, and also they can 'glaze' over, or plug up as well. An old file will shape some stones, I tend to lay it flat on the bench and run teh stone along it. This takes teh edge off the file in a hurry, hence using an old one, and I always keep one old one around for that job. Also, some stones you can use sandpaper to shape, again, lay it flat on a hard surface, and run the stone back and forth on it. If anyone has any particular questions on stones, or are looking for suggestions how to sharpen a particular tool, just ask, I'll see what I can do.

If it does get 'messed up' there are ways to regrind and start again. However, there are right and wrong ways to do it. I've done similar blades for high end woodworking equipment and other things too. (Actually even at $135 it sounds expensive, but I used to work on dies that were worth thousands, and have dozens of hours into single components.) If you don't have a flat surface plate (the 'flat' stone Bree talks about) in a pinch many table saw and bandsaw tables are reasonably flat. If using one of those however, try to avoid water (causes rust) and use a lightweight oil instead to hlep protect the table. For those of you that have stones from other sources, (granite counter tops, headstones, whatever) they may or may not be flat. I have a 5" or so thick block of black granite that I will use for a stamping surface, it's polished, and was originally the mass used under a precision scale for lab work. We checked out the flatness of it one day where I worked, though it appeared reasonably flat to look at, it is out approxiamately .022", about half a millimetre over it's surface. Doesn't sound like a lot, but it's enough that I wouldn't use it to sharpen any splitter blades of mine!

Going with the stone 'into' the blade should produce less of a burr along the bottom. If, no matter what you do, you find a burr there, use a hard, fine stone, hold it flat on the bottom surface, and run it over the surface, and the edge. Sometimes this will simply push the burr back around towards the top (bevel) side, you may have to work back and forth a couple times. Careful too, sometimes this burr can 'break' off, and that can leave a microscopic chip along the edge too....to really know what is happening on an edge, get some kind of magnification lens.....having the edge enlarged to see it tells a lot after you gain some experience.

Maybe this should be a seperate thread.....mods feel free to split it if you feel appropriate. Does anyone have detailed pics showing the construction etc of a splitter? I'm thinking of ways I can build them, but there's a couple details that I haven't quite figured out teh best approach yet..... Of course one of the things I'm looking at is how it can be done economically too....if there's a demand, maybe I can build some extras?

Careful now, you'll have every piece of leather you have cut into little tiny pieces before you know it!!

I had to break down and ask SWMBO, but it's Pepede. A quick google search didn't give a site for it, but shows it on lots of tack and saddle shops sites etc. Should be able to find something somewhat local with a few inquiries. I'm not certain, so take it for what it's worth, but I understand it can also be used on sheepskin and the like for washing too.