Diamond Flattening Plate

Stone fixers are a very important part of the sharpening process.  Keeping one's stone flat helps with angle consistency, and is absolutely crucial when working on wide bevel and single bevel knives.  Though I often use diamond stone fixers, I wanted to have an alternative for those who don't like to use diamond.  Some of the downsides of diamond flattening stones are that they tend to be smaller in size (sometimes smaller than the stones they are flattening) and that they tend to wear more quickly on coarse stones.  This addresses both of those issues.  Though it isn't quite as fast as a diamond stone, this one is pretty close.  However, it works great on really coarse stones and, as I was happy to find out, on specific types of diamond stones that I like to use (for example our 1000 and 6000 stones, as well as the 800 grit vitrified diamond stone I use every day).  

Both sides of this flattening stone can be used.  The side with grooves is designed to not stick on very muddy stones, while the non-grooved side has a bit more surface area and cuts a bit faster.  This can be used to flatten stones ranging from very coarse to ultra fine.  In the case of natural stones, you may want to refinish the stone surface after flattening, using a nagura or something similar.  This is not necessary with synthetic stones, though you are always welcome to do so.

Please keep in mind that this is essentially a very hard and very coarse synthetic stone, and while it is designed to be used for flattening, from time to time, this stone will need to be flattened as well.  This can be done in a variety of ways, including using a flat section of the sidewalk outside to flatten this.  You can also try extremely coarse sand paper on a hard/flat surface.  Lastly, the non-grooved side of this stone can be used as an ultra coarse stone for very serious sharpening repairs.

The large flattening plate is a two-sided device, featuring extra-coarse and coarse sides.  The extra-coarse side is for quick flattening of all stones, while the coarse side can be used to refine finer grit stones after using the extra coarse side.  The inner material now made from metal, which helps with resistance to warping and makes this a very stable device to flatten on.

This flattening plate is designed to be used with wet stones and can be used with water.  Do not use with a dry stone.

The Large Stone Holder is exactly the same as the one we include with our Stone Holder With Base product, however, in this case, it is just the Stone Holder being sold.  This is a large rubber holder that features one screw.  In our experience, the one screw setup is much easier to deal with than 2, and provides equal stability and security.  This stone holder is also larger than many other stone holders on the market, and thus will be able to fit larger stones and stones with bases (from about 150mm to 250mm).  Also, because of its size, and the type of rubber used, this stone holder is very resistant to slipping when used on its own (i.e. it doesn't slide around because the rubber has a nice tack to it).  This stone holder works exceptionally well with our stone bridge or sink bridge.

The stone holder can exhibit a strong rubber smell in the beginning, but this does go away with some time.  Washing can also help.

The Long Leather Paddle Strop includes the strop and a stick of green polishing compound. The strop is double-sided, with one side having more texture and the other being more smooth.  It can be used with or without the compound.  Without the compound, it can help with burr removal. With the compound, it also helps with burr removal, but provides additional refinement at the cost of losing a bit of edge bite.

Though strops are not necessary for your knife sharpening, the do have an effect on edge refinement.  If you prefer smoother cutting edges or struggle with burr removal, this can be a good tool for you.