# Test ground a bench stone



## ErichKeane (Feb 21, 2020)

I saw a thread not long ago here about the precision ground bench stones, and really wanted a pair! I ordered the diamond wheel and 3 sets of Norton stones, as two of my friends wanted a set as well! 1 of the 6 showed up broken, so Zoro replaced it and told me to throw it out.

I figured I'd use it to test out my setup, and it seems to have gone well! I feel much better prepared for our attempt on the 6 next weekend!


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## ErichKeane (Feb 29, 2020)

I didn't get any good pictures, but I was able to grind the 6 stones today!  They were 6x2x1 Norton Stones which were pretty good a already, but after grinding they were smooth as silk!  I had a friend who wanted a pair come over to work so I didnt end up alone.  I spent 2 hours doing all 6, which I thought was pretty good!

I ground the 'dark' side of each first, I put them on 3 pieces of shim stock to 3 point them, then ground it flat.  After all were ground on 1 side, I laid that down on the chuck and ground the 'soft' side.  Then, in sets of 3 I was able to grind 1 'long' edge indexing against the face of a sine-vice (at 0 degrees!), then flipped the set of 3 over and ground the other.  I didn't bother cutting a ledge, but was impressed with the outcome anyway.

They ended up surprisingly flat/smooth and 'ring' together as much as stones do!  We sorted them by 'length' because we didn't bother grinding the short edge, and paired them off.  There was about a 20 thou difference between the short and long ones, 2 of the same size, 2 close, and 2 pretty far.  I'm amazed at the manufacturing differences between them.

Anyway, 2 friends ended up with a pair, as did I, at a total price of $210, or about the cheapest you can find a single set.


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## buffdan (Feb 29, 2020)

Did you true and dress the diamond wheel? If so, what did you use?
What grit is the diamond, and is it the Shars?
Thanks for sharing!


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## ErichKeane (Feb 29, 2020)

buffdan said:


> Did you true and dress the diamond wheel? If so, what did you use?
> What grit is the diamond, and is it the Shars?
> Thanks for sharing!


I didn't.  I balanced it and it was a really tight fit on the arbor so it seemed to run true.  It actually seemed to self-dress as time went on, the later stones were much smoother than the first ones.  I used the Shars 1/2" wide one, I believe 100 or 120 grit.  What was nice is you can even ring the stones together like gauge blocks when they are a little damp.


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