For water stones of this type I now prefer to do the heavy rounding work with a dry stone. I do not have much experience with large stones so if you know different please drop me a line or leave a comment. There are obviously many ways of dressing a stone and one thing I have not covered in the video is using electrical tools. I did use an angle grinder with a diamond disc and this worked very well. If is best to do all this outside as the dust can be prolific or water splashing everywhere. My advice is to use anything that works and you have to hand.
This grindstone has a trough that can be raised and lowered, always the best option, never leave a stationary stone in water. This can soften the water dipped part of the stone and when used to grind the next tool this part of the stone will wear faster. An oval stone can be a pain to use.
As with all stones, try and use the full area of the grinding surface, resulting in more even wear and less time spent dressing the stone, the stone will also last longer.
Do not let the stone freeze, that is when it is wet and especially if it has a crack in. I am sure, and please correct me if I am wrong, but sandstones can be frozen and will be fine afterwards. I am not going to take a chance on an expensive wheel.
After using this stone for a bit I will have to do a lot of rough sharpening on big tools or bite the bullet and take off another 1/2 inch plus of the radius. These narrow bits do interfere with the grinding of tools. It really is a lovely bit of kit and I will be experimenting with an adjustable tool holder.
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There is someone here (Montpelier, VT) that has a stone much like the one you have sitting outside their garage. I stopped and asked if they would consider selling it and they said no, they were planning on mounting it on the roof of their house as art.
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