Do I need to concerned about flattening Shapton waterstones?
It depends to some degree on what you are sharpening. Plane Blades, Chisels and Straight Razors have straight blades which are very sensitive to irregularities in the surface of the waterstone. We recommend frequent flattening when sharpening these types of blades. Cutlery tends to be more forgiving (except for knives with perfectly straight blades) so flattening can be done less frequently. In our showroom we flatten after each sharpening. This way we know the stones are flat when we start to use them. Since we’re only taking off a couple thousandths of an inch with the Glass Diamond Lapping Plate, waterstone wear really isn’t a concern.
