Thread: Rock diving

This post is a hoot IMO, what you are finding guys are indian love stones,AKA F#$$#ing rocks

One man's Indian Love Stone, is another man's hone.

I have had some fun but I admit no results from this idea.

I spent more than a few hours locating the Glenwood Shale layer in my area. It ended up to soft. One thing I would like to try is to get a piece from below the frost layer. If it has been exposed to the elements it will break down. I don't mind grabbing a small piece from the surface but I think twice in digging an 8 foot hole in the side of the cliff of a local park where I found it.....

Even though as far as razor honing it was a bust I enjoyed myself learning about the geology of my area, exploring areas of the city I live in I hadn't been to before, and getting a little exercise!

Maybe if I keep exercising my brain I can even keep Alzheimer's at bay.

Alzheimers?? I went to school with him.This is all good rocks are great things.

So my Zulu Gray is shale. What qualities can be tested that would make one qualify it to being useful to examine it further. I realize that every natural hone was once a rock but not every rock can be a hone. What resources do you turn to other than going and getting a College education. Geology is a massive area. I have a friend with a bachelors degree in it. I asked him and he said that hones were a specific area and he has no idea I'd have to talk to someone that knows about natural hones. I'm begining to think that it is all strings and mirrors with lots of black curtains.

Originally Posted by pixelfixed

This post is a hoot IMO, what you are finding guys are indian love stones,AKA F#$$#ing rocks

My first rock pile find was I picked it up cause of how cool it looks.
It is a quite fine rock with nice cutting power in my opnion.
Just have to avoid hitting that one spot of different grit in the upper left.
should I finish flatting it so see how fine it can finish a razor.
Or should it be a wonder item in my rock collection.
I love how the shine of the rock made my eyes look closer at it then I picked it up and was like
wow this is quite heavy for a small rock.

If you asked 90 of 100 geologists about hones they probably couldn't even spell the word hone. You need to find a petrologist (a rock guy) who then specializes in economically valuable rocks and then further specializes in hones. it's like going to a doctor and trying to find someone who specializes in a very rare disease. Probably there aren't more than a few in this country, maybe. it's like that.

You don't need a degree to dabble in hones. You just need to go to a good Library and read up on hones and learn what types of minerals comprise good hones . Then you pick an area to investigate and get a geologic map and a topographic map and then you overlay the two and then you go out into the field looking for outcrops. it's that simple-har har.

But seriously, that's how you do it.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

You don't need a degree to dabble in hones. You just need to go to a good Library and read up on hones and learn what types of minerals comprise good hones . Then you pick an area to investigate and get a geologic map and a topographic map and then you overlay the two and then you go out into the field looking for outcrops. it's that simple-har har.

But seriously, that's how you do it.

Most if not all hones/sharpening stones have some form of silica as the cutting particle, and a type of silica called chert is the one you are looking for especially the form called radiolarians. Radiolaria are the silica based shell casing of a prehistoric sea animal, it is still silica but its a very fine particle form of silica. Arkansas stones are chert but of a monolithic form, all solidly bound, Japanese naturals have chert particles that are individual and mixed in with clays to created a chert grit particle that acts and cleaves as it cuts. You can search geology maps in your area for ancient sea beds that are rich in radiolaria. Just one idea.


Alx

Originally Posted by alx

Most if not all hones/sharpening stones have some form of silica as the cutting particle, and a type of silica called chert is the one you are looking for especially the form called radiolarians. Radiolaria are the silica based shell casing of a prehistoric sea animal, it is still silica but its a very fine particle form of silica. Arkansas stones are chert but of a monolithic form, all solidly bound, Japanese naturals have chert particles that are individual and mixed in with clays to created a chert grit particle that acts and cleaves as it cuts. You can search geology maps in your area for ancient sea beds that are rich in radiolaria. Just one idea.


Alx

Finished spending a week at a friends beach house and one of the dinner guests every night was a geologist from one of our better known Northeastern universities. As others said here, he knew very little about hones (but the dept has a GREAT machine for lapping and polishing stones that I want to get my hands on). He also made the same point that Alex makes above about Silica.

One other thing he said is that stones don't smell. This shocked me as I have a Kiita with a particular slatey aroma that I love. We ended up arguing about what it meant for a thing to have a smell. Ended in a stalemate.

Originally Posted by Oakeshott

One other thing he said is that stones don't smell. This shocked me as I have a Kiita with a particular slatey aroma that I love. We ended up arguing about what it meant for a thing to have a smell. Ended in a stalemate.

I would have liked to be a fly on the wall for that conversation.

This has turned into an interesting thread, before when I mentioned taking a geology course it was not to learn the ins and outs of how to find cool new sharpening stones, just that in starting down the road of HAD, I have become very interested in rocks in general. Living at the top of an escarpment and having several quarries around me (new and old) I see a lot of stone.

Last weekend I did a walk along a portion of the Bruce trail (look it up if you don't know what it is) and the area was Lime house. Back in the day they mined Limestone. Along the trail were some old Kilns and storage shelters for the explosives they used. It was a neat place to visit.