Thread: I Found It Over There

For me, I take them on a shop that cut and sell marble and granite. They always do it for free
For lapping, I have some 1.5m/6ftx20cm/8" pieces of sandpaper. Piece of cake to flatten when they are nicely cut.

For finding out what rock has potential to be a hone, try the spoon trick. Rub a somewhat flat piece of stone with the back side of the spoon. If there are scratches, the stone can cut.
Something else I have observed; many times, when there are lines of quartz in the same rock, it's not suitable, even if the piece you have doesn't have any of those lines. They have inclusions that many times are not visible. If you go far from those lines, there might be some hope.

That's been my problem...inclusions of quartz. I gave up a couple years ago.

Thinking of creative lapping methods reminds me of the cutting board I have that my uncle made made out of Walnut burl. To lap that he stood on it and grabbed the bumper of a car and got dragged across the bridge in town. I wonder how that would work with shale????

It would but you would need a pretty big piece of shale, and it tends to fracture easily...

Originally Posted by RezDog

It would but you would need a pretty big piece of shale, and it tends to fracture easily...

And I have 14 EE boots!

Looks like Oklahoma and Arkansas have some nice stone. I'm doubting I'll find anything like this around me here in Hudson Valley, NY.

Novaculite: Used for making stone cutting tools and sharpening metal blades.

Originally Posted by salvat36

Looks like Oklahoma and Arkansas have some nice stone. I'm doubting I'll find anything like this around me here in Hudson Valley, NY.

Novaculite: Used for making stone cutting tools and sharpening metal blades.

Thank you , I never realized that Tripoli was made from Novaculite.

Originally Posted by shooter74743

That's been my problem...inclusions of quartz. I gave up a couple years ago.

On the other hand, Quartz = possibility of Gold...

I think that Garnet is a better sign of gold. If you look any of my hones with a loupe you will see a few tiny little gold flecks here and there, but no great veins as of yet.

I also remember reading somewhere about the process used in ancient Egypt about gold refining, and gold was found next to quartz veins. But gold is boring! I want hones!