Thread: I Found It Over There

That is true. There are a few things often found together, gold, quartz, garnet, and magnetite. There is a lot more quartz around than gold. I think where there is gold there is quartz, but the reverse isn't accurate. Like a good hone though it is good to find. Like gold good hones are also difficult to find, but they are out there.

So I just broke off a hunk of a stepping stone, from the yard of my house-but is a piece of the "Chattanooga Shale"* I am told. Rinsed it off and grabbed the first handy SS object, a small measuring cup and gave it a few strokes.

BAMMO! Nice and soft and put a great shine on the cup. Then i hit it with a DMT, oh it's soft alright--slurry soft! I really like this. It might not be a finisher, but I'll bet i find some bit of usefulness for these local rocks. If nothing else, I doubt I'll EVER buy another stone for knives and other such edges. I'm going to saw up a pile of these slates...now who whuzzit had that concrete saw?

Oh i remember, they were cutting open some geodes back in the summer. Heck this shale will be like butter in comparison.

So I also tried the sandstone, it's more scratchier! I'm thinking axes, shovels, hoes, and the like for that one.

*Chattanooga is 100 miles away, i haven't studied it, but i reckon it's a big formation.

TIME TO GO ROCKHOUNDING!

Originally Posted by RezDog

TIME TO GO ROCKHOUNDING!

And the funny thing is, I've been up here "on the ridge" for 12 years now and always wanted to get some more shale for stepping stones,



NOW I get to kill two birds,




wait



for




it


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with one* stone!**






*one my arse! LNHAD strikes! (Local Natural Hone AD) (we all _know_ the AD part by now.)

**Sedimentary > Clastic > Mudstone > Shale > Black-shale (carbonaceous) to be more specific.

I'm right on the western edge. (Finally found a map i could understand.)

Nice. I sometimes would like some company in being a rock gathering nut case. My barbaric technique has been fairly effective, perhaps you should employ it too. I have enough not hone rock for a new flower bed for the yard. That is one of the side benefits, what don't work for hones is great for landscaping.

Oh good gravy, i blew some serious razor-honing time messing with shale!

SOFT! I slurried it on the Norton 1k _and_ 4k for shizims and giggles. The Norton 4k is really fragile for anyone who doesn't know. But i quit messing with it long enough to work over new some barber hones and to hone out (finally!) a Peter Hennes blade.

hahaha. If I had a dollar...

The exposed shale-like stuff on my place turned out to be too "inclusive". BUT I picked up some goood looking shale from the side of the road yesterday. Hard freezes are good for SOME things!

Also bought a masonry disc for the circular saw and a carbide cable thingy for the hacksaw...But now this slab looks so good as a "whole" rock (nearly the shape of my state) I kinda hate to start whacking on it.

but of course i will.

rock dust is a pretty serious respiratory irritant so be sure to wear a mask when dry cutting. I usually wet cut outside which lowers the health risks, especially when there is a bit of a breeze. Play safe and have fun!

I only cut under a flood of water. The hackthingie isn't too bad. But i'm taking a break! Black velvet is the approximate look/feel of this rock.

The halibut is flaking off the weathered layers.