Thread: I Found It Over There

I did all the above and then some. After the SIC powders, there was a good bit of work to do on the diamond plate. I must have dished the granite tile pretty good with the SIC. Shaved off it this morning and it worked, but not great.

It so happens that my wife broke a large mirror this morning. Before tossing it, I used it for some more lapping on wetdry and the resulting slurry. Honed with it again with better HHT results and am hoping for a better shave tomorrow.

Excellent. With that type of hone you are likely to get better finish results by burning the hone. To over simplify the process, the surface is peaks and valleys and you want to round of the sharp peaks and make it less aggressive. Use a plane iron or a chisel or a knife and work it down, without plugging it up with swarf.

This is a stone I picked up a while back with the intent of turning it into a sharpening stone.
I mean... look at it. It's almost the right shape!
And for this reason, I'd rather not hit it with a hammer!!!



Are those white parts quartz inclusions? IIRC, that likely means that this won't be a great stone. Any chance that it'd be good enough for kitchen knives?

It is possible that those inclusions could be quarts. Quartz is a crystal type structure and should be obvious under a loupe. Maybe you can lap past it. However I have never seen quartz as part of a softer rock. There is a high likelyhood that that is a very hard rock and will be a bear to lap. Start lapping it and see where it goes. You will never know unless you try. I have stacks and stack of hone shaped rocks at home. I have little education about rocks and have just learned by trial and error.
My latest test specimens have produced one mid range, fairly fast hone and a couple of other I would call prepolishers. They produce Shana Le edges but not really the quality I’m looking for. As always, keep your eyes open.

Originally Posted by RezDog

I have stacks and stack of hone shaped rocks at home. I have little education about rocks and have just learned by trial and error.
My latest test specimens have produced one mid range, fairly fast hone and a couple of other I would call prepolishers.

Perhaps there is a business for those. You've done all that effort, so might as well make some profit...

I do live in a very isolated and rural area. I had found a nice vein that I was very happy with, but I am cut off from it by a large landslide now. The quest continues to find a new source that I am happy with. All in good time.

RezDog, you are mis-reading me.
I'm aware of that landslide and of your new quest.
I'm talking about your 'rejects' - you've done the effort of turning them into hones, but they're not good enough for razors... maybe they can do a good job on a kitchen knife, no?

Ah, I get it now. Many of them simply do not cut or do not cut fast enough. I have come up with some beauties for chisels. I have a hard time trying to find rock with a coarse and consistent matrix that can hold together against hard steel.

Originally Posted by RezDog

It is possible that those inclusions could be quarts. Quartz is a crystal type structure and should be obvious under a loupe. Maybe you can lap past it. However I have never seen quartz as part of a softer rock. There is a high likelyhood that that is a very hard rock and will be a bear to lap. Start lapping it and see where it goes. You will never know unless you try. I have stacks and stack of hone shaped rocks at home. I have little education about rocks and have just learned by trial and error.
My latest test specimens have produced one mid range, fairly fast hone and a couple of other I would call prepolishers. They produce Shana Le edges but not really the quality I’m looking for. As always, keep your eyes open.

Actually one of the commonest associations is Gold and Quartz.

Also Granite is Quartz, Feldspar and Mica which is very soft stuff.

This is a trim piece from my latest Sioux Quartzite project, 2 more cuts then lots of SIC.
The darkest one so far, it will probably be my last Sioux stone, unless I find a local business to cut them for a reasonable price. Incredibly difficult to cut and lap, the stones have been worth the effort.

Black marks are from the saw.