Don't leave your shale outside over winter at least here in MN.
I wasn't to impressed by this one and left it out to be snowed on etc.
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Don't leave your shale outside over winter at least here in MN.
I wasn't to impressed by this one and left it out to be snowed on etc.
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Even though we do not get the hard freeze here that you get, we have a pretty steady wet, freeze, thaw, cycle that goes fairly steady during the winter that produces very similar results. Shale and slate both break down fairly quickly. If it is wet and dries too fast it cracks up too. The last slate I was playing with I painted with flat paint and then it gel in the shed for several months.
Brought some of this shale home to my grandchildren to look for trilobites. If you look close there are some plant fossils in the one picture. They came from the The Wheeler Amphitheater in the House Range Utah.
Has anyone tried this shale for sharpening?
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Shale/slate are quite common material for sharpening stones, the best way is to choose one piece (which is as flat as possible) to lap it and to run a blade over it :)
Regards
Philipp
I have tried several shale and slates. They have all been mid range. I would really like to find a 1K ish level sharpening hone.
It's all about particle size with slate. You have to find some with larger sizes. I've seen some slates that were like a medium fine sandpaper. You flatten it but don't polish it.
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Some quick picks of my latest find. I do hope I can get some more.
I've got some new slate to try out, but I haven't been in much of a hurry on lapping it. It sits beside my granite and SiC station and when I lap a knife sharpening stone I use up the left over SiC with the slate. I've almost got a big enough lapped patch to try.
So pared to other rocks. Most slate and shale is so soft, it laps quite fast. I have not got a vibrating lap for lapidary/ hone making, so it’s all by hand. As nice of hones that some of the volcanic rock has been, lapping is crazy.