Thread: I Found It Over There

I break mine down with a large gas saw and then break them down further with what was a 10" tile saw. If you build a vise to clamp pieces down they will have less lapping to do in the end. I hand lap on diamond plates so less lapping is super important.

Originally Posted by RezDog

I break mine down with a large gas saw and then break them down further with what was a 10" tile saw. If you build a vise to clamp pieces down they will have less lapping to do in the end. I hand lap on diamond plates so less lapping is super important.

Maybe you could add some photos to show how you do it.

An old old method is put a score line in the rock and work hammer and chisel back and forth across the score line. You can split some incredibly large rocks with this method. You just need the time. It ain't quick.

You can also use naturally formed cracks and fissures in the rock to do this.

This rock hounding resulted in me reading two books by John McPhee in less than a week, 'Basin and Range' and 'Rising from the Plain'. He has a four book series on geology. Very enjoyable IMO. Nothing directly related to hones except that geologists drive poorly as they go through road cuts also.

I just got 'Annuls of the Former World', which is a compilation of the whole geology series bound into one book, out of the library.

On soft rock a wet belt sander is ideal. A belt sander woks and so does flap discs on grinders. On the harder rock however it is hand lapping on diamonds or SiC grit.

Originally Posted by RezDog

On soft rock a wet belt sander is ideal. A belt sander woks and so does flap discs on grinders. On the harder rock however it is hand lapping on diamonds or SiC grit.

Absolutely. I can tell that he has never tried to lap a hard stone, lol. Trying to lap something like the piece of jasper above on a belt sander would be like an exercise in futility. You might make a little progress if you could slow down the belt to a crawl. A stone that hard almost feels like ice skating on an abrasive belt. Even a diamond plate is VERY slow to lap such a stone - doubly so if there's much surface area.

BTW awesome piece Richard!

I'm thinking of trying a diamond cup wheel to knock off the high spots on one of the quartzites.

Originally Posted by joamo

I'm thinking of trying a diamond cup wheel to knock off the high spots on one of the quartzites.

The good thing is they really take material off fast. The bad thing is they really take material off fast. I have both success and failure. I kept thinking if I could mount the grinder above a work surface and then push the stone through and have it work more like a planner that it would be superb.

Originally Posted by RezDog

The good thing is they really take material off fast. The bad thing is they really take material off fast. I have both success and failure. I kept thinking if I could mount the grinder above a work surface and then push the stone through and have it work more like a planner that it would be superb.

Now you've got me thinking, I'll post pics if I come up with a good solution.

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