Thread: I Found It Over There

I live in florida and I once found a nice chunk of quarts down by a lake. I have no idea where it came from nor do I know where it is anymore. There was obviously no other stones like it around. As to paraphrase Morgan Freeman, Its a rock that has no earthly business being there.

One of the local slate hones I found, cleaned up to 800 grit and used on several tools. I have found larger chunks but I haven't lapped them yet. This one sits comfortably in my hand.

Not only am I now lusting over razors, you guys have me inspecting every rock I see. I know jack squat about geology or what really makes a good hone, but all of it is quite interesting to me. Here are a few I picked up the other day. I picked these mainly because they have the small specks of glitter looking material that my C12k has. Try not to make too much fun of me, I have no clue what I'm doing

It's ok to be just running at it blind because that is what I have done. I have had a great time and found some really great hones and a lot of hone shaped rocks. For me I use what I would call a brute force attack. I just keep looking and testing. I have some areas that I can go to that yield quite nice hones but for me my exploration is not done. There is always more to see and find. I was out last weekend and got a bunch of rock. When I get a chance I will spend a weekend cutting it and many evenings lapping and honing. If nothing else it keeps me out of the bar.

Thats what I was thinking, something else to do that keeps me out of trouble that I can have fun with.

I cut the small black stone and am lapping it as we speak. It is very hard and produces a very fine gray slurry. This will be interesting.

I have a procedure for lapping that has me lapping under water. In time I will build something to make it go faster but for now it is all hand lapping. I put the pug in the sink and then a thick piece of umber mat and the the dmt and rub the rock against the dmt while it is under water. If it works out that your sink is at a good height the ergonomics are not bad. In an attempt to find rocks that are not crazy hard I often hit the rocks with a 5lb hammer to check them. I think at this point that mid range and a bevel setter would be my holy grail. I have some recent coarse rock that I have not had the chance to refine, but I am always hopeful.

I usually look for sedimentary rocks or rocks that fracture conchoidally then do some quick preliminary tests with a piece of old file to see if it cuts hard steel, also use the hammer test like Shaun. Here are some of my more recent stones:

Originally Posted by Ranzor

Not only am I now lusting over razors, you guys have me inspecting every rock I see. I know jack squat about geology or what really makes a good hone, but all of it is quite interesting to me. Here are a few I picked up the other day. I picked these mainly because they have the small specks of glitter looking material that my C12k has. Try not to make too much fun of me, I have no clue what I'm doing

This reddish rock looks like it may be Sioux Quartzite, let me know what you think of it as a hone, please.