Maybe out of scope of forum, but here goes....

[WadePatton]

see: http://straightrazorpalace.com/hones...ver-there.html

[Jimfishesvt]

Well made the trip up and looked at a few pieces slate all seemed to have tiny sparkles to varying amounts. Shows promise. It was local stone so once it thaws out this spring i will be returning for some usable pieces. Shouldn't be too difficult as there are man made mountains of slate "slag" discarded by the quarries and shingle/structural slate industries. Most with at least one smooth wet-sawn face. Of a wide range of sizes, shapes. So it should be possible to possibly make a set of stones. However this may take quite a bit of time to find usable right sized pieces. What in your opinions would be the most useful size i was thinking in the realm of approx. 8"x3" for the working surface. Thickness can be easily cleaved.

[RezDog]

I am fond of 7x2 1/2 but 7x2 is what I can make the easiest. 8x3 seem to be a very common size for synthetics. Not many of the vintage hones were made that size. They new ones are available in that size though.

[WadePatton]

I just cut whatever i can to make a test piece. I use an inverted circular saw with masonry blade to cut/shape the shale that i drag home.

I wound up with a thick square piece once. It's great as you have 4 sides to work from and it sits nicely in the hand. It's about 3.5x4. My Coti is 5x2.5 and that's about as small as I like to use. I prefer something about 2.5 x 6+ inches or so.

You can cut on site with a carbide hacksaw cable-blade...but you'll need a helper keeping it wet/flushed as the cable loads up rather quickly.