Thread: CBN strops.... a thought

Originally Posted by onimaru55

Any example of limestone hones for razors ? I've never seen one.

Limestone is just not hard enough to scratch steel.
Perhaps a silt stone that is well cemented with calcium carbonate (limestone is calcium carbonate)...
Silt has a size from 0.002 - 0.0625 millimeters in diameter. Silt is finer than sand, but coarser than clay.

Some natural slates make very wonderful hones because the particles are clay sized or very
fine silt and mother nature has compressed and baked them into very solid rock.
Some natural hones have been fired in a kiln like bricks and are more durable than the
original rock.

Reading and searching this is a tangle because clay is both a size and also a mineral family.

Some natural material is siliceous diatomaceous earth that has partly recrystallized.

So grit size and natural cement all mater.