Thread: Are natural finishers available from the whole planet?

Originally Posted by jigane

Looks like there is a lot of stone to be had for free if one would go there
Brynestein fra Eidsborg

It says its quartz shale with feldspar and mica. Don't know how good it will be.

the Eidsborg hones I still think are quiet nice, I have a few pieces from that pile of rock in your picture which I picked up during a holyday. only I overlooked the fact that I don't have tools to turn them into hones, 1 piece is almost flat and 2 pieces broke when I put them in a fire trying to turn them into softer hones. (inspired by http://bosq.home.xs4all.nl/info%2020...ing_part_3.pdf page 81)

unfortunately I can not yet tell anything about how they actually hone...

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

Are you sure it's magnetite? That stuff is always black. Usually hematite is red. If a magnet will stick to it then it's magnetite.

Yes its magnetite. We have both magnetite and hematite out here. The big companies, BHP and Rio Tinto, concentrate on mining hematite because its simple to process. Dig it out of the ground, crush it and load it on a ship. Magnetite requires more processing, but the end product has a higher iron content. The Chinese have been buying up magnetite deposits over here and developing processing plants with mixed success. Eventually they believe it will pay off, as at the moment Australia and Canada have a stranglehold on the market due to their ability to guarantee supply, something developing countries can't do. Anyway, back to the subject. I've actually produced a hone and shaved with a razor finished on it. While I doubt Nakayama suppliers are quaking in their boots, I did get a reasonable to good result from it and I think that now I know what I'm looking at, the next stone I pick will give a better finish. Short answer: Yes, Australia can produce hones, which shouldn't be surprising considering the size and diversity of the place. The first picture shows the stone after I had already split it. The piece sitting on the wet and dry is a piece of magnetite and was originally attached to the top of the piece to the right. On the rock to the right you can see a layer of brown rock, then a layer of grey rock, which I believe is, once again, magnetite and then at the bottom more brown rock. I'm not sure what the brown rock is at the moment, I'll catch up with the geologists at work and post when I know.

I started by dressing the piece of magnetite. You can see in the picture that the grey stone on the wet and dry is sitting in a puddle of red. This is the slurry that developed and must be iron oxide. I had a look at the stone under magnification and there are pockets of red throughout the grey rock. I only had a play with this piece due to the coarse structure. I figured it would be no good as a finisher, but it may have possibilities as a setter. the brown rock I lapped flat. It seems to be pretty hard.

I have no experience with natural hones so I have nothing to compare it to. I honed a razor up on an 8000# superstone and shaved with it. I then did twenty laps on the Pilbara (thanks to Utopian for giving the stone a name!) and again shaved. The results were similar. That's all I know at the moment. I'll do some more tinkering and post an update.

Originally Posted by WW243

I don't know if this is the right thread or not, but, I am trying to locate a Pilbara Hone. When I get mine, I'm going to 180-90-60-45-23-12-4-1 slurry sequence with 108 one directional strokes.

This is your lucky day my friend. There is now one in existence and for a cool million you can be the proud owner. In fact, for that price I promise not to produce another and you can do as many laps as you like. Guaranteed not to wear out. Cash only please, free delivery.

Looks fantastic!

The only thing is don't hone anything stainless on it. There is a chance the stainless will contaminate and start to rust.

Originally Posted by Iceni

Looks fantastic!

The only thing is don't hone anything stainless on it. There is a chance the stainless will contaminate and start to rust.

Carbon migration, good point.

It's looking like the hone is red jasper from what I've read.

There was a member here years ago, A_S from Oxfordshire, who was an avid rock hound. He was a veritable encyclopedia of obscure hones and their origins. For a long time his sig line read, "I'd sell my soul for a Devonshire Oilstone." Then I heard he finally got one ......... and was never seen again ........