Thread: Vermio; The Black, Greek hone

Thanks for hi-res photos.

I will also try to take photos thrue compleate honning session next time. All on same place with same magnification and same lightning.

Originally Posted by davorvfr

Thanks for hi-res photos.

I will also try to take photos thrue compleate honning session next time. All on same place with same magnification and same lightning.

you are welcome.

looking forward to your magnification pics, below are more high resolution pics i took today

more nice pitting



Transition area, upper focus



Transition area, lower focus





the stone surface



these pics are made with another lower power objective

Hey this is very nice. Like colors. Also it looks like I have more place to improve my honinng skills on vermio. On jour pictures looks so nice polished. Almost mirror polish.

Found another thing to like about the Vermio, it works like magic with the two razors I have that tend to microchip real bad, don't know exactly why, maybe the lighter X strokes, have had the best shave ever from the Royal Crown which is a chippy son of a GUN, a chip off the old block, a chip in time saves nine, you get the idea...

Well I also had the chance to test some of these fantastic stones- already a while ago. The leave a great, very sharp edge according to my experience, keener than the normal quality Thuringian. The edge is a bit crisper though. Haven't tried with oil yet.
Great hone and thanks very much Vasilis for disovering them!

Thank you Peter your opinion means a lot to me, but it's the rock that is doing the work, not me.
I have helped with the stone, sample testing and spreading the name but the credit is not all mine. I'm not the one the rock belongs to, and certainly not a vendor, especially now that there are shops that sell the stone.
The situation is like with the Cretan stone; I might or might not find pieces, but I'm not selling and when I have available, more usually than not, I'm trading what I have available for something interesting.
Although I appreciate it from friends, I don't want to be thanked for an awesome stone because at the same time someone else might find that this stone is not for his tastes making me responsible for his loss, and although all the samples I've tested behave extraordinarily the same, I can't handle any pressure now.

And now, pics from a special stone









I was lapping a stone I got, until I discovered a crack. I placed the tip of the knife inside and pushed, splitting it into two completely parallel pieces. The layers are so uniform and tough, the whole layer of a millimeter or a bit thicker, was split from the surface of the stone. And this happens with this type of stone, the veins are nicely parallel offering pretty much the same characteristics from one piece to the other. You can call these two, two different stones, but it's more like a single one. I have never seen this on any rock, so I decided to keep this special stone for decorative purposes.

Originally Posted by Vasilis

Thank you Peter your opinion means a lot to me, but it's the rock that is doing the work, not me.
I have helped with the stone, sample testing and spreading the name but the credit is not all mine. I'm not the one the rock belongs to, and certainly not a vendor, especially now that there are shops that sell the stone.
The situation is like with the Cretan stone; I might or might not find pieces, but I'm not selling and when I have available, more usually than not, I'm trading what I have available for something interesting.
Although I appreciate it from friends, I don't want to be thanked for an awesome stone because at the same time someone else might find that this stone is not for his tastes making me responsible for his loss, and although all the samples I've tested behave extraordinarily the same, I can't handle any pressure now.

And now, pics from a special stone









I was lapping a stone I got, until I discovered a crack. I placed the tip of the knife inside and pushed, splitting it into two completely parallel pieces. The layers are so uniform and tough, the whole layer of a millimeter or a bit thicker, was split from the surface of the stone. And this happens with this type of stone, the veins are nicely parallel offering pretty much the same characteristics from one piece to the other. You can call these two, two different stones, but it's more like a single one. I have never seen this on any rock, so I decided to keep this special stone for decorative purposes.

That is really amazing Vasilis..... Thanks for sharing.

Originally Posted by Vasilis

Thank you Peter your opinion means a lot to me, but it's the rock that is doing the work, not me.
I have helped with the stone, sample testing and spreading the name but the credit is not all mine. I'm not the one the rock belongs to, and certainly not a vendor, especially now that there are shops that sell the stone.
The situation is like with the Cretan stone; I might or might not find pieces, but I'm not selling and when I have available, more usually than not, I'm trading what I have available for something interesting.
Although I appreciate it from friends, I don't want to be thanked for an awesome stone because at the same time someone else might find that this stone is not for his tastes making me responsible for his loss, and although all the samples I've tested behave extraordinarily the same, I can't handle any pressure now.

When Christoph Kolumbus discovered the big country somewhere far at the other end of the ocean, it had already been there. His performance was not to create something new but to simply discover something that was undiscovered before (at least for the majority of mankind).

I've been absent from this thread for a little bit, I have been working on my honing with my 12k Naniwas and slowly lapping my Vermio in increasing grits with W/D paper. The theory here was to get as good of edges possible with synthetics and then progress to the more difficult natural stone.

Well, this thing took a long time to lap. At first, I just threw it on some 1500 w/d, this showed that my stone was not flat. Makes me feel stupid with my "out of the box" comment. Also, it seems to have been lapped at/around 300 grit. My 400 grit w/d by 3m left a nice surface finish. I progressed to 600 and 800, this left a hazier finish. The 600&800 are Norton brand w/d, the only brand I have found offered in my area (too impatient for online at the moment). I continued with 1500&2000 w/d Norton paper. I was able to achieve a much darker and shinier surface than when received.

Some things I have noticed:
1) The black in the stone is mirror like however, the gray areas are not. This makes some sense, since the two colors are possibly two different variations of each other.
2) After lapping the stone and some test lapping/rounding a corner w/ the slurry stone, I cannot make a slurry easily. No pressure strokes with the slurry stone left nothing in the water.
3) Slurry from lapping is not to be used.

Now, I have yet to burnish the surface. From these posts I have 2 possibilities.
1) lap dry with 12k naniwa stone
2) lap dry with non abrasive side of DMT
3) rub the stone with the long edge of DMT (where 2 non abrasive sides meet)


Post initial lapping on 1500


Surface scratching from previous slurry


Post-lapping reflection and sink full of dirty dishes.


More reflection and dishes.


Slurry stone radius. Sufficient? Or larger diameter? It takes forever to sand this stone down. I have been able to get a glassy black surface with the slurry stone. It must be from a different area because there seems to be different surfaces...


Before pic for reference....


Another angle. Before attempting slurry, I ran this corner on 2000 grit to get same surface as hone.

If you are going to be slurry honing on a very hard stone (raising slurry with a hard stone) it's counter-productive to polish the stone too much. It will only make raising a slurry much more difficult. Best is to flatten the stone with a diamond plate then raise a couple consecutive slurries with the rubbing stone and wash them away. Raise the next one and hone with it. This is for finishing only after something like 8k. If you want to try it from a little earlier in the progression you can go to 2k then raise a diamond plate slurry and hone on that, then a rubbing stone slurry and hone on that. Repeat by raising another rubbing stone slurry if necessary until you get your finished edge. On most stones the last one should be a fairly thin slurry, not too thick. Oh, and the radius you have on the corner of the stone should be sufficient. Only polish a very hard stone surface if you are going to use it without slurry. Otherwise you are better off letting the stone go to its natural state during slurry honing.