Thread: back from belgium...

i had no objection when my wife suggested that we might spend a couple of weeks in belgium. she didn't know...

well, of course we made a small detour to ardennes coticules. although we did not announce our visit, we were immediately invited on a tour through the workshops. most interesting! then the gentleman told us to go and see the quarry, take a stone or two there, no problem. as you can imagine i was delighted. after buying a "la dressante" and a "les myrtilles" bout i spent an hour in the quarry walking around, examining pieces of rock and finally chose a few pieces i wanted to take home. no problem, said the friendly caterpillar-driver, certainly knowing that usable stones can't be picked up like daisies on a meadow.

anyway, the following days i was on the lookout for more stones (HAD!), since i had no idea when i'll be in belgium again. i was very lucky when i met a most knowledgable person, who, after i had asked for "special" stones, disappeared in the back of the house and minutes later presented some monstrous stones from closed mines. the price was right and i got weak.

my suitcase was a few kilos heavier on our way back home. on the picture below you see the aftermath of a belgian holiday paired with mental weakness: a 10" natural combo monster from the old rock mine, a dressante, two veinettes, a myrtilles bout and some smaller stones. the bout in the front is a piece of coticule i picked up in the quarry. i lapped it and honed a razor on it. quite promising, i'll know more tomorrow morning. so far i have only shaved off the veinette. good shave!

and yes, i know, one needs only one small stone and one razor... my wife told me.

regards,
hans