The tale about "The German Hickory" Hone
Introduction:
Doing my researches digging deep in the archives of the WWW and Newspapers i actually found another interesting and funny story to tell. Its about the phenomenal "Old Germany Hickory Hone".....did you ever heard of if ? I dont think so, actually i found no evidence a post like this was ever created....
here is the story to be told:
Ok lets start with the background, it starts in the years 1884 until 1885. The articles were printed with the nearly the same content at different Newspapers. Reno Gazette Journal, St. Louis Post Dispatch, The Argos Reflector, The Morning Astorian, Pittsburg Post Gazette, The Times.....probably there were more....
There was an article named "Some Razor Hones". A interview like told story to a "Barber" about different types of hones for honing razors. They ask questions which hones can be used. Nearly the end of the story they come to a point where the Barber is asked: "What do you consider the Best Hone ?
and now guys, what comes now ? any guesses ?
The Barber replies: "The Hone i like the best and the most wonderful in material and construction is that of petrified German Hickory. Here is one", and he exhibited a small, smooth, dark stone, hard as adamant, mounted in a wooden block. "This german hickory", he continues "is in itself a wood almost as hard as a stone. It is cut from large cultivated forests, then carefully seasoned, sawed into small blocks about this size and imbedded in a peculiar wet clay soil, where it is allowed to remain about 8 years. When removed the wooden blocks are discovered to have turned into stone. Their manufacture is confined solely to certain parts of Germany and Prussia.The experiment of petrification in this particular line has been tried in many lands, but has never been proven successful outside the countries named. That is, I guess because of the peculiar soil. Westphalia, in Prussia, is where they are principally made and there is one mill there which constantly employs 100 hand in cutting, mounting and dressing these hones.".......the story keeps going some sentences further, i skipped them....
So what ? 100 People producing all day these hones, the best hones in the world, wood petrification within 8 years :shrug: :popcorn:
So any body heard of those wonder hones ? Now comes an additional part....
The story continues in 1906, Harrisburg Daily Independent:
"Women Razor Sharpener", "She hones 10.000 a year and makes money with it"
The story kind of continues with a women who is honing razors to do her living with it. She uses
"A Hickory Hone and an imported German Razor Hone".
So far so interesting, now i did search for some findings of those hones, to proof their existence :gl:
So what do you all think about the story ? Anybody owns a Germany Hickory Hone ?
If so please share pictures here :rofl2:
But interesting what i found:
http://straightrazorpalace.com/hones...kory-hone.html
http://straightrazorpalace.com/attac...e-img_0114.jpg
The tale about "The German Hickory" Hone
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Vasilis
Sebastian, do you happen to have any available samples for testing? I'm not referring to the honing type of testing, the more invasive kind. It could help a lot.
The above is one theory. One other is, the silicon oxide that contains the wood, that very small quantity, it might even be a single, few molecules crystal here and there, starts working as a catalyst for the formation of silicon salt based dendritic structures within wood, and as cellulose of the wood gets damaged, more space opens for the increase in mass of these dendrites.
Something I overlooked is, I assume that the wood itself hardens as well, aside from its cutting particles and their formations. Having a sample, even a cubic centimeter would help.
I can try to make what I imagine that material to be, or at least try to make something that seems similar, everybody can. I'll give it a try, and if it works, like the previous time with the stone, I'll contact you to test a sample. I have about 500 walnut trees and plenty of wood. It's same family with hickory but would it be good enough?
Hey Vasilis, good approach....i dont know if this was ever a real good working thing. Actually all is too foggy and unclear for me and the literature sources are rare...but they do exist. It seems to be clear that petrified wood in the past was used for honing....
For what specific applications the petriefied wood was used is not written down in the literature as far i did the research.
Also if this approach was real, there is no source mentioning the procedure itself which was described in that article i introduced.
So it should just be a fun thing to try out youre approach and see what happens ;-)
Until the years go by and until youre ready with it, i started buying four samples of petrified wood. One looks actually like Chert (probably geologically talking this might be right), the second looks like burned wood, probably stored in swamp conditions, the third and fourth are petrified wood dics which will be cut in two rectangular stones....they were really cheap, 5usd each. But they are hard as hell to lap...this will take hours of lapping *help*
Sample 1&2:
https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5346/3...ea21f8_c_d.jpg
https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5772/3...d47531_c_d.jpg
https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5329/2...bdb862_c_d.jpg
The tale about "The German Hickory" Hone
