Thread: vermont green slate whetstone

Got the purple and gray with their slurry stones lapped up. Only issue was that there was a hairline crack running right through the purple slurry stone that I could see once it got wet so I snapped it into it's two halves (snapped really easily) and cleaned up the broken side and now have two slurry stones haha. I've also been lapping a Droescher Swaty so hitting the plate pretty hard today, will get the green done Monday as I don't do any work on Sundays.

Both stones lapped without issue, the sawing texture was quite fine so lapped away speedily. Went from 100 SiC, to 220 SiC, to 400 Wet/Dry. A couple chips/flakes on some edges and corners from the sawing but it all cleaned up well.

Very interesting appearance on both stones. The purple has some green spots and has this interesting 'holographic' appearance when dry that I haven't seen in other slates. Actually looks extremely similar to the La Lune from the photos I have seen, not sure if that stone is slate though. The gray is very sparkly with these small black streaks and dots that run across the surface.

I made a very light slurry on the purple and just ran a razor across for a while, diluting down to water, to just feel the stone out, very smooth and silky feeling through the dilution. Infinitely smoother feeling than the Welsh Purple imo which always had this slightly gritty feeling although it never seemed to harm the edge. I have high hopes for this stone in particular.

I'll post some images of the green after lapping then will test over the coming week or two before doing a more comprehensive write up.

Did a bit of honing with the gray slate right at the end of the day. This stone seems very slightly porous but I'll have to do some more tests to confirm, probably weight the stone, soak for ten minutes in water, dry exterior and weight again. Quite hard stone however that doesn't want to slurry particularly easily, but once you get slurry it's stupid fast to haze up the bevel with the slurry visibly darkening rapidly. Also very fast to polish once you transition to water. This stone is very 'sparkly' under the loupe and to the naked eye, now those sparkles are not necessarily particles with cutting ability but from the speed relative to the purple I wouldn't bet against this stone having a higher abrasive content. Edge feels more 'bitey'.