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Does anyone know anything about these stones? They are for sale on Griffiths, but they are apparently from Orleans County in Vermont, which is where my workplace is, so I was hoping to go find the quarry this summer. But I can't seem to find anything about it.
Thanks!
I have a green I had selected and cut from a quarry years ago. It works fine. I wouldn't use slurry on it. The purple does sharper but not quite as smooth as the green in my experience and there is a streaky black type that makes the sharpest edge for me by far. You just need to make sure you get pieces with no crystalline weirdness going on.
which quarry?Quote:
Originally Posted by kcb5150
Pearl street slate company
Streaked blackAttachment 306239Attachment 306240
Green
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Purple, often mistaken for other thingsAttachment 306243Attachment 306244
I have all the hones I need, but that may not prevent me from getting another one. This is one I have had on my "maybe one day list". Since I like my edges to be very sharp, I might wait until I can find a purple or black one rather than the green.
I think the people who produce this stuff do so well just cranking out construction materials that they don't care to sift through for choice bits. It's understandable, but a shame as it is superior to the welsh stuff far and away when you have a good piece. Never tried an ilr so I can't say on that front.
I bought one of Matt's restored razors over the holidays that he finished with a green VT slate. It is a really great edge.
I suspect all slate mines derive the vast majority of their income from construction slate for roofs, flooring, etc. There is just too little of a market for razor hones for a mining company to make a living doing that, Welsh slate mines would be similar.
Someone living near the mine might be able to sift though the rubble of pieces too small for construction work, but ideal for hones. Getting permission to do so, however, might be difficult. The stone itself is cheap. All the work needed to cut and lap the stone to produce a hone is the real cost.
Yeah, he basically did it as a favor for me in off hours. He had to set up his equipment to cut bench stones and I had to tell him the properties I needed in a hone so he coild sift through pieces. It was time consuming.
Got mine last week and tried it on 5 razors. Nothing special compared to my Dota Creek, Zulu Grey, and black Ark convex stones. The black Ark is without question either dry or with mineral oil.
To revive this thread I contacted a slate quarry in VT, asked if the could cut me a 10x2x1 specifically a nice piece for sharpening. Minutes later got a reply back, no problem, shipped cost $38. Two week lead time so I'll post some images when it arrives. At that kind of price it's a no-brainer just to try it out.
Yeah, they are really variable. I have had pieces that mimic your experience and pieces that have just been awesome. And it has been pretty even which is a downer to buy random bits of it.
Well I finally got my Vermont slate hone, 10x2x1 inches. The lead time was a little longer than expected at around three and a half weeks but that really isn't too bad, they seem to engage in fairly large and high value building projects so for them to take the time to make this for me, which probably doesn't make them much money if any, is something I appreciate very much. The stone is finished impeccably, the stone is diamond lapped on both sides to what they call their 'honed' finish and I can tell you it is absolutely silky with no perceptable scratches on the surface. All edges have been chamfered also. In addition it is also laser-beam flat. If it hones as good as it looks it will be an absolute bargain for the $38 with UPS shipping I paid.
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nice looking stone! I'm very curious to find out how it performs.
Yeah, me too! Please report back on that.
Had a little bit of time to play around with the stone tonight. I used my trusty Dovo Best Quality 5/8 which I've owned for around ten years to test out the hone. As an aside, I have been playing around with a convex Norton 8K which I made a few weeks ago, this razor had been finished on this stone and just stropped on clean linen and leather. Anyway, I mention it because it meant that when I hit the slate, I knew I was going to be immediately affecting the very apex, and a check under the loupe showed I was, a similar effect to adding a layer of tape to finish. I created a light slurry using a diamond card and honed with x-strokes diluting down to plain water. The stone had a very smooth feel all the while, no popping, no rolling on gravel feel under the blade which I have experienced with the black Welsh slate stone. The cutting speed on slurry is remarkably fast imo, the edge of the bevel was a fine, even, matte finish after around 20-25 passes. Once you transition to water the cutting of course slows down, it seemed to be about in the average range for slate speed, maybe a bit faster than the purple Welsh although this is a much bigger stone than the one I had so you gain efficiency due to sheer distance traveled. The apex ended up very clean and straight, with a polish starting to be created moving back from the apex but with a few errant striations which seems par for the course for slates. The stria themselves seemed within the same size range as the rest of the more regular scratches so I'm not going to lose sleep over them. I could definitely go for more laps to further refine which I will be doing as I test more, hopefully the polish will come up more and start to erode away the tops of the very fine scratches left from the slurry even further. I went to the bathroom and gave the razor a good 80 laps on clean leather only, no linen. I took some hair from my wife's hairbrush and got between a HHT3-HHT4, better at the heel which is just something I always get so must be a quirk in my honing technique. I'll most likely do a bit more work on the hone in the morning before my shave, so far seems fairly good considering the relatively low amount of effort I've put in tonight. I'll try get some photos through the loupe also (15x Bausch and Lomb Watchmakers loupe).
Edit: Tried to get a pic through the loupe, you can see the transition from the convex 8K to the slate at the apex, not very good detail however. Maybe time to invest in a cheap microscope of some kind?
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I'm going to be getting a few more Vermont Slates in the coming weeks, I got the quarry to cut me three stones, a pure green slate, a purple slate and a gray slate along with slurry stones. Dimensions are 5 x 2.5 x 1 for the hones and 1 x 1 x 2.5 for the slurry stones, nice handy 'barber cut' sized pieces. Just going to be left in the sawn state so I can lap them here, came out cheaper too. Will post pics when they arrive and hopefully I can do some comparative testing. I've been shaving off the mottled slate using both the Dovo and an old Joseph Allen wedge and shaves have been really good so far, the wedge took while to hone up but this razor has a non trivial amount of bevel reveal so takes more work anyway. Takes a bit more time max out the edge on water after working on slurry but the slurry on this stone is fairly fast so you save some time in the initial honing.
Am I right to understand that you are moving from an 8k synth that is convex along both the x and the y axes to a flat piece of VT slate? And why the need for slurry at this stage?
On my initial test I used the Dovo Best Quality 5/8 which had been honed on a Norton 8K convexed in both axis. I worked from a light slurry to clear water, the slurry helped haze up the bevel so I could confirm that I was indeed making contact at the apex, moving back. I subsequently diluted down to water and the edge of the bevel started to take a polish as you can see in the photo I took through the loupe. It also gave me some idea of how this stone felt honing with a slurry. I had just received the stone that afternoon so I wasn't really honing with any particular end in mind except feeling the stone out; slurry up, see how it feels, finish to water, strop and test the edge. The 8K being convex was inconsequential, it just happened to be a nice platform to move from since I knew that in theory I should immediately be hitting the apex due to the change in stone geometry which helps take a bit of guesswork out of the exercise.Quote:
Originally Posted by Brontosaurus
The Joseph Allen wedge had only had a bevel set from a soft arkansas. I worked this from quite heavy slurry down to water. The slurry was very effective at removing the majority of the stria from the bevel set and producing a nice 'bead blasted' finish from which to observe the subsequent polishing when moving to water. This razor took a fair while but it has a wide bevel with commensurate spine wear, and I was moving from bevel set to finish. The stone performed very well given the circumstances it was required to work within.
I'm not honing 'properly' or whatever, just playing around with the stone. But then again I never really have any kind of fixed progression or method or anything, just whatever you want to do to get a sharp edge. It's all fun.
Griffiths has the green Vermont slate hones in 8 x 3 x 3/4 size. They rate them at equivalent to 10 - 12K grit. He also has a brick which is 8 x 3 x 3.
I have enough hones now including a new la Lune, so I am resisting my HAD, but am anxious to find out about your experience with the Vermont slates.
I've got the green, gray and purple Vermont slates on the way, should be delivered this coming week so I'll post review/comparison with the green/purple mottled. I was tempted to purchase on from Griffith originally but just contacted a quarry direct, much cheaper and you get access to all the other varieties of slate they process, my 10x2x1 was only $30 shipped, the three slates I have on the way (5x2.5x1 with 1x1x2.5 slurry stones) only cost $60 shipped total. The thing with slate is as long as you get a nice consistent piece, yeah, might not be the greatest finisher in the grand scheme of things but they will always be fairly fine and plausible, and if you're lucky and get an exceptional rock you can end up with something quite amazing, not a bad gamble for the low cost of entry.Quote:
Originally Posted by DZEC
Another rock I've been playing around with is the purple Argillite that proliferates in the area I live. Been thinking of picking up a tile saw to make some more conventional hones but I just have some pieces that I lapped flat on one face like a primitive cut Ark. There are other colors but the purple seems particularly consistent in texture.
Once I've finished evaluating the slates I can forward you the green if you want. I'll even pay for postage just PM me if interested.
Just "enough?" Well then you need to buy some more.:roflmaoQuote:
Originally Posted by DZEC
My personal battle with HAD is not going too well either, and this thread is not helping!
SRP is full of enablers. HAD is a tough opponent to fight.
Yes it is....and to think I just got off of phonics.
Slates finally arrived, everything looks in good order. I'll post another photo once I've lapped them all, can't get to it tonight. Excited to put these rocks through testing. Dimensions are 5" x 2.5" x 1" for the base stones and 1" x 1" x 2.5" for the slurry stones. Although they can't be compared due to unevenness in sawing, the purple is noticeably heavier (although not massively so) than the other two, not sure how this will translate into honing but interesting nonetheless.
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Looking good.
Can you take some pics of them wet? That should bring out the colour.
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.
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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'.
curious if you still have the contact info for the place you purchased your slate through would be interested in getting a quote from them. Those are some nice pieces. ever get the green lapped?
The member you are responding to has not posted in over 2 years. However, he may be getting notifications for activity on threads so maybe he'll see it anyway. Another thing to try is to send him a PM which should send an email to his contact address. Assuming of course he still uses that email account he should get the message. Good luckQuote:
Originally Posted by olenickdesigns
