Thread: Welsh hone stones

I thought I might as well start a new thread rather than tagging onto the end of the Dragons Tongue thread, apologies for repeating some of this but I thought it worth putting together.

I collected a bunch of stone from an old Welsh hone quarry recently and out of all this rock



that I carried off the hill I have managed to salvage only a couple of pieces worth making into hones, most of the saw cut surfaces of my salvage were at 90 degrees to the cleavage planes, so effectively the cut surfaces were the sides of hones not the tops and most of my pieces are too narrow to be useful or in some cases they have extensive pores. I had to spend some time with sand and a paving slab to get a piece flat enough to lap and this is the result





Finished to 1200 grit and wet, it may look like the surface is rough but its glass smooth, the patterns from the original sediment show beautiful chatoyance. This piece is pretty massive and would make two nice stones if I ever get it cut, works fine as it is though and the weight makes it nice and stable.

I have had a brief honing session on this stone but I have little experience so cant really say much about its performance but it seems to cut faster than a Chinese 12K and it seems to leave a very nice finish. I'll do a proper revew in a few years

Heres a close up of my slurry stone, showing some banding, from the same spoil heap but quite different in apperance



The spoil tip up in the hills that they came from Mill spoil tip containing partly formed hones:: OS grid SH7254 :: Geograph British Isles - photograph every grid square!

I didnt take any pictures when I was there unfortunately but the old building where they cut the hones has been reclaimed by the forest, the waterwheel pit is still visible, the place is quite beautiful and surreal.

And finally in case anyone is interested, here are OS grid ref's for all the hone quarries I have been able to trace in North Wales so far, some of these are worked out. Idwal is probably one of the more famous and easily accessible at the head of Ogwen valley, it is completely worked out I believe.

Moel Siabod SH723541
Melynllyn SH705653
Idwal SH648604
Nantgwynant SH645505
Dolwyddelen SH743528
Cwmyffynan SH648560

I salute your efforts. This kind of stuff is fantastic, and I love seeing it.

I had a lot of fun doing it, North Wales is a place Ive been very fond of for as long as I can remember and I had no idea about the hone quarries until I joined this forum

That is a BEAUTIFUL stone. Wow. Jealous here.

I'll probably go back later in the year and I'll have a better idea what to look for. I have one spare piece that Ive promised to somebody on here but if I manage to get some more nice pieces I'll offer them up in case anybody else wants to try them. Not sure when it will be though.

Please enter JimmyHad on the want list for the elusive stones from Wales.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

Please enter JimmyHad on the want list for the elusive stones from Wales.

That's what I'm thinking.

Stunning!

Beautiful in both colour and pattern! And extra nice as you created it yourself from an unseeming piece of rough rock. Would be great if it turned out to be a fine polisher too - though it doesn't really matter, does it? It would still be a drool provoking wannahave at grit 400...

Very nice looking stone! Hones from that quarry must have been used to sharpen knives, swords, and other implements since way before the dawn of recorded history. Maybe even one was used on Excalibur...the following is from Wiki...
"One theory holds that Caliburn[us] comes from Caledfwlch, the original name for the sword, which is first mentioned in the Mabinogion. In Culhwch and Olwen and the Welsh Bruts, Arthur's sword is also called Caledfwlch (derived from caled, "battle, hard" + bwlch, "breach, gap, notch")."
Thank you for sharing these photos!

Show off
You are correct though. The Welsh inhabbited the UK before the Germans.sorry I mean the English.
KIng Arthur probaly honed his edges on some nice local Welsh rock.
M