Thread: Potential for new hones...

So I live and go to school in Ithaca New York, which is famed for the saying, Ithaca is Gorges. Get it? lol. Anyway. We have very deep gorges and plenty of slate in various strata. The other day I was hiking with my girlfriend and to her confusion decided to chip a 12" by 3" by 1.5" chunk out of the cliff face! I estimate it to have been about 20m from surface level, and I chose it basically on a whim, but mostly because the surrounding weathered rock was very smooth, and it has a purple tint (maybe similar to BBW). Anyway. My choice was random after all.

My question to the geologists and honemeisters, is, how can I tell good stone from bad, after I lap it? I am willing to sacrifice an ebay special or a few to test this, but how will I know the difference between it honing the razor, eating the razor, and doing nothing (no cutting particles)? I know slate itself is too soft to be a hone, but typically the inclusions make it work (for example, the garnet in belgian stones, and something in Charnley's and other UK slate hones). Also, does anyone know what types of mineral to look for? I have a family friend who is a retired geology professor at Cornell and my grandfather is a mining engineer, so if I know what to look for they can direct me as to what type of rock/which layers to look in.

I live in a frat (Alpha Sigma Phi, Iota chapter if anyone cares) that is nicknamed Rockledge because we are literally five meters from the cliff into one of the deeper gorges, and one of my frat brothers is an avid rock climber/repeller, plus there are tons of gorge paths, so I have access to hundreds of strata to test. The usual send it to someone with experience won't work because shipping hundreds of rock samples will be expensive. I'm asking to see if I can find "likely's" to be sent out to honemeisters for final testing.

Before anyone says this won't work, I already know. I'm going on the off chance I'll be lucky, plus I think it will be fun, so play along please. (Also, if a mod thinks it would be better in advanced honing, feel free to move the thread)
Thanks for any help.

I've tested a couple of probable hones and my main method was to start with a shave ready razor.

one dulled it back to 6k shave feel
one overhoned it like a sonofa*******
one had zero effect

but if you are looking for finish hones, or higher grit hones, then I suggest starting with a shave ready razor

I would say a scope is going to be indispensable here too

I've also put a mirror polish on the bevel, then done one stroke and looked under the scope to see both scratch depth and frequency (on one stroke)
this allows a "clean slate" so to speak

I was using wedges with VERY large bevels

good luck !!!!

I believe Howard is a geologist, so you could check with him on specific questions.

I'm not a honemeister but I'm always willing to play with a rock. Please include me in your list of willing evaluators.

That sounds very interesting. If you don't mind, bring it to the WNY meet! If you can lap it before the meet that would save some time but it is not a requirement to bring it along.

Khaos,

How much caffeine do you take in in a day?

Lol thanks pyment. Doubt its harder than a Swaty. Which btw, is a royal ****ing sonofa***** piece of **** to lap as I just found out. It ate through two and most of another sheets of 120 grit sandblaster, and the finer grits I used to finish were an absolute no go. They smoothed it out but NEVER would have lapped it. It is quite the experience to see 1k grit paper smoothed. It blackens (from gray) and feels like glass. And no, this is not built up swarf. I checked!
Anyway. The slate laps quite quickly on sandblaster so we'll see.
Maybe quickly is in perspective, now that I've lost my Swaty virginity.
Anyway, I won't be able to test any slate yet. I'll wait for a useless ebay special wedge to come along, put it over the Nakayama I have in the mail, then do GrateWhiteHuntr's test.
And if I find one or two likely's (which may as well be random as I doubt I of all people can judge a good hone) I'll bring them to WNY meet. (btw I should be able to get off work. I'm thinking of just calling in sick...)