Thread: Mississippi Stone?

From Mining magazine First half year 1854

NATIONAL OIL STONE COMPANY

The works of this Company are located on the Carp River in the iron region Lake Superior Among the slates which occur there is one extremely hard and of a fine grained silicious quality found to be admirably adapted for sharpening steel This Company has been steadily engaged in cutting up and polishing hone stones for market They have become distributed over the Union aud though the amount of business which the company has done is limited it has been sufficient to establish the name and reputation of the article It is stated to bo their intention to enlarge and extend their works next season

Is the stone under discussion actually being retailed in the EU?

Regards,
Alex

Hard Noviculite stones will put an excellent edge on a razor if you are willing to take the necessary time. These are very slow cutters. I can't imagine how long it would take to actually set a bevel with one of these.

Originally Posted by kingreverent

I couldn't include some pictures. To see some You're obliged to log in in their forum!
In their search-engine I found some threads:Il Rasoio :: Cerca
The stone doesn't look to me like an "Arkansas" type...

what is the problem to post picture or just link. i can't log in i am not a member to that place?
Does stone looks like yellowish with dots in it? i will post picture in here mine

This is oil stone but what they call etc i have no idea . size is 1 inch wide very narrow. harder then arkansas or charnley forest

Hi gals and guys,
according to the member of the italian forum who posted his experience with the so called "Mississippi hone", the stone was called in this way by his grand father and his grand-grand father. The geologist who could see the stone said that it comes from Michigan and that this is the only black stone coming from that area. His museum would pay about €150 for the hone. Also, this kind of stones are 2400 million years old (being a coticule 400 million years old). Grit: 800-1000 ( ).

"Huronian novaculite slate is found at Carp River and Teal Lake in Ontonagon County and at L'Anse in Baraga County"

From The Woodwright's Companion: The Whetstone Quarry

Fede, 800 - 1000 FEPA or JIS?

Originally Posted by hi_bud_gl

what is the problem to post picture or just link. i can't log in i am not a member to that place?
Does stone looks like yellowish with dots in it? i will post picture in here mine

Hi Bud Gl,
Sorry, I tried to upload the picture many times. It doesn't work. You can only see if you're logged in. I did it, it's the same way as in SRP. Once you choose your username and password you'll receive an email to confirm by clicking on the link.
I don't speak Italian but I wanted to see how our Italian brothers are honing and stroping their str8 razors.
I think, maybe I'm wrong, that they're waaay behind. Their forum isn't as elaborated as SRP and our German forums.
They've excellent shaving products, shaving soaps, aftershaves, colognes, but are using mostly their double edges and other 5-blades monsters.
Their soaps and toiletries are the reflection of Italy's extremely high culture, 'savoir-vivre' and excellent taste.
I couldn't find the Valobra soap in Tuscany. But I visited the Santa Maria Novella in Florence and bought some excellent stuff.
I found Proraso in almost every corner in Tuscany, but they never heard of Cella soap...If a asked for Valobra soap they offered me the Proraso.
I think they don't have the access to good and modern honing stones, instead they are talking about a Mississippi stone, a defunct stone that even Americans don't know.
But maybe didn't I understand the Italian language and therfore I came to this erroneus conclusion.

Well its not really defunct, just the honing habits have changed a lot lately.