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Hi,
I was "reading" our Italian sister forum:Il Rasoio :: Index
and I saw that the Italians use a stone they call "Mississippi Stone" during initial bevel setting.
Never heard of it.
As my knowledge of Italian is nill I couldn't ask them what they ment.
Did we miss something?:confused:
My Italian is non-existant, so I had to rely on Google Translate (which is never a good idea,) but one of the threads concerning the so-called Mississippi Stone mentioned an Arkansas type stone hailing from Michigan. The only Noviculite stone from this area that I am aware of is the Noviculite from the Carp River area which is generally considered to be exceptionally good for finishing razors. It has been discussed on the forums before, I'm paraphrasing from memory here but there was a quote along the lines of, " the Noviculite of Carp River put's a superior edge on a razor compared to all other stones, not excepting the Turkey Oilstone or Scotch stones."
Kindest regards,
Alex
Hi Kingreverent!
Should be good for that price. Pictures would have been nice.
From what I get out of Google (DE) its another name for an Arkansas.
Quite pricey for the dear Italians with 150.00 Euro
Here's the thread where it's mentioned, post number 5. I wasn't 100% accurate quoting from memory, but as you will read it does say that the Carp River Noviculite is superior to the Turkey Oilstone and Scotch Stones. Link: http://straightrazorpalace.com/advan...549-jimmy.html
Quote:
Originally Posted by 0livia
Hi Olivia,
The Italians seem to use this stone a lot, otherwise they wouldn't talk so much about it.
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...
can you copy and paste it in here ? picture of the stone
Oh, I see (that I haven't seen due to not having been logged in, LOL)!
The market down there must be pretty dry.
Seen a shop as well that sold only three kinds and called itself pretty advanced.
Well there are so many different looking Arkansas stones around, its difficult to count them.
Unfortunately the search function here rules the word w.a.s.h.i.t.a. (without the dots) out, cause of the middle part, so people write all kinds of names to get around it and it makes searching very difficult but you'll find lots in the honing forums.
The last bigger collection I've seen was from translucent white to black, with about thirty different shades of greys and browns in between, but I've also seen white ones with pink dots. No kidding! :)
That post,by Sham, was to show the Turkey Oilstone. It seems to have been very highly regarded if you access various google books and articles on oilstones. I know that Sham tracked a couple down but I am not sure how well they performed once he had them. Until this thread the Mississippi stone was unknown to me. Another one to add to the obscure or unknown rocks to search for.Quote:
Originally Posted by A_S
It sure would be nice to find a high-end finisher here from the old midwest.
That would definitely be the LAST finishing hone I would buy. Seriously.;)
yeah, right :D
Jimmy there is another thread about a "oil stone turkey".
From Mining magazine First half year 1854
Quote:
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.
what is the problem to post picture or just link. i can't log in i am not a member to that place?Quote:
Originally Posted by kingreverent
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 ( :boohoo:).
"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?
Hi Bud Gl,Quote:
Originally Posted by 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.
I'll ask to the guy how he rated the grit of his stone..Quote:
Originally Posted by 0livia
The forum is one year old and the community quite small (about 220 members). Soaps and aftershaves are important topics in the forum and many persons, as kingreverent supposes, have more experience with soaps that with straight razors. Every three months we publish a poll to make the point of our experiences, and from the last poll it results that 63% of members uses a straight razor, 17% safety razor, 13% shavette, 8% other blades (5-blades monsters? probably!). Cella and Valobra soaps are not so difficult to find (in one or two shops per city). SRP is an important source for our honing experiences, and Mastro Livi too is a reference for many of us who visited or phoned him to ask suggestions. King 1k/3k/6k/8k, BBW, Coticule, Norton 4/8, Hard Arkansas, Chinese and Shapton 16k (in this order) are the most used hones.Quote:
Originally Posted by kingreverent
Sorry for the double post: just got the answer from the owner of the stone. The rating of the grit is based on practical experience "only". Using it with a SR, the stone is a bit faster than a sintetic 1000 waterstone and gives similar results.
and I take it that the synthetic is rated in JIS ...
ok, that makes it a bit coarser than I expected.
I found a website for someone in Illinois who has found a local stone that he uses for sharpening his straight razor. Illinois is basically between the Mississippi and the Ohio. I will invite him to join here.
And I accepted the invitation. I am no expert on the matter, but I do use stones and hones often as a professional sharpener. I have made a few also as an obsessive tinkerer. I think Pyment came across this blog from a woodworking discussion forum where I go into a little detail on making one. To be honest it was a failed attempt at a courser sharpening stone. It turned out finer and harder than planned so I decided it's best use was a razor hone. Blog on making a hone In the blog I state I just basically lucked into the raw material, a piece of sedimentary stone I found near the river that exposed it.
The results are evident in this video I made just playing around. "Razor sharp"
Thank you for coming and posting the video. Can you tell approximately grit of this stone? compare to norton's or shaptons.
I use neither of those so I cannot compare. I would say 5000 at least, probably more like 8000. I do not have that particular hone anymore, I gave it away as a gift. I have more of the raw material but have not made another hone yet. I primarily use antique hones I like to collect and strop,strop,strop.Quote:
Originally Posted by hi_bud_gl
My suggestion would be (if you made another hone) to send it to one of the "honemeisters" here and have them check it out.
Quote:
Originally Posted by clavichord
Hi Clavicord,
Many thanks for your information. But may I ask You if the above mentioned stones are those that Maestro Livi uses and in this particular order?
If so, this would rather prove my theory that You have to use many finer honing stones in small increments to obtain the smoothest of shaves. I refer to the thread I opened a while ago:http://straightrazorpalace.com/advan...yderco-uf.html
Quote:
Originally Posted by clavichord
Yes, sorry kingreverent, I realized that my sentence isn't very clear. That one is not a progression, but just the list of the most common stones between italian members. Regarding small increments, well, I've to say that I'm doing quite well with my small set (DMT extra fine, BBW and two different Coticule) so I guess that small increments are just one of the possible approches. Is it so? :confused:Quote:
Originally Posted by kingreverent
EDIT: one of Mastro Livi suggestions is that hones (sintetic and natural) must be kept in water for their entire life. He also gives an important place to strop pastes. [I don't like pastes and keep my belgians in a nice case.. :p ]
Great. This thread is going to kill me. Now I know that ther was once a stone made for use on razors that was mined in my home state. I'd never heard of one or seen one now I have to have one. Additionally if it is as slow as an Arkansas for putting an edge on a razor I'll use it once, put it in a drawer and only take it out once in a while to look at. Sad but I have to find one now!!