Thread: "Turkey stone" quarry?

Originally Posted by Stoned

[SIZE=3]In these documents the whetstones are presented, depending on the time period, as "Naxia stone" (Naxos was a city on the top of Oxa mountain), or as "Turkish Stone" or even as "stone of the East".

Was this one source of the famous “Turkey stone” in the past? It seems very likely!

I am Turkish and know that the oil stone that is still used in Turkey comes from the Crete island. So, Crete stone is indeed the famous Turkish oil stone. (Crete used to be a part of Ottoman empire for more than 300 years, so is the name)

The stone is brittle and quite soft, it has a light gray or beige color. Unfortunately, I was not able to find a decent stone. The ones that I saw were either very small or had imperfections (cracks, etc). I am told that the stone has to be put in a wood frame to prevent cracking during use (well, at least for wood working tools, which is the current use of the stones in Turkey) A second interesting point is that they are sold by kilos, not surface area

Originally Posted by kemerd

I am Turkish and know that the oil stone that is still used in Turkey comes from the Crete island. So, Crete stone is indeed the famous Turkish oil stone. (Crete used to be a part of Ottoman empire for more than 300 years, so is the name)

The stone is brittle and quite soft, it has a light gray or beige color. Unfortunately, I was not able to find a decent stone. The ones that I saw were either very small or had imperfections (cracks, etc). I am told that the stone has to be put in a wood frame to prevent cracking during use (well, at least for wood working tools, which is the current use of the stones in Turkey) A second interesting point is that they are sold by kilos, not surface area

Did you check Istanbul?

Here is the link to a Turkish online store that sells Girit (Crete) stone.

sanALýþveriþ Online Alýþveriþ Sitesi-19.5*8.5*4.5 CM GIRIT (YAG) TASI 2 KG

And, I know that big hardware stores in Istanbul also sell it. Price: 50TL (25€) per kg.


Unfortunately, they only ship to Turkey. As I am an expat, I asked a friend to buy one for me. I now have the stone. It is extremely hard and more grayish than black. So, I am not very sure whether this is the same "Turkish stone" that I mentioned before. The stone that I have is big and thick. But very roughly cut. I tried to lap it with 40grit, 80grit sand paper. But no luck, it is so hard that it seems that it would take days before I make a dent on its surface.

Any suggestions on how to lap this


Kemal

Originally Posted by kemerd

Any suggestions on how to lap this


Kemal

I am not speaking from experience, just imagination. Get a respirator and access to a good belt sander. An industrial one such as a machine shop would have. The hone manufacturers such as the American Hone Co. in Iowa used very large lapping plates that looked like a large LP record..... make that giant, not just large. I don't know if a belt sander would work but it probably would.

I used a belt sander on my Turk that I got from Sham. I just trimmed up the sides and chamfered edges the stone was already lapped. Be careful as these are brittle and will tend to shatter or chip. Mine was very large and heavy. I snatched it our from under Randy's watchful eye.

They occasionally appear on ebay: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=110539206177

This guy has listed several of them. He claims they are 7-12K.

Being Greek I always wanted a stone or a razor that was made in my home country.

I never knew they excisted until now.

Lol now my AD is kicking in bad!

From the Elunda website: (Naxos was a city on the top of Oxa mountain).