Thread: How closely do Charnleys resemble Y/G or light-green Eschers?

Hi guys. I picked up a very nice hone at an open-air market in Italy this summer, and assumed it was a Y/G escher. The color is very close to my two Y/Gs. It's mounted on a paddle and is clearly intended for straights. Once I'd lapped it, I noticed some small reddish dots and flecks, and began to wonder if it's a Charnley. But there's no red in the stone at all expect for these small flecks, and it yielded up a fair amount of slurry when lapped and didn't seem particularly hard. (My understanding is that Charnleys are quite hard.)

I know, I know, I need to post pics. Will do so tonight. But I'm curious if anyone's either (a) seen a moderately soft Charnley where the red is confined to occasional flecks, or (b) seen a Y/G or light-green escher with reddish flecks.

I have not extensively tested it, but I touched up my favorite filly with it (~25 passes) with excellent results.

Any info from you rock nuts would be appreciated.

I don't have an answer to your question, but it's good to see you back. You've been away for awhile, haven't you?

Chris L

FWIW, Charnley Forest hones are novaculite like arkansas stones, if you've ever lapped one of those...

They are a fair bit harder than the thuringians.

Thanks Chris – yes, it's good to be back!

Thanks Mparker and Olivia. Yes, I've lapped Arkansas stones as well as a Chinese, and if these Charnleys are in that league of hardness then this ain't one of them and that answers my question. This lapped up easily and yielded a the sort of generous slurry typical of eschers.

Almost certainly just a vintage thuringian with some slightly atypical inclusions.

There does seem to be a good deal of variation in the hardness of the Charnley Forest stones, consider that these came from a number of quarries over a large geographical region. Some of the earlier literature on the subject stated that it was the softer, faster cutting Charnley hones that were the most desirable. Also, the way in which a Charnley was used had an impact on it's hardness, as Linseed Oil was known to make the stones harder and it's use was therefore contraindicated.

I have 5 Charnley Hones, and would characterise them all as being hard stones, although nowhere near as hard as my translucent and surgical black arkansas stones. The less pure Charnley stones, two of the three I have, are a lighter green colour, but the surfaces seem to have a number of glassy inclusions which will damage a razors edge. The two stones that I'm reasonably sure are from the Whittle Hill Quarry, have the same maroon blotches as the others but the surfaces aren't as rough, they are also softer than the other three; although all 5 stones give off slurry easily enough.

Cutting speed of my preferred two isn't as slow as some of the literature would have us believe, 30-60 strokes usually bringing the edge to a very high standard coming off either 8k Naniwa or the 8k Japanese Glass Stone.

Regards,
Alex

as said early their hardness are different. They do act differently too. slurry color different and hard to make slurry from charnley to compare Escher's. when you can post picture it will help a lot. gl