Thread: Article About Michigan Hones.

Found this quite interesting Grindstone City

Kindest regards,
Alex

Thanks for that article. I've been researching the mica schist deposits which were purported to be better than a Turkey Stone and equal or surpassing the finest Arkanas stones for honing fine instruments some distance from where these sandstone deposits were/are but still in the state of Michigan. I'm about a 9 hour drive to that area, but plan on making a trip there within a few years.

Chris L

Alex great thank you . i have to make visit to this Barnet Drug Store, and see what i can get.

Originally Posted by ChrisL

Thanks for that article. I've been researching the mica schist deposits which were purported to be better than a Turkey Stone and equal or surpassing the finest Arkanas stones for honing fine instruments some distance from where these sandstone deposits were/are but still in the state of Michigan. I'm about a 9 hour drive to that area, but plan on making a trip there within a few years.

Chris L

I'm considering taking a trip to some of the sites that furnished hones in the UK, particularly Austwick for the Moughton Whetstone and Tavistock for the Devonshire Oilstone. The major problem is finding accurate information about the exact locations, I'm beginning tothink that the Devonshire Oilstone is a lost cause, but I'm waiting to hear about the Moughton Whetstone from a couple of historical groups local to the area.

A lot of the American stones are really starting to interest me now, as well though. The Carp River Novaculite from Michigan sounds promising, as does the hone hailing from the Monday Creek quarry in Ohio. The ones that really interest me however are the North Carolina Novaculites and the different stones coming from the Nahant Peninsula. Unfortunately, Macualey's Quarry near Chapel Hill, NC is now under a residential development, and has been since at least 2006. The stones from McPherson's Quarry and from Salisbury Road, both North Carolina, have a history of use for straights however, and both enjoyed considerable local esteem, although they were never exploited commercially. The Nahant Peninsula produced a garnet hone, that was considered the equal of the Belgian Coticule, and this was in the 1800's when there were a much greater number of quarries working in Belgium and producing quality stones, and also a Lydite or Touchstone. Touchstones are used primarily for testing the purity of precious metals, characteristically however, they are identical to whetstones save for a much finer grit.

It's very tempting to take a trip to look for some of these, but I'd probably end up paying a fortune in excess baggage on the return trip if I did find anything.

Kindest regards,
Alex

I remember a member once posting a picture of a stone that was light beige in color and resembled a coticule except for the fact that it absorbed water and according to him it produced a finer edge. Could it be possible that this stone is a michigan hone? The member is beenpickin and its the second rock in the middle and I believe two other ones are the same pics in this thread:
http://straightrazorpalace.com/honin...3-x-hones.html

I live a couple of hours from there and have family that have a cottage in Port Austin (its a stones throw away). There are grind stones laying around everywhere I could probably pick a few up quite easily if anybody were interested.

Originally Posted by detroyt

I live a couple of hours from there and have family that have a cottage in Port Austin (its a stones throw away). There are grind stones laying around everywhere I could probably pick a few up quite easily if anybody were interested.

I would certainly like to see what they're about. I'm in Louisiana, let me know what we can work out for getting some in the mail.

Im totally down for one too! PM if you do get some.