Thread: Two For The Rockhounds

So if you read my blog, you may have seen this, but for those who don't I thought some might be interested.

I recently went on vacation in Bali, a volcanic Indonesian Island, and me being the guy I am, I of course sought out any traditional metalworking or hones...and I brought back these two beauties.



They are natural hones, sold in the local market at various stands. The price started at about $5 but my guide bargained down to about $1. They are of a stone called "Paras", which apparently translates as Limestone, Tuff or Obsidian. These are obviously not obsidian, and they didn't react to acid at all so I'm leaning toward tuff.





The hone is something like a Japanese Aoto. They are a softer hone (though the "gold" colored one is a touch harder), with a fairly smooth feeling on the blade. I'd put them in the low "Nakato" range, faster anc coarser than an Aoto but finer than an Amakusa or Arashiyama. They might hold that coveted "natural bevel setter" rank, but they're so hard to get hold of, I doubt they will become too popular.

I quite like the speckling, and they smell like Bali...a nice souvenir.

Pretty cool to get Indonesian hones. The speckling looks just like a Water of Ayr penknife hone I have. What size are they?

Well, volcanic Tuffa is just very fine volcanic dust that collects and gets compacted into stone. You'd have to know the exact makeup of the stuff to figure the grit other than to just use it.

Interesting. Thank you.
if you find any natural stone 1 k level please let us know.

No, just let ME know!

The specklin on the bottom picture looks like TOS. Nice one.

A natural 1000 grit stone? Me want one!

I also think it looks like a Tam O'Shanter hone. Very nice!

Gents, sorry I was out of touch. Thanks for the comments.

Piet, they're fairly irregularly cut but the size is roughly 19x4cm.

I'm still not totally sure where they will fall in the progression, but now that I've got them well lapped I'm looking for razors needing a bevel set to test them out.

Initial impressions are good, though.

Any more info on these? Have you used them on razors yet?

The reason I ask is that I have found a supplier in Bali for these hones.