Thread: Any stone can hone?

Have you ever heard of water cutting machine? Simple tecnology. High presure pump and water jet.

Originally Posted by adrspach

Have you ever heard of water cutting machine? Simple tecnology. High presure pump and water jet.

And to cut steel they typically use a garnet abrasive. Throws sparks quite well.

Originally Posted by adrspach

Have you ever heard of water cutting machine? Simple tecnology. High presure pump and water jet.

+1 They're called CNC machines.

One of the mining methods they used back in the 19th century was hydroliking where water was used to remove rock. Probably to sharpen a razor with running water from a faucet would take a few hundred years, maybe more.

"Gutta cavat lapidem, non vi, sed saepe cadendo” Ovid says. (A drop of water hollows a stone, not by force, but by continuously dripping)

I think the water jet coming from the spine might tend to curl over, as it reaches the edge, and round it slightly. Maybe not a lot, but more than you want in a razor.

The thought of going out and capturing your own hone is fascinating, and would give a great sense of achievement if you can do it. But there are a number of obstacles.

Grains can be big or small, hard or soft, rounded or jagged, and just about loosely enough bonded to fall out before the top layer becomes seriously blunted. Japanese sword-polishers are possibly the ultimate aficianadoes of stones in great variety, and sometimes of grest price. They don't regard a stone without provenance as being of much use. I think their case is more complex that that of the all-hardened razor, because if I understand it right, the grains must be just hard enough to cut the hard hamon more than the softer areas.

Still, it takes a long, long time to form sedimentary or metamorphic rocks, and who is to day whether there are times when conditions contribute larger, harder grains? Conversely, you need a rock which is hard enough to keep its flat surface through much use. The working surface needs to be very flat, and stay that way. It would be very handy if you know someone with a microscope. It doesn't need to be a petrological one, the principle difference being the use of polarised light.

If you do find a rock which looks good, a lapidary could diamond-saw and lap a flat surface on a slice. I doubt if they could do it as big as you would like. I once had some granite slabs cut and polished for a fireplace in Scotland, and they used extremely large and powerful wet-polishing equipment, which nevertheless left it hot enough to fry an egg. Taking them your piece of more homogeneous rock might be the way to go.

This is an extremely off-the-wall idea, but I wonder if there would be any use, at least for short-term use, in a piece of ground glass? It could be done with fine diamond paste between two sheetsof plate glass, or one of glass and one marginally softer to hold the grains, such as plexiglass.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

One of the mining methods they used back in the 19th century was hydroliking where water was used to remove rock. Probably to sharpen a razor with running water from a faucet would take a few hundred years, maybe more.

They were not actually cutting the stone though, just using the pressure to move dirt, gravel and rocks around. To cut steel as I said abrasive grit is used. Now if you made say a chrome oxide mix it might work.

Hope this helps.

HowStuffWorks "How can water cut through steel?"

Originally Posted by 100fuegos

I hope there will no wastage of water, please.

You can't waste water. It is free, and recycles itself. Even my first grade daughter knows (and recites) the water cycle: evaporation, condensation, precipitation.

It's the pumping, purification/chlorination, distribution, storage, and fluoridation that we buy.