Thread: carborundum?

I'm still not sure that it is a carborundum. The layered fracturing is usually a telltale sign of a slate stone. Plus with what appears to be breakage on both ends, this could have been much longer at some point in time.

Well, first off, I gotta say, I spoke too soon on the results. I guess I should face the fact that I don't know what a good edge looks like at 30x yet. And my poor Sheffield failed the shave test...or more accurately, I failed the honing test. Secondly, Theseus, I appreciate your input. The bad news of this is, the only solution I can come up with. Can you guess it? I have to buy a labeled carborundum, and a labeled slate in order to solve the mystery. Heck I might have to buy quite a few. But you're right, it bugs me too. Just doesn't seem like anything man-made would have broken like that. And to Mike, thanks very much for the kind words!

Just remember that there are many kinds of slate. Some hone in the 10k+ range, some in the 4k-8k range and others that are completely useless for honing.

I think it's a slate that a company or person sold as good sharpening stone, that stone sure looks good now.

It's quite a puzzle it seems. I've been looking at slate razor hones on the bay, and it sure does look similar. Anyhow, I guess since we're all stymied, I just get to make up my own name for it. It'll either be "Super awesome way underappreciated hone" or "Super junky way overestimated hone". Man I sure hope it doesn't fall middle of the road. In addition, I'm thinking any attempt at estimating a stone by feel at this stage in my game, was a silly idea. I've got my hands on a coti/bbw as of about 3 hours ago, and I can't tell a bit of difference between it, this mystery hone, or my hindostan with regard to grit. I could say the BBW/coti and the mystery hone feel soft, and the hindostan feels hard. But as for grit ratings, I think I'd be foolish to say I can estimate any of them by feel. Initially the mystery hone felt coarser than the hindostan, but after cleaning the crud off and lapping they are all just super smooth. Hmm..seems I've got a large pile of smooth rocks now. Time to sharpen something. Thanks all!

maybe you'll have the opportunity to hang around with one of the honemeisters of the forum, they could help you better if they see it and use it. With their experience they could give you a good rating of grit and possible they might be able to tell you what it is.

I wish i had a pile of smooth rocks but i got to learn how it fully use a coti before i can justify buying another.

Originally Posted by 111Nathaniel

I wish i had a pile of smooth rocks but i got to learn how it fully use a coti before i can justify buying another.

I agree . A mountain of hones , does not a honemiester make . Here's a pic of my simple set up .

They are all I need to get a razor shave ready .

That's actually funny, cause at the moment i'm setting the bevel with auto-body sandpaper then use my coti/bbw combo to finish. So i'd like to find a old broken down hone like regularjoe and make it new again. But hey if i can get a wonder shave from that set up i'm doing alright.

It's not the tools you use...

I had a huge paragraph written here but deleted it. I figured it's just better to list.
1:Agree with you Dave. I got way more stones than I need, and nowhere near the skill I need.
2.Headed to Lynn's as soon as he gives me the go ahead on a date, Nathanial.
3.The Nortons are giving me fits. Even though I ascribe to the belief that it's absolutely a "me" problem and not a "stones" problem.
4.Glen said it's my stroke, and he's probably right.
5.I'm not a very good tester, because I keep changing multiple "controls" while honing. See big pile of rocks statement.
6.I'm having a lot of fun with this guys. I don't regret buying any of them...except maybe an Arkansas i got a while back that is gonna cost too much in sandpaper to get right. haha.