Thread: Natural Stones

"A number of good hone stones are fired silt stone.
i.e. find a fine mud or silt stone and correctly fire it so it
is no longer mud when wet and you may have a winner.
Find a friendly potter... think terracotta more than
porcelain or stoneware."

Oh! i was reading about mudstones knowing they could be a source of
small grain size but i didn't realize you need to fire it Thanks for that.

"As far as scratch test consider three bits of
steel. One soft and fully annealed, another
fully hardened (R62ish) and another tempered to
normal razor hardness."

this is a good idea, i do have some steels around.
Thanks for the tips.

Nathaniel

Originally Posted by 111Nathaniel

"A number of good hone stones are fired silt stone.
i.e. find a fine mud or silt stone and correctly fire it so it
is no longer mud when wet and you may have a winner.
Find a friendly potter... think terracotta more than
porcelain or stoneware."

Oh! i was reading about mudstones knowing they could be a source of
small grain size but i didn't realize you need to fire it Thanks for that.

"As far as scratch test consider three bits of
steel. One soft and fully annealed, another
fully hardened (R62ish) and another tempered to
normal razor hardness."

this is a good idea, i do have some steels around.
Thanks for the tips.

Nathaniel

The firing bit requires some serious experimentation.

If mother nature does the firing the stone is called metamorphic.
Like ceramics the "natural firing" can be 022 cone to ten cone and beyond.
Barber hones are just tiny bricks made from very select
mud and stuff.

To a geologist mud stone and silt stone are different
look up the differences so your geologic map research
does not take you ten miles away.

For you a thin layer can be all you need.
For a business you will need more...

Enjoy the hunt.

Hello found some slate with very find grain, The slurry while lapping it was purple color like bbw but a little more grey tone. It's harder then my coti and very smooth puts a nice edge on but i can't tell you more about it's performance until i hone a razor with all the other hones i have to refer the edges i get to. It's lapped and ready to test. Measures about 8 inches long by 3.5 inches wide.

I thought you only had the one bbw/coti? I see a couple in those pics! lol. Awesome find btw! Looking forward to hearing your results.

Sorry the other one is just a king 1000k/4000k combo stone not a coti i certainly wish it was!

HA! Shows my level of attention to detail. I just saw yellow and posted. My bad. I see it now of course...oops.

Ok i honed a razor this morning, started on the 1000k to set the bevel, then tried the purple slate right away. It just polished the top of the scratches. So went on to the 4000k then went to the purple slate and again it was making a mirror finish on top of the scratches. Then i brought the razor to the Belgium blue and again the slate out polished the bbw. After that i tried the slate after my coticule, my coti is a fast cutter with just water and 10 strokes there's the grey steel showing up, The slate is slower and harder then the coti but it feels like it put a smoother finish on the edge. Only a shave test will tell the difference.

Ok shave tested earlier today, it was my smoothest shave to date! And i polish with lather on a coti! i rate this stone somewhere above 10000 grit. It is now my finisher after my coti in my honing line up. It's also a very fun stone to use, when i cut it i cut it large 3.3 inches by 8 inches compared it my 1.5 -5 inche coti. A great success compared to all the other local stones i've picked up.

If you fancy yourself a look at how to make your own whetstones thread you should check out our little group we have going at B+B.

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthr...-Making-a-hone

I did have a brief look then I realized if i kept reading i'd be over my head with all the crazy things you can do with this stuff! Maybe in a few years i might try somethings like that. It's cool stuff stuff.