Thread: How to make a whetstone

I have decided to make a thread to bring like minded people together who want to experiment on whetstone/hone making.

1. The synthetic Whetstone comprised of an abrasive, an adhesive, and sintering them at high temperatures just below both of there melting points.
You can use any abrasive from beach sand to Chromium oxide, but the most common abrasive in synthetic hone building is Aluminum Oxide. The most common Adhesive in barber stones is Shellac.

2. The Natural Whetstone which is cut from natural stone that has the right density and microcrystalline structure for cutting/honing.
You can cut stone with a simple tile cutter or a circular saw with a carbide blade. Or you can find someone who cuts rock in your town locally often called lapidary artists.

Here is a list of where good whetstones can be cut in the U.S. in large quantities (mines).

This guide to the locations of potential whetstone sources is adapted from a list published in the Annual Report of the Geological Survey of Arkansas for 1890, volume 3, Whetstones and Novaculites of Arkansas, by L.S. Griswold. I have not attempted to correct any of the misspellings of the locations given here for fear of. doing more harm than good. Your state geology department should have more detailed records for your own area. Good hunting!

Alabama. Sandstone is quarried near Eldridge, in Walker County.

Arkansas. "A quarry of this mineral [novaculite], three miles above the Hot Springs of Washitaw, has often been noticed by travelers for its extent and excellency of its quality" (Henry R. Schoolcraft, 1819). Lower Silurian novaculite is found in the following counties: Garland, Hot Spring, Howard, Montgommy, Pike, Polk, Pulaski', and Saline.

Dakota. Sandstone is found near Buffalo Gap in Custer County and schist near Tigerville in Pennington County.

Georgia. There is novaculite in Lincoln County on a low hill two miles from the Lincolnton courthouse, projecting nearly vertically from the ground over an area of four or five acres. It is strawcolored to greenish white. It is also found near Graves Mountain. A nother whetstone grit is found in McDuffie, Heard, Troup, Oglethorpe, and Meriweather counties.

Indiana. Hindostan quarries were opened about 1840. Two stones are quarried, one a shoemaker's sandstone and the other a very finegrained, compact sandstone, used chiefly for whetstones by carpenters, mechanics, and others. These are found in Orange County, French Licks 9, and Orangeville 2.

Maine. Novaculite is found in abundance near the forks of the Kennebec, eighty or ninety miles from Hallowell Silurian novaculite is found near Phillips and Temple in Franklin County. There is Huronian serpentine novaculite on Little Deer Island and Western Island in Hancock County. Sandstone may be found at Nutter's Head in Washington County and Cambrian novaculite at York in York County.

Maryland Cambrian novaculite is found on the Patuxent River, near the road to Washington, Anne Arundle or Prince George counties.

Massachusetts. The vicinity of Boston furnishes compact feldspar analogous to the Turkey stone. This lower Silurian novaculite slate of Middlesex County is found near Cambridge, Charlestown, Concord, and Malden. In Bellingham, 22,800 mica schist whetstones were manufactured in 1838. In Essex County, Silurian novaculite is found near Nahant. Lower Silurian mica schist was worked commercially prior to 1841 at Enfield, Norwich, and Cummington in Hampshire County. Other novaculite slates are found in Norfolk County at Dedham, Milton, and Quincy and in Suffolk County at Brighton, Brookline, and Dorchester.

Michigan. Huronian novaculite slate is found at Carp River and Teal Lake in Ontonagon County and at L'Anse in Baraga County. Sandstone is found in many places in Huron County.

Mississippi. There is good sandstone on Big Bear Creek in Tishamingo County.

Missouri. Sandstone is found in many places in Randolph and Barton counties, at Pierce City in Lawrence County, and at O'Bannon's quarry in Madison County.

New Hampshire. A fine-grained stone from Lisbon in Grafton County was known as the "chocolate." Those from Orford came from the shore of Indian Pond and were sold under the "Indian Pond" brand name. Other Grafton County stones are found at Littleton, Haverill, and Piermont. A Silurian novaculite is found at Tamworth in Carroll County,

New York. There is Silurian and Cambrian novaculite slate in Columbia County at Clermont, Germantown, Greenport, Livingstone, Rogers Island, Stockport, and Stuyvesant. There is sandstone at Labrador Lake in Cortland County and Beaver Kill River and Monticello in Delaware County. Silurian whetslates are found in Rensselaer County.

North Carolina. The stones from McPherson's quarry in Chatham County, five miles west of Woodin's ferry on the Haw River, have a finer and softer grit than McCauley's. They are bluish and yellowish white. On the Salisbury Road in Randolph County, near Deep River, is a bed of a similar kind, highly valued by the inhabitants. Other fine stones are found at Barbee's mill, two miles south of Chapel Hill, on the Flat River in the eastern part of Person County to the narrows of the Neuse, and near Wadesboro in Anson County.

Ohio. Sandstones are found at Berea in Cuyahoga County, Amherst in Lorain County, Hocking River in Hocking County, Manchester in Summit County, and Farmington and Mesopotamia in Trumbull County.

Pennsylvania. Lower Silurian sandstone is found in Berks County at Oley. Cambrian micaceous sandstone is in Delaware County at Avondale, Darby Creek, Marple, Township 2, Springfield, and east of Swarthmore. Cambrian mica schist is in Chester County at Hayes's quarry on the Newlin Township line and in the m iddle of th e co u n ty.

Rhode Island. The Geology of Rhode Island in 1840 reported production in Smithfield of six to eight thousand dozens of whetstones. Mica schist is found one-half mile northeast of Woonsocket village, extending a mile southwest.

South Carolina. Huronian novaculite is found in Abbeville a nd Edgefield counties and on Turkey Creek in Chester County.

Tennessee. There is sandstone near Knoxville and on the French Broad River a mile above Dandridge in Jefferson County.

Vermont. There are oilstone quarries on an island in Lake Memphremagog. The island is about seven miles west of Stanstead Village. One quarry is now entirely under water and the other partly so. These were large quarries with stones of good repute. There is Cambrian novaculite slate at Thetford in Orange County and at Guilford and Marlborough in Windham County. Huronian mica schist is in Windsor County at Ludlow, Plymouth, and Stock-bridge. Cambrian mica schist is found in Newport, Trasb u, and Brownington. There is Huronian talcose schist at Northfield in Washington County and mica schist at Berkshire and Fairfield in Franklin County.

Here is a list of websites where others have made working whetstones.

Synthetic Whetstone making:
An experiment in making whetstones - Page 2

Natural Whetstone making:
Tools I make (sharpening stones, planes and irons) #1: Making a honing stone - by Daren Nelson @ LumberJocks.com ~ woodworking community

The only issue with using old data like that is when you go to the locations often times the location is now a shopping center or housing development or some other issue with access. Back in my college days we used to hit old locations back east and that's what we would find. These days you can use sat images to check the locations out before going which we couldn't do in the old days.

Another problem with the list is that it is missing information from other areas in the US as well as some of the areas mentioned on the list. For example there are types of Jade, both nephrite and jadeite, in California that can be used as hones.

Well it seems pretty neat anyhow. I doubt I ever attempt it as the cost of a diamond blade, the 4 sacrificial stones, fuel for the search, and the time, probably make it just as expensive as buying a stone that's already made, and has reasonably predictable results.

If anyone read the post, it said I was gathering like minded people who want to make whetstones. If you don't want to be part of the project please keep the "why bother" or "it can't be done" attitude to yourselves. I say this respectfully in every manner.

A Conversion chart for Abrasive to Adhesive ratio, the other is just from an old book.

This is a cool topic. Very interested in the knowledge on how
to make a whetstone from abrasive powder.

Mixing aluox powder with porcelain powder is very easy. Why didn't
that guy use a hand mixer BTW?

My oven only goes up to 260 degrees celsius. So I can't bake the stones
unfortunately. Using shellac is easy, but you would get a very fast dishing
stone as far as I know. Might be a good thing for very fine stones.

Sharpman

Very interesting topic. I looked around a bit on that forum. he seems to be a craftsman. Why not ask him directly? Anyone know who he is?

Originally Posted by SharpMan

Mixing aluox powder with porcelain powder is very easy. Why didn't
that guy use a hand mixer BTW?

Because a hand mixer would abrade fairly rapidly when used in a thick mixture of abrasive?

Originally Posted by Bruno

Because a hand mixer would abrade fairly rapidly when used in a thick mixture of abrasive?

Hey Bruno, I don't know about the porcelain powder, but the aluox
was very fine grit. Would probably abrade very little, but your point
makes sense nonetheless.

Sharpman