Thread: Green Stone ID...

Here are some more pics. Hirlau, it might be slate. I don't know enough about the British stones.
MIke

Nice solid looking stone.

It looks as if it might be some sort of welsh novaculite like LI, but it is hard to tell, particularly when you realise that the vein of rock that gives rise to these hone stones is very long and is either crossed or runs alongside an igneous vein of mainly hornblendic rock that alters the slate on either side of it by metamorphosising it into something else. Even then, the metamorphosed product varies - from very crystalline to not very crystalline for instance. The change is gradual. The practicality is at what point do you give it one name and then decide that it is something else?

The cutlers green was supposed to come from a junction like this. If you took a section through it and cut it into hone sizes it would gradually change from slate to granite. As the igneous layer is approached, the slate is changed - gradually - so the look and characteristics change. Cut into it in another direction and it will look entirely different.

A mildly figured vein of CF is an instance. Some of these hones exhibit very little red colouration. If cut between the characteristic swirls would we still know it as a CF or try to ascribe a different name to it? Even the quarrymen who mined it saw distinctions, some were grey/olive green drab colour, some were bright mossy green with the well known red swirls and black dots. Obviously the strata changed - gradually.

Some of the tams exhibit this sort intermediary appearance too, although in use they have the characteristics of tams and not LIs. These things were laid down over vast periods of time during which climate and topography changed dramatically. They were not produced all at once in a factory, so they do not all look the same. Something that was initially deposited by water is characterised by what that water had in it - during this vast time there may have been ice melting and washing different deposits into river beds as it carved different courses through the land, volcanoes spewing ash into the air which was deposited into the strata which was being laid down, small stones and coarse rock fragments thrown in by earthquakes, volcanoes, wave action - all sorts of things that are not of a continuous nature.

It really isn't any wonder that we cannot identify some of these hones by using a simple comparison to known examples. We really need much more precise data, sampling and analysis - and although scientific data does exist for some of the hones we are interested in, it is of too sparse a nature and too focused on other matters to be of much use.

We have already been presented with a conundrum as regards Oldengaardes post re: cutlers green - namely 8k? If was confused with a CF, again - 8k? If it was confused with an LI - again, 8k? Obviously the hone was used and found to approximate that grit rating, so it is a hybrid of one of them at best.

Sometimes it is just impossible to say what the heck it is.

Regards,
Neil

Modine, I have exactly the same hone of yours, mine seems to have been at least 6" inches in length and 2" inches wide, with a thickness 3/4" inches.
Mottled green surface with black speckles, harder to lap than a coticule, with a cream/light-mint green slurry. One end was broken, so I could see the layers of slate, thus made a 5" inch hone with a slurry stone. If you look all over your hone with magnification, have you seen any "gold" deposits/inclusions?
Furthermore, I was told the original owner of my stone was a 90yr old machinist in the U.S, and his machinery was from the 50's..so stone could have been much older and passed on.

I have found it left a hazy/matt finish that was also shallow/burnished/matt-polished in depth of finish and increased keenness from finishing on water with a coticule.

Modine, this thread http://straightrazorpalace.com/hones...een-stone.html which you have read before may help. The first set of photo's are not bad, yours are much clearer though. The second set of photos on the link, have too much flash. The width of the hone in the link gets wider at one end as does my hone.
How have you found the shave from the hone, as I haven't done a full shave test as of yet?

I have one just like this. I posted it on a thread someplace. and when its properly settled, it gives Fantastic edges! It does have a learning curve though. BEST edge was achieved honing under running water. a bit of dish soap and water on the surface works too, but not as well IMO

It’s a beautiful stone that I will use in my natural stone progressions. I expect certain steels to respond better on this type of natural stone. This size stone works well in your hand for more control.

Idwal, is that pronounced “Eyed”-wal or “Id” wal?

MIke

Mike, it's pronounced the latter way 'eed-wal.'

I have four stones which closely resemble yours, but none of them taint the slurry after 15-20 passes as yours does, being far slower. They are hard stones, some more speckled than others, often with harmless blue inclusions, one having a gold inclusion as I read another member above having found.

One which I have is a very good finisher, the others I have barely tested. I can say they all improve a Naniwa 8k edge.

I found it to be similar to my Black Arkansas stone, in that after you flatten it, it opens up the surface, and does not finish as well. You need to run a flat piece of hard steel over it a few times to get the surface to "glisten" and thats when you can get a finish to rival an Esher.

I use a machinists parallel block, but just using razors will eventually bring it smooth too.

It reminds me very much at this stone of mine which, after some research, I believe is most likely a Llyn Idwal.