Thread: South African Hones....

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

That is really cool. I wish all of y'all well but in the words of a guy who advised me many years ago .... should've listened to him then ...... "If you can't be satisfied with what you've got, you'll never be satisfied with what you have." I've got my escher and I'm.... for once in my life ...... satisfied.

And that, is the key to a truly rich man! Double O (I'm working on it, believe it or not!)

were can I buy one?

Originally Posted by feelgeorge13

were can I buy one?

They are not commercially available.

Life not fair!

Originally Posted by feelgeorge13

Life not fair!

This is a quote that Jimmy used a few posts above

"If you can't be satisfied with what you've got, you'll never be satisfied with what you have."

At one point the Zebra hones were not available either.

Is the new hone the next step up in a progress with the Zebra? or should there be another stone in the progression between them?

I'm not sure about the "Zebra hones" I haven't used one, I just tested these for Michael. I still have more testing to do...If your referring to the silkvein hones, I'm pretty sure the #3 hone in my testing is higher in grit, finer and harder, but that's just speculation.

I think using Nagura on them might be interesting....

Hopefully there is a huge 19,000 ton slab of this stone that Mike cut your test stone off of Richard...I know I, as well as many others, look forward to a complete review of your findings.
Scott

Well Rich, I'm glad you're getting the same results from your test batch as I got from mine. It was quite a journey from Mike to you as I had to take them the long way round the world via Hong Kong! LOL!

Stone 3 also gave me superb results, and yes, it is hard as anything I've honed on, and leaves a superb edge.

My trials on 1 and 2 were also very good. They are softer than number 3, but also extremely good hones.

I think Mike discovered these somewhere in the eastern parts of South Africa, and as far as he told me there is a lot more he can get hold of.... but I guess that is entirely up to him!

I asked him to try and get a South African equivalent to Eschers to make us proud, and it really seems that he has done his best!

Hey guys, thanks for the interest in my stones here. And thanks indeed to Rich and Burt for their efforts in testing this new stone out for me. (for us).
As mentioned the stones aren't commercially available as yet - this is all just fun & research at the moment But the reason I spend quite a bit of time digging up potential new hone material is ultimately to share it with like-minded stone nuts like yourselves... I'm not trying to show off every random piece of stone I dig up, so it's all rather considered and so thankfully we have very knowledgeable and skilled honers here on SRP who can sample the goods, so to speak for the benefit of us all.

Scott, although there isn't a 19,000 ton slab of this stone (not that I have anyway) there is indeed quite a haul of rough slabs (1-3 meter lengths) that I'm working on cutting into various hone sizes - and luckily I've identified a handful of areas with these outcrops of this metamorphosed shale (best I can describe it). So there is at least enough for a niche product like this.
For me it's very much that same process as the gentleman from TC Blades who sells those Covenant Stones - I'll dig, break off, pick up, etc. whatever it takes to get specimens of the right type of stone that has been identified as usable hone material, and then take it back to my cave ready for processing...

What's all this 'Zebra Hones' nonsense? that's a terrible name I think for sure Magpie you're talking about my Silkvein hones..? As for naming, well if it turns out that in fact 'hone number 3' is widely regarded as well as Rich states it is, then I'm thinking of calling these hones 'Zulu Grey' or 'Zulu Gray' if your prefer - Whaddya think?
The part of SA that I'm in is called KwaZulu - which means 'place of the Zulus'... and this form of shale is very much unique to these parts.

Anyways, just thought I'd say hi and add something to this thread. I'll take some more pictures of the 'Zulu Gray' I've lapped and am working with myself - just to add some more pictures.

Cheers,
- Mike