Thread: French Hones

The table is made ​​by me yesterday. It includes a selection of my 11 Rouge du Salm / Lorraine stones. There is in addition to the slate coticule a smooth gradient from purple to blue. Also the amount of garnets vary. I am now writing about the BBW.

Henk.
I am very anxious about your next chapter on thr Belgian hones.
Your knowledge is very appreciated...I learn everytime you post here.

Hello, I found this stone in August in France, can you help me to define the origin please?
Dimensions : 123*62*20 (in mm)

Hi Vlad;
Congratulations, it looks similar to this. This is the Special Stone or La Lune. Used with oil. Can you see if there is a stamp on the side?
Mike

IMHO I think it's a French stone. Namely the soft variety of la Pyrenees. A part of my new story:

The story goes that an Italian paddler who was passing through the area of the Pyrénées to sell grinding stones noticed that on the roofs of the houses was a shale - sandstone that was identical to the one he used in his country to make his precious cargo "Pierres Lombardes ".
Gradually at the end of the nineteenth century a large Italian community was located in the valley of the Saurat after which the Cuminetti family during three generations made hones from 1903.
It is the last French factory of natural sharpening stones which is located at the foot of the Pyrénées.
During the golden age of the "la Pierre à Faux", there have been a dozen factories employing an average of 7 to 8 persons. Due to technical progress the farmers increasingly used mowers and the demand for grinding wheels for scythes became less and less.
Only the factory Cuminetti has continued processing the sandstone - shale. That was ex caved in summer from the galleries of the mine, to be edited in winter in the workshops.
When Alain Soucille heard that Mr Cuminetti wanted to sell, he responded immediately and took over the company in the spring of 2006. Alain Soucille specialized in grinding and polishing materials so that the new acquisition corresponded perfectly to the existing activities. Two employees of Cuminetti came into the business. In this way 30 years of experience is maintained.

The semi-hard stone
Extracted in an open pit. This is a much more homogeneous dark grey stone. Used for precise and fine grinding. The semi-hard stone can be polished on one or more sides, so that a smooth surface can be realized as desired for woodworking tools. Per year about 120,000 copies are sold. In addition to which there are exports to Germany, Spain and more recently Belgium. The stone has the effect of grit 1200 and sharpens knives and tools quickly to an acceptable level. This is the perfect preparation for honing on the BBW side.

Hi Modine, I can't see anything on the stone.
The seller was a former cutler, she had a few stones in her stock, the last.
She sold it (with an other) to me like La Lune but it's difficult to define stones.

The other is larger :

The stone at the bottom is a Dragon Tongue to compare.

Dimensions of the stone above : 252*59*25 (in mm).

Good evening Margeja, I asked some questions to friends on the French forum (coupe chou club).
Some of them saw the stones on last sunday and they told me that it's a fine stone to polish.
The grit is close to 8k like the Dragon Tongue.

@Prince Vlad: This could be a LaLune, could you send us a pic of the lapped and wet stone?

Hello everyone,

PrinceVlad lent his stone to me last week to lap and to test it.
So it's lapped but not tested yet!
SOme pics:






So what do you think? Is this a La Lune purple?
It's not a Pyrenees stone to me, it's to fine.

Originally Posted by Margeja

IMHO I think it's a French stone. Namely the soft variety of la Pyrenees. A part of my new story:

The story goes that an Italian paddler who was passing through the area of the Pyrénées to sell grinding stones noticed that on the roofs of the houses was a shale - sandstone that was identical to the one he used in his country to make his precious cargo "Pierres Lombardes ".
Gradually at the end of the nineteenth century a large Italian community was located in the valley of the Saurat after which the Cuminetti family during three generations made hones from 1903.
It is the last French factory of natural sharpening stones which is located at the foot of the Pyrénées.
During the golden age of the "la Pierre à Faux", there have been a dozen factories employing an average of 7 to 8 persons. Due to technical progress the farmers increasingly used mowers and the demand for grinding wheels for scythes became less and less.
Only the factory Cuminetti has continued processing the sandstone - shale. That was ex caved in summer from the galleries of the mine, to be edited in winter in the workshops.
When Alain Soucille heard that Mr Cuminetti wanted to sell, he responded immediately and took over the company in the spring of 2006. Alain Soucille specialized in grinding and polishing materials so that the new acquisition corresponded perfectly to the existing activities. Two employees of Cuminetti came into the business. In this way 30 years of experience is maintained.

The semi-hard stone
Extracted in an open pit. This is a much more homogeneous dark grey stone. Used for precise and fine grinding. The semi-hard stone can be polished on one or more sides, so that a smooth surface can be realized as desired for woodworking tools. Per year about 120,000 copies are sold. In addition to which there are exports to Germany, Spain and more recently Belgium. The stone has the effect of grit 1200 and sharpens knives and tools quickly to an acceptable level. This is the perfect preparation for honing on the BBW side.

Very interesting Henk, its wondeful that Mr Soucille keeps this business going, and especially the water powered stone tumbler rocker.