Thread: Marble hone

Has anyone ever heard of a marble hone? Ever used one? I saw one on ebay (item 320078985655) and was intrigued. Can we get some theories on the viability of this, and possibly some history on this item. Thanks much.

AFAIK this was used to strop DE (and probably injector) blades back in the Depression and WWII years. They also used these little glass half-pipes as well (search for "lillicraps" on ebay), and some wierd hand-cranked and spring-loaded devices as well.

Thanks for the information.

I saw this too and was wondering myself...

Lillicraps? Funny name

Originally Posted by izlat

I saw this too and was wondering myself...

Lillicraps? Funny name

Funny name eh? tell that to Thomas Crapper!

I don't think I would use a marble hone on a straight. It has to do with the hardness of the marble.

These surface from time to time and they usually turn out to be marble scraps from someone's project. Consider the mineralogy. Marble is metamorphosed limestone meaning it's a little harder than limestone. It won't hone steel. There's nothing in calcium carbonate that is harder than steel. Marble is considerably softer than steel. To wear away steel (honing), you have to have something harder present. In the case of belgian stones you have garnet and in DMT stones you have diamonds. Calcite, which is the mineral which makes up limestone, is 3 on the Mohs Hardness Scale. Garnet is a 7, diamond is a 10, and heat treated steel is around 5 depending on the steel and the quality of the heat treat.