Originally Posted by
Neil Miller
Ahh - you didn't read the old posts about the LM and the DT then? Suffice it to say you are mistaken - the mines where these came from are well known as they were required to be registered. Briefly, what confuses people is that the names used for these hones became a blanket term, like Hoover: in common usage 'hoover' came to be used for all vacuum cleaners, even though there was/is only one make called Hoover.
The LM has at least 4 varieties. Adrsprach (Stefan, a respected member here with a great knowledge of natural hones from the British Isles) has talked to an old-timer at Inigo Jones quarry and he confirmed that they supplied hones to others and sometimes when they were at full capacity others helped them out with stones, hence the several types of stone, apparently (but not in actuality) from a single quarry and their differing characteristics. The truth is that supply and demand being what it is, slate from several neighbouring quarries came to be sold by one quarry owner under his own blanket-name, in the case of LMs this was 'Yellow Lake Oilstone'. This is why we have purple varieties and several shades of grey to grey/black.
Be that as it may, the quarries that supplied the original stones are well-known.
Regards,
Neil