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The stuff is pretty popular. You see them in pipe shops all carved up. Most are made in Turkey which is where most of the mineral comes from.

Most of that area around lake Michigan was under...

You all know, there are some stones that do float. One I can think of off hand is sepiolite which is what meerschaum is made from.

Have any of you tried that as a hone? har har.

Probably not because granite is typically comprised of quartz, feldspar and mica. They sell inexpensive kits for the mohs hardness scale. Educational stores have them. I'll bet toys are us has it too.

Oxalic acid is mostly used to clean iron stains off. In the lab you need some HCL-dilute is enough. The vinegar should give some reaction though if it's limestone. For hardness You can use a chunk of...

I notice there seem to be some vugs (small holes) in the rock. That is very common with limestone where water starts to dissolve the rock and also in certain igneous rocks where as the rock cools...