Thread: Charnley forest stone

A friend of mine in the UK tracked and bought a Charnley forest stone for me. Unfortunately it will take a while before I make another trip to London, but here is the first picture and hopefully some more will follow soon.

He describes the color as "olive green to gray with red-brown inclusions" which sounds exactly right to me!

Feel free to post pictures of your Charnleys here!

That is a nice looking stone; the coloring is beautiful.

I think we need "hone clubs" (like the razor clubs) for you rock nuts.

Originally Posted by holli4pirating

That is a nice looking stone; the coloring is beautiful.

I think we need "hone clubs" (like the razor clubs) for you rock nuts.

Big +1 on the hone club ! Nice Charnley sparq. Here are my two Charnleys. My bottom one looks to me like it is colored more like the one in your photo. I'll tell you for sure that sometimes the photo doesn't accurately capture the true color of the hone. I find both to be slow cutters but they do produce a fine and sharp edge if you put the laps in. I use a slurry and dilute until I'm at water only. I would say the Charnley is for a rock hound only but that is just my opinion.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

Big +1 on the hone club !

This is sort of OT, but I started a tread in the "suggestions" section about hone clubs. Maybe chime in there.

Originally Posted by holli4pirating

This is sort of OT, but I started a tread in the "suggestions" section about hone clubs. Maybe chime in there.

Yes,Yes, Yes

Hi, because of the credit crunch I have been relegated to buying razor stuff at car boot sales. Sometimes, I'm glad. This is just such a time.
Is this a Charnley Forest hone? It's green, very hard and pretty.
It is 6 1/2'x 1 3/4' and is in a box I'd guess at being Victorian.
Price!

I have removed this hone from it's box. It wasn't glued in, but stuck from dirt. I think the hone was 'much loved' as the underside was once the honing surface, but it had become so dished the previous owner(s) glued a wedge of pine to the dished side so the hone would be stable when up-side-down (as it is now). Looking at the shape of wear of the "dish", I would guess the hone was used for sharpening a knife or long bladed tool, not a chisle or plane. It must have taken donkies years to have worn this much.
I have "sanded" all surfaces bar the dished side clean, it is indeed a pretty piece of stone.
I have to go and get a BBQ from the garden centre this afternoon, while I'm there I'll get some coarse wet'n'dry to lap this stone.
BTW, the slurry from this stone is milky looking.

If that stone could talk it could tell some tales. Mine are green and the slurry is milky. It looks like a Charnley to me.

Cheers Jim. I don't know how on earth they managed to cause the amount of wear to the underside of such a hard stone. I can only guess that they had a particular tool that needed to be very sharp and needed sharpening often.
Here is a picture...............

Must have been popular!