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I was talking about a loaded strop usually 1 micron diamond on basswood, if you can call that a strop, with care you can finish an edge nicely with that. Finishing on leather definitely adds that extra touch but I am not sure it is always worth it. Asking for a piece of horse butt in the UK will...

Agree a totally flat bevel is very hard to attain freehand but there is a difference between what you are doing and deliberately setting out to get a convex edge. You are using diamond stones which are supposed to be flat for a good reason. Stropping the edge will round it anyway. Those Pro Edge...

I suppose you could say that grinding on an electric grinder gives you something to do until you learn to grind by hand, gives you lots of extra time to make tea though. Grinding a concave primary has probably been done since man invented the sandstone grinding wheel so it has a history of...

The Record planes I bought new were 70s/80s and all had tungsten vanadium blades not laminated on the soft side of usable. An older Record #7 has the laminated crucible cast tungsten laminated steel in it which is slightly thicker and neither chips nor folds. The Hock O1 replacement makes a...

Christchurch used to have a number of antique/house clearance shops, lot of retired people in that area. Plus there is a large indoor emporium which might be worth a look. Bournemouth is a lot more spread out but Google might turn up something.

Henk's three PDFs are excellent reading and I have ordered this book which looks interesting "Natural 19th & Early 20th Century Sharpening Stones and Hones"

I have the motivation right now thank you for the offer. Just thinking it would be a bit late this year but perhaps I worry too much. Will PM my details if that is OK?

I know the razor aficionados use diamond plates but I have found you will wear out one of these pretty quickly on natural stones and a good flat plate like an Atoma is expensive, OK for that final touch up and beveling the edges but I think I will stick to SiC powder on a piece of granite or...

The white(ish) Washita I acquired is labelled "Governor No 1 Grade" and is quite fast cutting but not what I would call soft. Too late they have all been lapped flat but I get your idea, honing a 21/2" iron on a 2" wide stone will take a bit more practice, OK on the primary, iron slanted down...

Having developed an interest in wood carving, well wood hacking ATM, I have found that although waterstones will give you a good sharp edge they wear far too quickly hence my interest in harder stones. Washitas do seem to vary somewhat in quality so of the few I have a white coloured one seems...

Thanks for the info. a month earlier and I would have loaded up the camping gear and dogs and gone for a look. Lots a quarries in that area seem worth a visit just for interests sake but from memory of walks when I was a lot younger some of these can be more than a bit dangerous. Certainly a...

From my very limited experience with natural stones I have found that they all need to be run in, that is they start off quite coarse when they have been freshly dressed and then settle down and get finer with use. I take it this is the abrasive particles in the stone getting blunter, somebody...

So in fact Llyn Melynllyn stones are novaculite and not slate at all which makes sense from the quartz type chippings found around the old stone working machinery. So any idea what an LM stone actually looks like? I thought it was a bit of a long, tough walk just for lumps of slate. I think the...

The slow cutting UK sourced stones that are now so desirable were probably not very popular back then because time spent sharpening meant less bread on the table. As soon as the Arkansas type stones arrived on the scene then they were quickly adopted, cut your bevel on a sandstone wheel and...

I have seen suggested (Henk?) using the back of a stainless teaspoon and see what sort of finish you get. No idea how you identify one sort of slate from another unless you buy it from a known supplier cut from a known quarry. Even then it appears the slate changes in the same quarry. Try it...

Thanks! I guess Salmen's oil stone is their name for a Yellow Lake or is it a generic name Salmen used for all their stones? Stone is settling in nicely and seems a bit finer than the Hindostan. Only used water and plain steel on it so far.

Side pics and next layer showing through. Probably a Hindostan or perhaps one of those Canadian stones, reckon the grit is about 4K perhaps more if I lapped it with something of finer grade. It does remove the scratches from the small Yellow Lake that I have but that needs lapping as well...

DW Many thanks for your reply, I do have a boxed Yellow Lake sized 8" x 1 3/4" x 1/2" and it is different to 2) softer and a different colour. But you do seem to get a lot of variety in these quarries. Salmen sold a lot of different natural stones under their label. Adrspach 2) is 8" x 2" x 1"...

Four I acquired recently. Left to right 1) Washita, 2) Unknown, 3) Unknown, 4) possibly a chunk of SiC. 2) Salmen label on the back, has an subtle olive hue to it with sparkly inclusions. Slow fine cutter not as hard as the Washita, darkens when water is applied but water does not soak...

Nice looking stone Stewie be interesting to see how it handles steel. I bought a "natural" similarly sized stone off fleabay and it looks like a block of SiC to me after a clean up, I suppose it could have been a housebrick but it will be useful for grinding bevels and such like. I have got a...