The slip looks like a waxy type of hone that's referred to as Lyn Idwall on razor boards. With new sellers in the UK digging up rocks and attaching seemingly random names to things, I don't know if that's the right name. What's referred to as Idwalls on the razor board are stones that look like a charnley but with a brighter green and more of a waxy look whereas the charns are 100% opaque.
Another car boot hone.
- Thread starter Phil Pascoe
- Start date
Help Support UKworkshop.co.uk:
Phil Pascoe
Established Member
This is a kind of green/grey - I'll try to get pics. with better colour. I tried the first one with a drop of isopropyl just now, after cleaning/flattening it. What a cracker, very fine, but the alcohol discoloured immediately. Quite quick.
phil.p":h4rcrsc1 said:
Yes cretan, its as if you slurry an arkansas stone, except that it's like that all the time. There is a write-up about them holtzapffel's book where he suggests that in heavy use, a craftsman will have to true the stone often, but that they were preferred for very hard steels because they stay active and cut fast.
Looking closer at your slip, it might be cretan, too.
(or Turkish oilstone).
Someone on youtube messaged me a couple of months ago and said they are still selling those hones new, but only for something like 40 euro per KG (that would make a large cretan hone). I guess there is no real market for them, and I've never seen one in person - they just don't show up here.
There is a white version for sale from razor vendors, but they term it a mid-grit stone (as far as razors go).
Thanks for sharing it with us.
Phil Pascoe
Established Member
The photo is misleading - in reality it is just like looking at a piece of coloured glass. There is no grain, pattern or colour change anywhere.
phil.p":t611rxha said:
Judge by cutting power then. If it is extremely slow and has almost no cutting power, it's agate. If it has a little bit of cutting power, it's probably novaculite.
You probably know that already, apologies if I'm just telling you things you already know.
Good find! Lots of information here on UK and European stones https://bosq.home.xs4all.nl/info%2020m/ ... part_3.pdf
Two other pdfs well worth a read just exchange the part number for a 2 or a 3. Just go and cut your own.....Seem to remember lots of slate just laying around in various areas in Wales.
Two other pdfs well worth a read just exchange the part number for a 2 or a 3. Just go and cut your own.....Seem to remember lots of slate just laying around in various areas in Wales.
Phil Pascoe
Established Member
any one in particular, Alan? 
I forgot to say - I paid a pound for the slipstone as well.
I forgot to say - I paid a pound for the slipstone as well.phil.p":g31uazkz said:any one in particular, Alan?
All of them
I find these natural stones very interesting and not just the finishing stones. No stone quarries in my area it's all clay pits and the car boots are pretty useless.bugbear
Established Member
essexalan":1zb52zho said:
Yeah, but in the same way that not all sandstone makes good grindstones, not all slate makes good hones.
BugBear
Phil Pascoe
Established Member
I don't think my local granite and quartz would work.
essexalan":89rbf2cg said:
I once selected a couple of likely looking slate tiles from the local big box store- very fine, smooth and consistent looking and feeling. Sliced them up, flattened them and tried them out as hones. They did work, but very slowly, dished quickly and produced an edge that wouldn't cut much of anything.
On the other hand, I have a stone I picked up hiking that is a pretty close equivalent to my surgical black arkansas.
phil.p":11ym5fvr said:I don't think my local granite and quartz would work.
Don't be so sure. Novaculite and jasper are both almost pure quartz. Try a piece that is cloudy looking. It might surprise you as a finishing stone.
Novaculite has undergone a chemical transition and is different and stronger cutting than quartz, BUT it's definitely true that you can use quartz as a hone - especially if it's uniform and without inconsistent pores and cracks.
the advent of diamond hones allows creation of a scratch pattern as well as a cutting slurry on stones that would otherwise be useless (some of the hardest japanese hones are useless by themselves, but they've gotten a revival because of diamond hones).
the advent of diamond hones allows creation of a scratch pattern as well as a cutting slurry on stones that would otherwise be useless (some of the hardest japanese hones are useless by themselves, but they've gotten a revival because of diamond hones).
D_W":2r2tknbt said:
novaculite is a partially metamorphosed sedimentary (surface) material whereas quartz massives (single crystals) are pegmatite produced- slow cooling of deep crust or upper mantle material. their structure is substantially different but their composition is essentially the same. cryptocrystalline quartz (agates, jaspers and quartzite) are many microscopic crystals randomly packed together. novaculite is microscopic grains of sand packed together and fused by heat and pressure. the end result is generally that agates, jaspers and quartzite are finer grained and harder than novaculite which puts them out at the edge of usefulness for honing. as DW says, surface texture becomes important with these extremely fine hard stones. they glaze over easily producing a surface that burnishes but doesn't cut. they are high maintenance but can be useful for final finishing.
bugbear
Established Member
I'm going to try for an uncontroversial statement in a sharpening thread:
Only a minority of rocks make good sharpening stones: this is why rocks which do sharpen well have historically been highly valued, and traded over substantial distances.
BugBear
Only a minority of rocks make good sharpening stones: this is why rocks which do sharpen well have historically been highly valued, and traded over substantial distances.
BugBear
memzey
Established Member
I've read a number of historical references to "Turkey Stones" as being excellent hones but found very little information on them. Can anyone shed some light on them?
swagman
Established Member
Ask bugbear about Turkey Stones. http://straightrazorplace.com/hones/370 ... key-4.html
