It took me a couple of hrs on sic for mine but it wasn't killing the sic immediately like some stones seem to.
Charnley Forest show off your Charnwood
- Thread starter rideon66
- Start date
Mine had a good 5/16 dish in the center and it lapped out in ~10 minutes.
- Thread starter
- #123
David yours sounds softer than I thought unless you used a jackhammer. I need to find one of these softer ones to use as a knife stone. How long is that thing. It looks big in the pic.
It's very soft. I used SIC on glass for the grunt work and finished on a DiaFlat. I was a bit disappointed at first because I knew it wouldn't be a razor finisher, but after running a few dozen chisels and knives over it I was really impressed. I wouldn't swap it for a razor grade charn at this point. I think it's 9" long-ish.
Yeah you have a nice excuse to roll the dice again if the exchange rate gets friendlier.
- Thread starter
- #126
These are sadly not mine, but I have looked for labeled ones for sometime now and while looking for information on a completely different rock came across pictures of two labeled Charley Forest stones. Not Charnley so that is interesting since one is also from Whittle hill. I thought it would be a good idea to add them here though for others information. I wonder if there is a labeled Charnwood too.
- Thread starter
- #127
So in my endless internet swimming on stones I have found a pic from the original sale of my first CF. Not when I bought it, but what it and the box looked liked while it was still uncleaned and trapped in its box. I guess over the years someone cleaned it and the box up and removed it from the box. Just thought this was a cool find from 2014. It is like a finger print although hard to see the red in this pic, but it is the same stone as my first post here. I would also like to thank whoever is Mr.Jasperman for his stone collection pics for preserving this for me.
Just bought this one on the auction site yesterday, anxious to get it in my hands. The current owner says it can't be removed from the box but estimates the stone's weight at ~600gr (weighing the box lid, subtracting 2x that weight for base). Surface area measures 52 x 132mm with lower left corner as the lowest point and 10mm of stone exposed at that corner. I'd really like to figure out how to remove it from the box for a thorough cleaning and surface lapping. Seller listed this as translucent Charnley Forest, I'm not sure if that's a common trait or not but I assume this will take "slightly more effort" to lap than my coti
.
I checked with @Ice-Man regarding the seller, he's dealt with him before and confirmed he's honest to deal with. I asked a few questions before purchase and seller responded with enough detail that it's clear he's knowledgeable about stones and honing.
Based on reading this thread, it seems the khaki stones tend be better knife and tool stones where the green or green w/red tend to be harder and finer for razor use? I know each stone has its own personality but it seems that's what this thread has been leaning toward.
I'll update pics when the stone arrives. Looks like I'll be shopping for lapping stones soon.
Last edited:
- Thread starter
- #130
After playing with this one for sometime. I believe it to be a bizarre Charnwood.
That's definitely unique, it sounds like you've figured it out. How would you rate it compared to other Charnleys? Is it as fine as the greenish stones with red traces or more for hand tools?
- Thread starter
- #132
It is very fine razor grade like my green with red traces and extremely hard too. It has one tiny little divet in the middle that is not felt and the razor just floats over it, but would take hours to get out.
What I found really strange was when I soaked it in simple green it came out really white and grey, but after it sat for some time started to show more greenish color in it.
Three Charnley Forests. I cleaned up all three to try with water. The one on the left is a fantastic finisher, I use it to finish after a Welsh stone progression with water. It has sorted out a couple of razors that were always uncomfortable coming off synthetics.
The one in the middle felt terrible with water. Really gritty. Even after I had lapped and burnished it. So I returned it to oil and use it to refresh razors. Now that I have got the hang of the oil mix that it likes - 80:20 Bisley Gun Oil to WD40 it's an incredible stone. Very unforgiving, in the sense that if there is any problem with the bevel or the work done on prior stones it tells you.
I had one stainless Dovo that kept getting scratchy after a couple of shaves. Couldn't see anything wrong under 60x magnification, but as soon as I put the razor on this stone I felt extra resistance near the heal on one side. Worked on it with this stone and now the razor keeps a great edge.
The stone on the right was purchased as a Charnley Forest, but it has no inclusions and the colour is different. Whilst it looks similar to the stone in the middle, that's because the central stone has oil on it, and when cleaned up has a similar blue green to the left hand stone.
Regardless of what the right hand stone is, it is very very nice. Definitely as hard and fine. Very consistent surface and as smooth, more so than the other two in some ways and I have got really nice results from it. Maybe slightly harder to use and I feel like I'm just learning my way round it.
The one in the middle felt terrible with water. Really gritty. Even after I had lapped and burnished it. So I returned it to oil and use it to refresh razors. Now that I have got the hang of the oil mix that it likes - 80:20 Bisley Gun Oil to WD40 it's an incredible stone. Very unforgiving, in the sense that if there is any problem with the bevel or the work done on prior stones it tells you.
I had one stainless Dovo that kept getting scratchy after a couple of shaves. Couldn't see anything wrong under 60x magnification, but as soon as I put the razor on this stone I felt extra resistance near the heal on one side. Worked on it with this stone and now the razor keeps a great edge.
The stone on the right was purchased as a Charnley Forest, but it has no inclusions and the colour is different. Whilst it looks similar to the stone in the middle, that's because the central stone has oil on it, and when cleaned up has a similar blue green to the left hand stone.
Regardless of what the right hand stone is, it is very very nice. Definitely as hard and fine. Very consistent surface and as smooth, more so than the other two in some ways and I have got really nice results from it. Maybe slightly harder to use and I feel like I'm just learning my way round it.
That makes sense. When I lap mine a pink slurry lifts out where the red inclusions are - sort of like the stone is bleeding.
Three Charnley Forests. I cleaned up all three to try with water. The one on the left is a fantastic finisher, I use it to finish after a Welsh stone progression with water. It has sorted out a couple of razors that were always uncomfortable coming off synthetics.
The one in the middle felt terrible with water. Really gritty. Even after I had lapped and burnished it. So I returned it to oil and use it to refresh razors. Now that I have got the hang of the oil mix that it likes - 80:20 Bisley Gun Oil to WD40 it's an incredible stone. Very unforgiving, in the sense that if there is any problem with the bevel or the work done on prior stones it tells you.
I had one stainless Dovo that kept getting scratchy after a couple of shaves. Couldn't see anything wrong under 60x magnification, but as soon as I put the razor on this stone I felt extra resistance near the heal on one side. Worked on it with this stone and now the razor keeps a great edge.
The stone on the right was purchased as a Charnley Forest, but it has no inclusions and the colour is different. Whilst it looks similar to the stone in the middle, that's because the central stone has oil on it, and when cleaned up has a similar blue green to the left hand stone.
Regardless of what the right hand stone is, it is very very nice. Definitely as hard and fine. Very consistent surface and as smooth, more so than the other two in some ways and I have got really nice results from it. Maybe slightly harder to use and I feel like I'm just learning my way round it.
Those are real beauties. You say you're new to honing but it seems like you've got a great deal of experience in working with stones and figuring out their individual properties.
I've had one failed attempt at a Charnley Forest/Arkansas/Washita mystery stone involving several hours of lapping what turned out to be a badly cracked and fractured stone. I might go back to it someday but at this point I'd rather buy a different Charnley and start from scratch. I've learned more about what qualities to look for. Of course, it's further down my list of must haves, after filling out my Scottish Progression and Welsh Slates.
Kind of you to say so. Not really experienced, a little bit of luck with the natural stones (long may it continue, touch wood) and I guess I made a LOT of very stupid mistakes on synthetics - if you call that experience. The Charnley Forest stones have been a game changer for me - they have helped me to understand some of the other naturals and to begin to love honing.
- Thread starter
- #137
Beautiful rocks you got there. Glad they are working for you. They are one of my favorite.
Three Charnley Forests. I cleaned up all three to try with water. The one on the left is a fantastic finisher, I use it to finish after a Welsh stone progression with water. It has sorted out a couple of razors that were always uncomfortable coming off synthetics.
The one in the middle felt terrible with water. Really gritty. Even after I had lapped and burnished it. So I returned it to oil and use it to refresh razors. Now that I have got the hang of the oil mix that it likes - 80:20 Bisley Gun Oil to WD40 it's an incredible stone. Very unforgiving, in the sense that if there is any problem with the bevel or the work done on prior stones it tells you.
I had one stainless Dovo that kept getting scratchy after a couple of shaves. Couldn't see anything wrong under 60x magnification, but as soon as I put the razor on this stone I felt extra resistance near the heal on one side. Worked on it with this stone and now the razor keeps a great edge.
The stone on the right was purchased as a Charnley Forest, but it has no inclusions and the colour is different. Whilst it looks similar to the stone in the middle, that's because the central stone has oil on it, and when cleaned up has a similar blue green to the left hand stone.
Regardless of what the right hand stone is, it is very very nice. Definitely as hard and fine. Very consistent surface and as smooth, more so than the other two in some ways and I have got really nice results from it. Maybe slightly harder to use and I feel like I'm just learning my way round it.
I was just researching a stone on the bay and came across Fiddish River stones. (or Fiddich?)
The veins remind me of one of those if it were cut along the veins instead of across.
How does it slurry in comparison to a regular Charnley Forest?
- Thread starter
- #140
Well the slurry is exactly like a Charnley Forest stone and not like my Fiddish River stone. The slurry from my Fiddish River stone is like a greenish clay. CF is just white.
I don't have slurry pics for the CF in question, but usual white. These are very different stones some Fiddish do look a lot like a CF or a Llyn Idwall, but in hand there is no mistaking them for each other. There is also a Glanrafon Charley Forest stone which is very similar to the Fiddish, but it is not like a Charnley Forest and it is from Wales. These are soft sort of marble and hard slate stones. Where a Charnley Forest is novaculite more like a Arkansas.
