I think knappers bake novaculite before they use it.
Pennsylvanian Whetstones
- Thread starter musicman980
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I know flint is traditionally heated before knapping too
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- #44
298 x 89 x 76 very hard PA shale, untested. 7/8 razor for reference.
Now that is an ambitious rock.
My thoughts exactly
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- #47
Yeah those cuts really strained my saw so I figured the fewer the better. I'm just trying to put together a few more for anyone who wants to test them out.
All the shale by me is usually super hard or crumbles. Even though there is a ton of red shale, it is hard to find a good piece. If you could hone on limestone i would be set.
What is it, just a big wet tile saw?
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- #50
Have you tried sharpening knives on limestone? It would be cool if you could find a shiro nagura substitute or something.
Yup, a 10" standing wet tile saw. I've gone through maybe three blades and I'm quite pleased with it.
Never thought to try it. Where i am standing now is within 2 miles of 3 different limestone kilns that closed before WWII. Not sure where the quarries were but they opened before cars so i would think the quarries would be close by. Should be hard to find a couple samples to try.
My house is on a big limestone plate that's about 300 meters across, 4 inches under soil in most places. My house is pier and beam. We have lots of foundation issue here but this house hasn't shifted in a century. It's all old growth hardwood, hand cut and put together with hand tools.
Just got back from an old stone and iron ore quarry that is ironically 1 mile from where i am living. Never knew it was there. Shut down in the late 50s due to water issues. Seems to be a theme in the area. Cost more to pump the water out the mine or quarry is making. Unfortunately it is now lake inside a park. The lake is completely fenced in and closed, i assume until fishing season. Grabbed a few small samples of sedimentary rocks to play with.
Couple images from the interwebs.
Couple images from the interwebs.
Attachments
I bet it's 100 ft deep, straight rock cliffs. That's why they fence off old flooded quarries around here. I don't know about PA though. We got lots of folks around here who swim REALLY, REALLY well or not at all. Swimming stuff is weird in some places here in Texas.
I know it is open during fishing season. Probably closed off during the winter because some people are not smart enough not to walk on the ice. A 14 acre lake take a bit of time to freeze enough to walk on. I have read 65-100 foot. Not sure what the current depth is.
Also just found a refractory quarry minutes from where i live. Apparently my part of the state was actively mined. All ended in the first half of the 1900 and has completely disappeared.
Town I grew up in had an old quarry that was converted into a swimming hole. Was $10/yr membership. Had a cliff for cliff diving, an imported sand beach, a diving board, lap areas, etc. Was super cool... but maybe 2 decades ago liability concerns shut it down.
They've scorched earth all record of it (I assume to prevent illegal swimming there), but from google maps and my memory... I THINK this was it:
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I seem to have gotten lucky on location here. Someone has written a book, for the county i live in and i think the 3 surrounding counties, documenting the old quarries and mineral found within. My county alone i think had 200-300 quarries and mines. Unfortunately most have been filed and built on. Stopped at a park the other day that used to be a garnet quarry and grabbed some samples.
Also as luck would have it, the book's author is giving a lecture locally in april. Hopefully he will be taking questions. This all worries me because usually i am not this lucky.
Also as luck would have it, the book's author is giving a lecture locally in april. Hopefully he will be taking questions. This all worries me because usually i am not this lucky.
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- #58
Wouldn't it be nice if you found some PA coticules? I would love to see what those garnet quarry rocks looks like.
Wishful thinking. Nothing coticulesk that i saw. Most of the quarry has been filled with the exception of a little stream. I grabbed a few things from the stream but it was raining so i did not yet examine them closely. Even the rock faces on the sides have been graded, top soiled and grassed. Garnets can be found in most parts of the state tho. Might be a vein of something good yet to be found.
Id spring for that.
