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A Trip to Wales

After the excellence of Inigo Jones the next stop was lunch at very lovely local pub, supplemented by backgammon and Welsh lessons for the barman.

I found it quite interesting that in our time here I didn't hear English spoken once, apart from when people were talking to us. Cymraeg is very much the primary language in Snowdonia; spoken by everybody young and old, to an extent that you don't see so much in Ireland, even in the wildest parts of the west. But then of course the Welsh and their language didn't endure quite the level of oppression that Ireland did, so perhaps not so surprising after all.

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Anyhow, after the pub our final attempt of the day was to be the Penrhiw Hone Quarry, the other side of Mt. Snowdon on the slopes of Moel Siabod. I'd read about this place in a couple of old posts on SRP, and also in an interesting blog post here, where the intrepid explorer had found it:

'frustratingly hard to locate on the ground. The quarry lies hidden amongst an active conifer forest plantation with sections both cleared and replanted since maps were last drawn. I only managed to locate the quarry face at a distance across impassable blanket bog before the light faded.'

Well, guess what? Exactly the same thing happened to us. This is what the Penrhiw Hone Quarry looks like at dusk from 200m to 300m away.

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The problem was that everything in between where I was standing and the quarry was marsh / bog and you simply couldn't have got there on foot. We were also about an hour walk away from our car through a pine forest, and needed to get back onto a path before dark.

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The must be an easier way to get to it by approaching from the north or north-east. Maps make it look like you should come from the south or south-east, but much of the terrain turns out to be completely impassable. We'd already had to turn back from a number of possible 'shortcuts' earlier.

All was not lost however, because what our man in the blog post above may not have realised (and which I being a seasoned expert did) was that all of the rock on the ground around where we were standing was... novaculite. Which I knew the Penrhiw Hone was, so I picked up as much as I could carry, and fecked off.

This then (@Nik) is what a load of raw Welsh novaculite looks like, in the final picture you can see the very typical flakey, splintery character the stone has.

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But boy was all that hassle worth it, because the Penrhiw Hone is exceptionally good.

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Interestingly; despite being novaculite (the SG is around 2.71) the stone is softer and easier to flatten and shape than the Nantlle Valley and Glanrafon slates, at least on belts and sandpaper.

It's also one of, if not the fastest Idwal type stone I've ever used. Even just from a quick, cursory runout the edge below is absolutely magic.

I'd also say, given the above and the way that the patterns in this stone look to my eye: it's quite possible that the Penrhiw quarry was the source for the stones that James Howarth and Sons sold as 'Grecian Hones'. I'll have to flatten and try out more pieces of it, but the stones are potentially very, very similar.




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But boy was all that hassle worth it, because the Penrhiw Hone is exceptionally good.

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Interestingly; despite being novaculite (the SG is around 2.71) the stone is softer and easier to flatten and shape than the Nantlle Valley and Glanrafon slates, at least on belts and sandpaper.

It's also one of, if not the fastest Idwal type stone I've ever used. Even just from a quick, cursory runout the edge below is absolutely magic.

I'd also say, given the above and the way that the patterns in this stone look to my eye: it's quite possible that the Penrhiw quarry was the source for the stones that James Howarth and Sons sold as 'Grecian Hones'. I'll have to flatten and try out more pieces of it, but the stones are potentially very, very similar.




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That stone does really have a real "Grecian look" about it! I might even say it has a prettier color shade too.

Amazing finds and photos, thanks for letting us all vicariously visit these historic areas!
 
for the barman.

*from* the barman. (!)


That stone does really have a real "Grecian look" about it! I might even say it has a prettier color shade too.


As you can probably tell - I was really rather pleased about how that one turned out.

Finding razor type hones in Welsh slate quarries is as close to a racing certainty as you’ll get, but things like the Penrhiw Hone are far less common.

Made all the sweeter by the initial disappointment of having to turn back after getting so close to the quarry. But then starting to search around in the gloaming and realising we were already surrounded by the stone I was looking for.

And given that raw Welsh novaculite looks much like any other random lump of grey rock: I’m feeling a little bit smug about my whetstone-spotting abilities atm. :)
 
Welsh stones sure make for good hones. My finnishing stone is also a Welsh slate and it is a joy to use, that is a cool collection of hones and a great way to spend a holiday.
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