A Trip to Wales

[cotedupy]

I’ll wait for your report back on the slates first though.

What kind of thing were you wanting something for? I’ve only tried them out briefly admittedly, but my thoughts above probably won’t change. I have my own standardised ways of testing stones, and it’s usually quite accurate. (Famous last words!)

if it’s likely a novaculite, would a raw stone look similar to the unlapped sides of charnley forests i have admired so many pictures of?

Probably a bit different, cos the sides of charns have still been cut. More like a cross between raw slate and flint/chert. I’ve got one more quarry visit post to do in this thread which will have some pics...

 

[rideon66]

Sounds like novaculite to me!

Yeah in reading it sounds almost like a Turkey stone.

 

[cotedupy]

Yeah in reading it sounds almost like a Turkey stone.

Haha... everbody tried to make everything sound like a Turkish back in the day didn’t they. I’ve seen an old American AlOx/SiC combi proudly proclaim on the label it was: ‘Equal to a Turkey Stone!’

 

[rideon66]

Haha... everbody tried to make everything sound like a Turkish back in the day didn’t they. I’ve seen an old American AlOx/SiC combi proudly proclaim on the label it was: ‘Equal to a Turkey Stone!’

More so in boiling in oil to make it finer. It states after boiling it serves the country people for Whetting razors, &c.

 

[Nik]

What kind of thing were you wanting something for? I’ve only tried them out briefly admittedly, but my thoughts above probably won’t change. I have my own standardised ways of testing stones, and it’s usually quite accurate. (Famous last words!)




Probably a bit different, cos the sides of charns have still been cut. More like a cross between raw slate and flint/chert. I’ve got one more quarry visit post to do in this thread which will have some pics...

Honestly, mainly fun. Also to have a nice slate finisher again for when I want to use something other than a coti. There is something to the feeling of honing on a nice slate hone, I think I used to dress mine with the chosera 1000 for a nice surface.

You say the Heather Grey reminds you of the La Lune, is that hardness, speed and fineness?

The Heather Red sounds good for razors? I prefer a slightly softer stone for feel.

The shepherds hut sounds good too? Is this the one you rate highest for razors?
I know grit ratings are hated for natural hones, but I’ve owned an Inigo Jones dragons tongue in the past, so I could understand comparison to that well.

Thanks for posting all this. And I hope you don’t mind the many questions…

 

[cotedupy]

Might those ponds just off the trail be quarry's?

Well that's an interesting video eh. Ta.

Screw quarries @Nik... go to this pile of rock and take your pick! There's a good amount of green stone in here. See the round bit just above the 'f M' of Mangerton? I'd say that's what you want to be going for.

You in Kerry/Cork/Limerick then...?

 

[rideon66]

Wow that whole place looks riddled with possibilities for hones.

 

[cotedupy]

Wow that whole place looks riddled with possibilities for hones.

Isn’t it just!

I’d put good money on this being our Devil’s Punchbowl stone; green, conchoidal fracture, surefire bet to my eye.

 

[Nik]

if I take anything from the summit cairn then I’ll have to bring more up to replace it, it would feel wrong to take stone down that someone had carried up otherwise. Yes, those translucent looking green stones that look like they have split and might turn olive with oil…. what is the betting that I won’t be the first person from here to be checking that cairn now?

 

[SammieM]

Awesome post Oli. You are making me curious about a trip to Wales now… Might visit IJ.

@Nik I lived in a house overlooking Mangerton mate. I’m further south now. One of these days I might make the trip to the top for some stone samples…

 

[FarmerTan]

Is that a gnarly old yew in the third picture from the top?
How old is that building?

Looks like an old yew to me. Beautiful. I wonder just how old?

What a delightful thread! Thank you for starting it, friend @cotedupy !

 

[Nik]

I’m a couple of hour’s drive away, but no big deal for a hike that might end with fun stones.

 

[Legion]

Might be, I’m no expert at all, dont even know if novaculite has any other uses other than sharpening, if no, it was probably just locals who knew where to look. Lots of sections of exposed stone face and around the lakes and streams where they’ll have been washed a bit cleaner to look at. Funnily enough the video does give me the idea to look at the summit cairn, people will have brought those stones from around the area.

Most novaculite is mined for building material, same as slate.

 

[FarmerTan]

I’m a couple of hour’s drive away, but no big deal for a hike that might end with fun stones.

If I can stowaway on a freighter you'll see me there as well.

 

[Tomo]

It looks like I wasted my University years in Cardiff studying, drinking and shagging. I should have been filling my boots with stones from the nearby hills.

 

[Legion]

It looks like I wasted my University years in Cardiff by studying, drinking and shagging. I should have been filling my boots with stones from the nearby hills instead.

As long as you filled your boots, that's what matters.

 

[Frank Shaves]

I spent about 20 mins wandering about with him chatting quarries and whetstones, while he recommended me various types. I'd grab likely looking pieces and at the end we went to the workshop shed and he cut them to spec for me.

Did Roger call out any specific types of stones for finishing razors?

 

[cotedupy]

Honestly, mainly fun. Also to have a nice slate finisher again for when I want to use something other than a coti.

Ah sorry - I meant did you want them for finishing razors. But I think you've answered that...

You say the Heather Grey reminds you of the La Lune, is that hardness, speed and fineness?

Yep, all of those things.

The Heather Red sounds good for razors? I prefer a slightly softer stone for feel.

The shepherds hut sounds good too? Is this the one you rate highest for razors?
I know grit ratings are hated for natural hones, but I’ve owned an Inigo Jones dragons tongue in the past, so I could understand comparison to that well.

All three of them are finer than the DT, with the CyB probably the finest of the lot, but it's also the slowest.

Did Roger call out any specific types of stones for finishing razors?

Err... not specifically, though it'd kinda be implied. Slate almost by definition is a razor finishing type stone, it's quite rare to find slates that are too coarse for razor finishing. And pretty much all building slate will work.

By the same token it isn't generally particularly good for knife sharpening, it's too fine and too slow. More useful for tools or razors.

 

[Nik]

thanks cotedupy for answering everything, (do you have an easier name to use?). my next order was going to be Green Shadow and La Lune before this thread, now it looks like a call to Inigo Jones. That ruby is pretty and the shepherds hut cloudiness is nice.

 

[Loner16]

I may be a bit prejudiced, but I think Wales to be the most beautiful country on Earth...