This was 50/50 boredom/curiosity-fueled. I've been in touch with someone who owns several quarries with a huge variety of vermont slates and ny red slate. He agreed to hand pick and personally cut a hone(s) for me that he felt had potential as finishing stones out of his material. I am going to test a purple/green mottled one at a later date when it warms up and he can get to the type he figures would be worth testing as he has four different types/hardness of that one, but for now, I just received this bench stone-sized slab of Vermont black along with quite a generous slurry stone. Just got home and was greeted with the box so any time spent with it so far has been limited to tiding it up and smoothing the surface to the maximum. The piece he selected seems dense, with pretty decent hardness for a slate. It's glittery, and had a bit of a metallic craze to it that reminds of some other stones. Some white inclusions which cannot be felt. Feels very fine indeed. Might test it tomorrow on a go to tester blade, but probably saturday most likely. Even if it ends up being a bust for honing, it was way cool of him to be so accommodating.
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