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Finding natural pieces of rock to hone on

I was out fishing yesterday, walking through woodlands following the river and on my way back I started to notice the lumps of rock and stones in the water. It got me thinking so I started to look about for something which might be made into a hone. I couldn’t find anything worth trying but I found some small smooth black stones, probably slate, nothing I could use though. Most stones around me were coarse and the smooth ones were mostly tiny
But it got me thinking, I live in England, I know nothing about natural stone so when I’m out fishing rivers what types/colours of rock should I look out for which could I take home and flatten to make a good finishing stone? And what geological clues might there be to help me find and identify the stuff? I have a Welsh slate so I know if I saw a piece of that it would be viable but what else is out there?
I find a 10-12k grit quite comfortable on my face but nothing lower and I have no stone cutting tools so obviously would be looking for smaller chunks.
 

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I think that you're on the right track with slates, especially with a limited amount of tools. One thing that I've learned is that when I find a hopeful deposit. I take a piece big enough for a desirable hone and a piece just big enough to do some testing on. The smaller piece is much easier to lap and do a test with.

This thread starts out talking about making a synthetic, but evolves into using found stones; Making a hone - https://www.badgerandblade.com/forum/threads/making-a-hone.254715/page-42
 
I was out fishing yesterday, walking through woodlands following the river and on my way back I started to notice the lumps of rock and stones in the water. It got me thinking so I started to look about for something which might be made into a hone. I couldn’t find anything worth trying but I found some small smooth black stones, probably slate, nothing I could use though. Most stones around me were coarse and the smooth ones were mostly tiny
But it got me thinking, I live in England, I know nothing about natural stone so when I’m out fishing rivers what types/colours of rock should I look out for which could I take home and flatten to make a good finishing stone? And what geological clues might there be to help me find and identify the stuff? I have a Welsh slate so I know if I saw a piece of that it would be viable but what else is out there?
I find a 10-12k grit quite comfortable on my face but nothing lower and I have no stone cutting tools so obviously would be looking for smaller chunks.

I had similar thoughts when I was catching crayfish in a creek.
I picked up an amazingly smooth piece of shale.
I put it down because I was there for crayfish
and I thought I could find it later but I couldn't.

Some jnats fall into the category of shale.

You can find a single fine hone in a lot of places which aren't quarries.
What makes a quarry, is a place where there's enough valuable
material which can be extracted easily enough to turn a profit.
 
I saw petrified wood mentioned above. I have 2 large pieces, that are flat, they are so smooth as to be polished slick. Would you roughen them up befor honing? They are in the form of bookends.
 
I was out fishing the river again yesterday, no trout this time but I did find a couple of stones.
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One was a piece of coal can you hone on it? It’s a sedimentary rock but that’s all I know about it. The other piece I found looks like shale. It’s a mud rock made of very fine particles. It was one piece but as I held it I noticed cracks and two other pieces came off in whole layers. I had a quick look under the loup for any fossilised plants or creatures but don’t really know what I’m looking for. I’ve got no idea if it’s suitable for a hone but I’m going to find out. I’ll flatten it and hone a Gold Dollar with it and see what happens. For scale, the coal in the photo is about 4 inches x 2 x2.
 
Some photos up close.

Just looking at the inside of the stone, using my imagination. This looks like a foot or a hand. These two pieces were joined together and I split them along a crack line. The one on the left was on top of the one on the right so it’s really one shape now split in two.
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To the left looks like a fish or a leaf shape
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Looks like something whiter with a wiggly tail
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I suspect that coal doesn't have enough silica to be an effective abrasive. If the coal did have much silica it would be really crappy from a fuel standpoint as it would produce too much ash.
 
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I lapped one of the pieces of shale on a glass chopping board with 320 wet and dry sandpaper. It made a great black slurry and the stone seemed soft so it didn’t take long. After lapping it’s almost as black as the razors scales and smooth as glass.
I was working on a crack for a while then I thought that it would probably chip off if I went any further so left it there. The piece in question split off anyway as the stone dried so as id flattened it i used it as a slurry stone. The flat surface felt extremely smooth to the touch so I was hopeful.
I have a 1930s ELSINE razor which I used today and is in need of a touch up so I used this. I made a nice thick black slurry very easily then got going. The small irregular surface area was very tricky to work on at first and as the stone is about 2mm thick I had to watch my fingers but all the time spent working on a little piece of Welsh slate paid off and I got used to the size and shape of the surface quite quickly. I honed then diluted the slurry then continued the process until the water was clear and the razor undercutting very nicely. I’d say I did maybe 120 laps from start to finish though I didn’t count. I can’t say why but the stone felt extremely smooth and buttery on the razor like it was really doing a job. It was very sharp on the HHT so I stropped it on palm, linen and leather and put it away ready for tomorrow mornings shave. Fingers crossed.
 
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I shaved with the razor this morning and it was surprisingly good. It’s definitely shaving better today than it did yesterday and it has a new feel and a new sound to it. I’m surprised in one way as the piece of rock was so small with two big areas missing and not surprised in another way as the stone felt so super smooth to the touch after lapping. Well today the blade felt very smooth and sharp and bit then glided through the hair more like a DE blade and with a nice new ringing raspy voice which I haven’t heard from this razor before. I have another piece of the same stone to lap and hopefully it’ll stay in one piece and give me a more easily usable surface.
Today’s shave was great and very easy over the difficult parts such as chin and top lip. I’m looking forward to continuing with the stone as I’m sure I can do even better with it edge wise with a better piece and a bit of experimenting but for a first try on a piece of I don’t know what found in a river I’m pretty blown away. Grit-wise I couldn’t say but it’s definitely high as the shave was so close and the post shave feel as with most natural stones is excellent.
 
I did another shave this morning with the ELSINE razor which Id honed on the black found rock. It looked lighter when I found it but it’s so much blacker after lapping. The stone feels extremely smooth, I’m guessing it’s a piece of shale but I’m not sure what it is.
I used Taylor’s Platinum cream which is very slick and a badger brush.
The razor shaved even better today, it has a great feel and now honestly feels as sharp and smooth as any other razor I’ve used if not sharper. I’ve only got 3 other abrasives, lapping film, Naniwa 12k and a little chunk of Welsh slate. The black rock feels silkier and smoother to the touch than any of them and I really like the inky black slurry it makes.
It’s a soft stone so I know I won’t have it for long, and so thin that it won’t survive a lot of lapping but it’ll be fun while it lasts.
 
Keep your eyes open for more. That's how I found some of the stones I use. I ended up finding a couple big slabs that gave me enough to last my lifetime and a fair stack to share with others too. I haven't been out rock hunting in a while but have been getting a little bit better lately so I may take a few exploratory trips again.
 
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The original stone I found broke into 3 copies of itself.
The first I used on my ELSINE razor, it was tricky to use with surface areas missing but it did a great job.
So I lapped the 2nd and 3rd pieces today. The 2nd piece chipped and broke up a bit on the sandpaper but piece 3 stayed intact throughout so I broke a little off stone 2 for use as slurry stones. The stone doesn’t look flat in the photo but it’s a trick of the light, the stone is flat.
I was given a Robeson Shuredge 5/8th square point by an American shaving buddy. It was given to me with an Arkansas edge and I’d since honed it a few times on films and a Naniwa 12k and it’s always been a great shaver but it needs a touch up so today I honed it on the newly lapped stone 3. As far as I can now make out, this type of stone is called black shale the slurry is super black like paint. I raised a nice slurry and got started. I’made a slightly thicker slurry today but the stone flakes and cracks very easily so I was careful. Did about 50-60 laps them diluted and kept going like this utill the water was clear then did maybe 100 lightening laps on that then the razor started to lightly stick to the stone so I stopped. Stropped it up and it silently cut the strand of my girlfriends hair so I’m looking forward to seeing how it shaves tomorrow.
 
You might have better luck with a piece of that slate that hasn't been sitting in water. It's likely that somewhere up stream there is an exposed face of that layer. There also may be harder parts of that layer that have not eroded into the stream.

I once read that only 1% of the sharpening stones coming out of the Japanese mines were of razor quality and the rest were sold for knives and tools. I keep that in mind while stone hunting. You could hit the jackpot only to pick up the wrong stone to test.
 
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