From a pebble to a razor hone

[Jakebullet]

I was on a beach with my girls, rockpooling, skimming stones etc and my long suffering girlfriend found me a little rock.
Flattish, oblong, about the size and shape of my middle finger.
So I put it in my pocket and brought it home to lap and to try to hone a razor on.
I lapped it on 60grit wet and dry then 180, 400, and 600 loose silicone carbide.
Don’t know what it’s made of. Harder than slate, not crazy hard like Arkansas, although it’s very similar in colour.
It gave off a light brownish slurry on the sandpaper..
It took about 15 mins to flatten then I went quite quickly up the grits.
I gave it a couple of drops of baby oil and took one of my Gold Dollar 66’s to it.
It felt good under the razor and I gave it some half strokes then 75 x stroke laps.
I had a shave with it this morning and got a lovely close, smooth shave.
It’s a great little size to go in my travel bag and a nice working souvenir of a lovely day on the beach.

 

[cotedupy]

Nice work! Good looking stone too.

If one keeps an eye out there’s lots of stuff out there that will finish or touch up a razor quite nicely. Natural stones that are fine enough for straights aren’t all that uncommon, the only thing special about the famous and expensive ones is that they do it relatively quickly.

Whereabouts were you? (I assume in the UK, rather than just randomly carrying pound coins around with you somewhere else...)

 

[Darth Scandalous]

That's like the perfect size and shape to make a pendant out of, like the Vikings did.

 

[Jakebullet]

Nice work! Good looking stone too.

If one keeps an eye out there’s lots of stuff out there that will finish or touch up a razor quite nicely. Natural stones that are fine enough for straights aren’t all that uncommon, the only thing special about the famous and expensive ones is that they do it relatively quickly.

Whereabouts were you? (I assume in the UK, rather than just randomly carrying pound coins around with you somewhere else...)

Lol yeah I was in Anglesey, a real pretty island in Wales.

 

[Jakebullet]

That's like the perfect size and shape to make a pendant out of, like the Vikings did.

What a great idea

 

[cotedupy]

Lol yeah I was in Anglesey, a real pretty island in Wales.

Ah nice, and certainly the right area of the world for finding good whetstones.

Only few times I’ve been there was driving through on my way to/from Holyhead for the ferry. Holyhead is not pretty.

 

[H Brad Boonshaft]

Hey, you found that Escher I lost on the beach, years ago!

Yea, some guy just like us tried random stuff to hone their knives and that is how all these natural stones were discovered.

I often think about this with food, and who first though yea, that cactus looks like it might be good to eat. How about those bright red (Danger) chilies? Yea, that’s a good idea.

 

[SliceOfLife]

Reminds me of Ardennes Schist.

 

[Steve56]

Very nice @Jakebullet - thanks for posting !

 

[Legion]

Hey, you found that Escher I lost on the beach, years ago!

Yea, some guy just like us tried random stuff to hone their knives and that is how all these natural stones were discovered.

I often think about this with food, and who first though yea, that cactus looks like it might be good to eat. How about those bright red (Danger) chilies? Yea, that’s a good idea.

The first guy to try an oyster was brave.

 

[SilverGeezer]

The first guy to try an oyster was brave.

Or just really really hungry.

 

[Legion]

That's like the perfect size and shape to make a pendant out of, like the Vikings did.

Now you put that idea into my head I'll be looking for the perfect stone.

 

[cotedupy]

The first guy to try an oyster was brave.

Ah... The Dean!

 

[Legion]

Ah... The Dean!

You literally make me use Google to find out where little bits of random info in my head originally came from.

Yes, it was Dean Swift. And I would have failed if that was a pub trivia question.

 

[taffy]

for posting, for actually getting the stone to hone.

 

[taffy]

Ah nice, and certainly the right area of the world for finding good whetstones.

Only few times I’ve been there was driving through on my way to/from Holyhead for the ferry. Holyhead is not pretty.

Perhaps we can call it the hhhs hollyhead honing stone, may well start a sort of gold rush stage for the area. Nothing like that in cardiff

 

[dabrock]

The first guy to try an oyster was brave.

I'm wondering how the Japanese got around to figuring out how to cut up puffer!

 

[dabrock]

I was on a beach with my girls, rockpooling, skimming stones etc and my long suffering girlfriend found me a little rock.
Flattish, oblong, about the size and shape of my middle finger.
So I put it in my pocket and brought it home to lap and to try to hone a razor on.
I lapped it on 60grit wet and dry then 180, 400, and 600 loose silicone carbide.
Don’t know what it’s made of. Harder than slate, not crazy hard like Arkansas, although it’s very similar in colour.
It gave off a light brownish slurry on the sandpaper..
It took about 15 mins to flatten then I went quite quickly up the grits.
I gave it a couple of drops of baby oil and took one of my Gold Dollar 66’s to it.
It felt good under the razor and I gave it some half strokes then 75 x stroke laps.
I had a shave with it this morning and got a lovely close, smooth shave.
It’s a great little size to go in my travel bag and a nice working souvenir of a lovely day on the beach.

Looks interesting, like slate but with marbling in it, which might indicate a quartz or graphite vein. It's times like this I wish I was still dating my ex who is a professional geologist, she would probably have an idea of what it is.

My parents used to own a cottage where there was a ton of shale around and I often wonder what that would work on a razor. Looks like you found a gem of a stone!

 

[Staggers and Jags]

i have a broken piece of marble in here that i might like to try

 

[cotedupy]

i have a broken piece of marble in here that i might like to try

Marble is a carbonate, so that probably isn’t going to get you anywhere I’m afraid.

(Just to save you the time!)