New Favorite Finishing Stone and HHT, Finally!

[Acmemfg]

After bouncing my Krodor Special on the edge of the sink and putting a teeny-tiny nick in the edge (hardly noticeable to most I will say, except for me) I glassed the blade and redid the whole thing...except now I had a new tool in the kit, a Llyn Melynllyn.

After the usual progression, I achieved a pretty good edge. Then after finishing on the Llyn Melynllyn (just water), I now have a REALLY good edge. Yeah I know the whole varying mileage thing, but I'm currently of the opinion this is the cat's behind when it comes to the final honing stage....and it is no where the cost of some other stones designed to do the same thing (mine was about $25). AND......

I am pleased to say I can now perform the fabled HHT!! Many thanks to whoever it was on here suggesting the use of badger hair to perform this procedure. Works every time!! Guess my hair (and my wife's) just is not the right kind for such antics. But no sweat with the badger. Yay.............

 

[alpster]

Congratulations! Yep, I have a badger brush knot devoted to HHT. LOL

 

[Obiwan]

Congratulations on finding the finisher that works for you.



(Fingers crossed this doesn't turn into another HHT thread, lol)

 

[Gamma]

Is your stone an actual boxed Llyn M or is it a purple slate from AJ?

 

[Acmemfg]

Is your stone an actual boxed Llyn M or is it a purple slate from AJ?

It's an AJ stone. I did contact him
about the origin and authenticity of the stone. This was his response-


Dear acmemfg,

hi,
thanks for your purchase,
yellowlake or in welsh LLYN MELYNLLYN is a area in north wales,
the raw material for the hones I sell is purchased from 2 slate merchants, they purchase in large quantities from the actual quarries.
the yellowlake hone label was used by Salmen who sold the hones quarried in that area, the slate from that area does vary in colour, from the blue purple, which can contain green patches or veins within the slate, to the grey coloured slate which has a much finer grit.
I travel to Wales once a month to collect raw materials which, after over 2 years buying from the same place it is now hand selected for me.

please view the link hear http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llyn_Melynllyn
it gives details of the area.
please do not belive all you read on forums.
to answer you question yes it is !!! Purchased by me in North Wales
Please feel free to message me further if you so wish.
kindest regards
aj


- aj_1001

So, I'll guess it is a legit Llyn Mellynllyn.

 

[Acmemfg]

Oh...the question asked was if this was a real deal Llyn Mellynllyn. Regardless, it sure put a nice edge on the Krodor Special. Tomorrow the Blades Grim TI gets the Welsh experience.

 

[Gamma]

I was wondering about that exactly - but since we're on the subject;

IMO - Slates that come from the same 'area' that the original Salmen's offerings were quarried at does not qualify those stones of his to be called an LLyn M.

He used to say he got his raw material at a reclamation yard. I love how the story keeps evolving.
He says - Don't believe everything you read on the forums - so we should believe a guy that sells stuff on ebay?
One that didn't know a Llyn M from a Snickers bar a coupla years ago?

I've bought plenty of stones from him, including a purple Welsh slate.
I like the guy, the hone was ok.
What I dislike is his intentional clouding of the real Llyn M's history by marketing his generic slate as being the exact same thing.
To me - that's like going to Thuringia and digging up some slate and calling it an authentic Escher.
Yeah, someone's done that too..

 

[Alum of Potash]

that's like going to Thuringia and digging up some slate and calling it an authentic Escher.
Yeah, someone's done that too..

Not sure if this is what you had in mind here, but those Mueller's water grind-stones are really quite good! They might be called Thuringians, but I don't think they are sold as Eschers.

 

[Gamma]

No, there was another seller out there selling hone stones with 'Escher' hype on the page - I forget the site, was Canadian I think.
Not sure if they were Mueller stones or not. Good or not, they weren't/aren't Eschers.
I seem to remmber that there were two types of stone sold there, one was marketed as being a Thuringian.
I don't know if either type of hone on that site were Thruingians, but if they weren't mined in Thuringia - then they're not Thuringians and shouldn't be called that. While I'm railing away here - the term Welsh Thuringian is ridiculous. There, I said it.

FWIW - I don't see it as a matter of good vs not-good.
Good is good - doesn't need a label to be good.

 

[Alum of Potash]

I think the Muellers qualify as "Bavarian slate." Maybe taken from the outskirt parking lots of the old mines, etc., etc.

Just ordered my second "brown Thuringian" from AJ yesterday. It hails from the Vosges mountains of France and is a real hard ball of wax.

Edit: Anyway, to Acme, sorry to get off track. If you can pass the HHT to your satisfaction off the stones that's great! Whatever it takes... I still cheat and use pastes.

 

[SliceOfLife]

Mueller sold two natural german stones. The first were extremely limited in number and were actually Eschers that were sitting around in the mine (some quite literally with escher labels on them). Mueller sold these as Thuringians. They are long gone now (unless Mueller still has some <4" pieces, possibly).

The others were from ANOTHER MINE (as I understand it Mueller never actually mined the Escher mines, they just sold off their stockpile), the official word from eBay is that this mine is "a mile or two away from" the Escher mine. These are sold by Mueller as something to the effect of "Natural German Water Stone". The stones are very different. Yet, even though Mueller doesn't and never has called these "Thuringians" or "Eschers", people buy them from Mueller, add these titles to them, and sell them for a profit.

 

[Acmemfg]

Are these the "Mueller" stones you are talking about??

bay item 130965921485

 

[Alum of Potash]

I checked the link. Could be--the surface and color looks the same, but the one I have has a different dimension and does not have MST associated with it. Here's a shot of my stone as received a couple of years back, purchased from a French vendor. Color is actually deeper and bluer than what's shown here. It's very easy to use, like Welsh slate, and leaves a nice edge IMO.