It took me a little while to convince @Legion to part with this one, but I'm rather pleased he did, because I haven't been so surprised by something in quite a while. It's one of two or three stones he's found in the last half year or so which are possible candidates for what is the only Australian whetstone that has ever really been quarried on any significant commercial scale - the Mudgee Shearstone.
This is a layered, grey-blue stone with a strong micaceous twinkle, and it's very heavy - from memory David measured at 2.89 or something (?). I think it's probably a phyllite.
There are quite a number of interesting attributes here, so let's have a look... Even without a raised slurry the stone is fast, quite a lot faster than I would expect from something like this.
In the picture below you can see what looks almost like a wood grain pattern running up and down the length. The stone abrades faster, and probably finishes coarser, if you work across that grain rather than going parallel to it.
Depending on how you work that the stone can leave quite a significant scratch pattern.
Or not. Worked differently it wants to take even the wrought iron cladding of this kiridashi toward mirror (though interestingly didn't do this on the mild steel cladding of the kiridashi in the first pic).
The resulting polish is really rather nice I think.
Which means it probably has quite a wide range of effective grit or finish levels, at a random guess something like 4k - 8k+.
A good razor honer could probably use it to finish, but that quite frankly would be a crying shame because as a whetstone this is utterly sensational. The knife edge in the video below isn't just very good - it's world class. Extremely sharp, but still with a bewildering level of bite and aggression. Although the stone is quick, it abrades without really raising much of a noticeable burr, and in this way it reminds me a little of Belgian Blue, Tams, and certain Suita. But however it's working, this sits happily with the very best Washita / Turkish /Coti / BBW / Jnat knife edges. I was amazed.
There's not much known about the Mudgee Shearstone, but what scant information we have speaks of it very highly, often drawing favourable comparison with Turkey stones. And you know what... if this is a Mudgee - I kinda get it.
This is a layered, grey-blue stone with a strong micaceous twinkle, and it's very heavy - from memory David measured at 2.89 or something (?). I think it's probably a phyllite.
There are quite a number of interesting attributes here, so let's have a look... Even without a raised slurry the stone is fast, quite a lot faster than I would expect from something like this.
In the picture below you can see what looks almost like a wood grain pattern running up and down the length. The stone abrades faster, and probably finishes coarser, if you work across that grain rather than going parallel to it.
Depending on how you work that the stone can leave quite a significant scratch pattern.
Or not. Worked differently it wants to take even the wrought iron cladding of this kiridashi toward mirror (though interestingly didn't do this on the mild steel cladding of the kiridashi in the first pic).
The resulting polish is really rather nice I think.
Which means it probably has quite a wide range of effective grit or finish levels, at a random guess something like 4k - 8k+.
A good razor honer could probably use it to finish, but that quite frankly would be a crying shame because as a whetstone this is utterly sensational. The knife edge in the video below isn't just very good - it's world class. Extremely sharp, but still with a bewildering level of bite and aggression. Although the stone is quick, it abrades without really raising much of a noticeable burr, and in this way it reminds me a little of Belgian Blue, Tams, and certain Suita. But however it's working, this sits happily with the very best Washita / Turkish /Coti / BBW / Jnat knife edges. I was amazed.
There's not much known about the Mudgee Shearstone, but what scant information we have speaks of it very highly, often drawing favourable comparison with Turkey stones. And you know what... if this is a Mudgee - I kinda get it.
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