Rockhounding for hones (or why do these cost so much)

@Enrico inspired me to write this out, as I have the knowledge stuck in my head, but it's not particularly useful stuff. It is interesting though.

For millennia, people have appreciated good rocks for sharpening tools. The Romans led expeditions to the edges of their empire for good quality sharpening stones. The Vikings would carve out the sides of a good stone; tie a leather thong around the narrowed part and wear it around their neck at all times.

Over the years, the stones from certain regions and quarries have gained near mythical status among people who collect such things. La Lune, Thuringian, Escher, Charnley Forest, Queer Creek, Washita, Arkansas, Lily White, Rosy Red, Silkstone, Coticule, Vosigenne, Special Stone only for Good Razors, Midnight Black, Rouge du Salm, Translucent White, and a thousand others.

Bevel setting natural hones are quite rare. Medium intermediates are common, and finishers are rare.

There are not very many rocks that have all the properties needed to be hones, and there isn't enough money in it for people to really actively search out new deposits. A good natural hone is comprised mostly of silica, either in the form of quartz or garnet. It will be located in shale or chert deposits, a type of sedimentary rock formed from clay that has turned to stone from pressure and heat. The silica needs to be very fine grained, and evenly distributed throughout the stone, and the stone needs to be free of cracks and inclusions. Oilstones in particular will be full of microscopic holes, and these aid the cutting action. Good stones are usually found below the frost line, so they usually must be dug for.

The average rock hound can usually find one or two good stones that will make decent hones. It's much harder to find a spot that provides enough stones to run a hone stone quarry that will produce stones that are consistently fine, and consistently comparable to each other. The man or woman who does find such a site would corner the market on natural hones today.

A good bevel setting stone is quite friable, soft enough to give up the tiny hard bits of silica as they dull, yet hard enough to retain the next layer of silica until it is all used up.

A particularly nice looking finishing stone is made by La Lune, and is called the "Special Stone only for Good Razors" commonly abbreviated on the forums as "SSofGR." It resembles a midnight sky, with a million winking stars. It's a dark bluish purple slate with tiny quartz speckles evenly distributed throughout. It's a beautiful rock.

Another finishing stone is black translucent Arkansas, once called surgical black, and was prized by surgeons for sharpening scalpels. It is equally prized by razor honors as a finishing stone. The slightly softer translucent white is even more highly prized as a finishing stone.

Washita is a no longer quarried soft Arkansas hone, that was prized by carpenters and joiners for sharpening chisels and plane blades. It cuts faster than any other stone, yet leaves a fine edge. It came in many grades, with the finest being "Lily White," a particularly fine grained white novaculite. The old timers still speak of "the good old stone," and it is Washita they speak of. The razor honer can take a freshly lapped (flattened) Washita and use it to set a razor's bevel, then continue working the blade on the stone to take it all the way up to near finishing stone level. A few swipes on a carborundum hone, and the razor is ready to be stropped.

I hope you found this short introduction to hones enlightening and informative. Hone collecting is a whole 'nother hobby in itself, and one I've resisted fairly well. So far.

Edit: I forgot to mention Japanese Naturals, the 'Jnat' of forum parlance.

There is also Escher. These $500 stones have a fearsome reputation. This is why:

 

Link to PDF download of the hones and hone mines and quarries of Europe:
https://bosq.home.xs4all.nl/info 20m/grinding_and_honing_part_3.pdf

Links to part 1 and 4 are included within the PDF, though they seem to be written in a different language than English. Dutch, perhaps? Part 4 covers coticules.

Edit: link to part 1 in English:
https://bosq.home.xs4all.nl/info 20m/grinding_and_honing_part_1.pdf
Part 2 in English:
https://bosq.home.xs4all.nl/info 20m/grinding_and_honing_part_2.pdf
Part 4 in English:
https://bosq.home.xs4all.nl/info 20m/grinding_and_honing_part_4_belgian_whetstones.pdf

 

Yeah, there's some nice chert formations over on the Oregon coast that I've been looking at in a different light recently. And there's a wet tile diamond saw in my dad's storage unit that's just collecting dust...

I wish my great-uncle was still alive. He was a lapidary artist and Rockhound. He could have given me some pointers.

 

As a knife stone, no. Terrible.

From the little I've been able to find on them, they are unusual for being both white, and a man-made hone.

In use, they act like a soft white Arkansas. Normally for a man-made carborundum razor hone I'd say coat it in petroleum jelly overnight to "re-wet" the stone, as the binders in them start breaking down after 100 years as they dry out, and the original process for making these was to 'cast' them in a mix of liquified petroleum jelly and powdered stone slurry using heat and pressure.

I expect it's an excellent razor finishing hone, probably quite good compared to regular carborundum barber's hones, which are today considered mediocre, perhaps unjustly.

 

I suspect the edges the barbers got were better than mediocre. They also liberally made use of pasted linen strops, and their leather strops were 'cased,' which you hardly see referenced anymore, which would give a better edge than 99% of the modern 'artisan' strops today, due to the natural silica in the hide and from the tanning process being forced to the surface, and that surface being compressed, and made hard as iron. It's a rare strop that has survived in that condition today. I consider myself extremely fortunate to have inherited such a strop from my grandfather.

Our understanding of things has deepened in modern times, even as our basic "know-how," has taken huge steps backwards.

I think Lynn Abrams and Illinois Strop Co. are the only ones who still apply casing methods to their strops anymore. Kanayama did as well, but as far as I know no one took over the company when the owner died.

Edit: and Lynn Abrams is just a guess, but since he applies tooling to the edges of his strops, it's likely that he cases them.

Edit 2: I remember when pyramid honing was all the rage, and now x-honing is considered the proper way to hone, just as it was referenced in the barber's manuals 100 years ago.

 

It's interesting to me.

Can you post a better picture of the inside of the lid, with the English version of the description?

 

I was doing some more hunting around for info on possible places to find whetstones in Oregon, and found out the gravel bars on the Willamette River are chock full of red and brown Jasper, from Portland to Eugene.

The next time I'm in the area, I'll wonder over and see what I can find. Probably won't be all that long, since I live less than 5 miles from the river. The white dot is me, the red circle is the river.

Edit: ...and I did end up getting the wet saw out of storage.

 

Score one for the ChatGPT A I. This information is not readily available from Google.

There are several historical whetstone quarries and workshops found in Oregon. One of the most well-known is the Rocky Pass Quarry, which is located in Klamath County in southern Oregon. This quarry was used by Native American tribes for thousands of years to mine whetstones, which were used for sharpening tools and weapons.

Another important whetstone quarry is the St. Paul Quarry, which is located in Marion County in western Oregon. This quarry was also used by Native American tribes for making whetstones, as well as other tools such as projectile points and knives.

In addition to these quarries, there are also several historical workshops where whetstones were shaped and sharpened. One such workshop is located at the South Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve in Coos County, where archaeologists have found evidence of Native American tool-making activities.

The type of stone found at the St. Paul Quarry in Oregon is called Mollala Red, which is a type of basaltic andesite. It is commonly used as a decorative stone in construction and landscaping due to its unique reddish coloration.

When I asked again, phrasing it a bit differently, I got this...



Oregon is known to have a number of sharpening stone quarries, particularly in the eastern part of the state. These quarries are a source of high-quality stones used for sharpening knives, tools, and other cutting implements.

One of the most well-known sharpening stone quarries in Oregon is the Saddle Mountain Quarry, which is located near the town of Forest Grove in Washington County. This quarry produces a range of sharpening stones, including the popular "Arkansas stones" which are known for their fine-grained, high-quality sharpening surfaces.

Another notable sharpening stone quarry in Oregon is the Prineville Quarry, which is located in Crook County. This quarry produces a variety of sharpening stones, including both natural and synthetic stones.

Other sharpening stone quarries in Oregon include the Trout Creek Quarry in Wasco County, the Rooster Rock Quarry in Multnomah County, and the McIver State Park Quarry in Clackamas County. Each of these quarries produces a unique range of sharpening stones with different characteristics and uses.

It's worth noting that some of these quarries may be on private land, and permission from the landowner may be required before accessing them. Additionally, some of the quarries may not be open to the public at all. It's always a good idea to do some research and check local regulations before venturing out to explore sharpening stone quarries in Oregon.

It will be interesting to see if any of this is true. For instance, I've never heard of an Oregon source for Arkansas stones. I don't think those typically come from Oregon.

 

Hone stone is a type of sharpening stone that is found in the John Day Formation, which is a series of rock layers exposed in the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument in eastern Oregon. The John Day Formation is a collection of volcanic ash, tuff, and sedimentary rocks that were deposited over millions of years during the Eocene epoch, between about 56 and 34 million years ago.

Hone stone is made up of fine-grained volcanic ash that has been compacted and cemented together. The volcanic ash was originally deposited in a lake or other body of water, and over time, it was compressed and lithified into rock. Hone stone is typically gray or tan in color and has a smooth, fine-grained texture that is ideal for sharpening knives.

Hone stone has been used for sharpening and honing knives for thousands of years. It is known for its ability to produce a very sharp edge and to polish the blade as it is sharpened. Because hone stone is a relatively soft rock, it is important to use a lubricant, such as water or oil, when sharpening a knife to prevent the stone from wearing down too quickly.

In addition to being used for sharpening knives, hone stone has also been used for other purposes, such as making jewelry and other decorative objects. Hone stone is a popular material for carving and engraving, and it has been used to make beads, pendants, and other small objects.

Overall, hone stone is a unique and valuable resource found in the John Day Formation of Oregon. It has been used for thousands of years and continues to be prized by knife makers and other craftsmen today.