Whittler Kev
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Like the blue dress - no wonder your hiding in the shed You seem to have got a lot of the dust in your beard and on your hair
Stones arrived today
. Cheers dude.:You_Rock_Whetstone prospecting
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Come along to the amazing Summer Moot (21st July - 2nd August), a festival of bushcrafting and camping in a beautiful woodland PLEASE CLICK HERE for more information.
Like the blue dress - no wonder your hiding in the shed You seem to have got a lot of the dust in your beard and on your hair
Stones arrived today
. Cheers dude.:You_Rock_
That's not a shed that's my Boudoir and Teddy said I should have the Silver highlights dyed in to give me a more distinguished look
On another note - You learn something new every day ! well here's mine for today :-
Though it is sometimes mistaken as a reference to the water often used to lubricate such stones, the word "whetstone" is a compound word formed with the word "whet," which means to sharpen a blade, not the word "wet."
from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharpening_stone
cheers all Danny
On another note - You learn something new every day ! well here's mine for today :-
Though it is sometimes mistaken as a reference to the water often used to lubricate such stones, the word "whetstone" is a compound word formed with the word "whet," which means to sharpen a blade, not the word "wet."
from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharpening_stone
cheers all Danny
Danny, I've been experimenting with an old Mora today and there is a significant difference between using the stones wet and dry. The stones used wet give it a more polished finish, whilst dry the take more steel off. The stones don't seem to clog up with steel as most whetstones, so can be used to great effect dry too.
yup I was the fat guy pulling a golf trolley up hill, did it strike you as odd at the time ? missed opportunity there, every member should have "BCUK" tattooed on forehead, maybe next time best wishes Danny
Hmm - sure was odd - I got back to the Loft at Gayle - and told the guys I'd seen a madman golfing on the hill. LOL
method in the madness I see - I go every year for a week fishing, walking and drinking (but not necessarily in that order) with a couple of guys (escape the SHMBO's) so maybe next year.
Regards - Chris
method in the madness I see - I go every year for a week fishing, walking and drinking (but not necessarily in that order) with a couple of guys (escape the SHMBO's) so maybe next year.
Regards - Chris
robin wood
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Only just came across this thread and very nice it is too. Love how those stones look, the whole spirit of going prospecting for them and everything, hats off to you. Like the wine too, why rough it?
Has anyone worked with one of these stones who has good experience of other stones to compare them to? What sort of grit are they working out and how fast are they cutting? are folk using them with water or oil? I would love to try one.
Has anyone worked with one of these stones who has good experience of other stones to compare them to? What sort of grit are they working out and how fast are they cutting? are folk using them with water or oil? I would love to try one.
They are great stones, I have three and they're all very consistent as far as grit goes, they leave an extremely polished edge, to compare it to a Japanese water stone I'd say around 6,000 possibly below or above, I've ran some sharpish blades over the stones and been left with hair splitting edges, an interesting observation that I've noticed it that if you sharpen a knife on the one of the stones and don't strop it it won't be extremely sharp but then when you do stop it the blade becomes razor sharp.
I lubricate my stones with water.
robin wood
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Sounds good, which stones are you comparing them to? King 6000? or which other stones do you use? Have you used them side by side to compare?
Wow,excellent thread.Your pictures are great.The stones are absolutely beautiful.So many questions were rolling around in my head when I first read what you posted,but thankfully have been answered by reading what others have posted.
One off topic question though:could someone please tell me about the stone walls?I would assume they've been built as property boundaries and also serve to contain livestock?Forgive my ignorance as I'm sure I'm asking a question that even the youngest child knows the answer to.
One off topic question though:could someone please tell me about the stone walls?I would assume they've been built as property boundaries and also serve to contain livestock?Forgive my ignorance as I'm sure I'm asking a question that even the youngest child knows the answer to.
robin wood
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
You presume right. Most of these dry stone walls date from the enclosure acts of the 18th and 19th centuries. Before that the land was open with multiple shared grazing rights. The enclosure acts did away with communal and multiple ownership split the land up and the new owners put the walls up or planted hedges. It was very controversial at the time. Not all walls or hedges are of that date some are much older, with local knowledge it is possible to tell which. Enclosure act walls and hedges tend to be relatively straight or regular smooth lines as if following a line drawn on a map whereas older ones tend to be more higgledy piggledy following the lie of the land more. The areas of previously open fields/enclosure acts roughly correlates to the areas of Saxon and Viking settlement. So in areas I know say Essex north of the A120 the hedgerows are all 18th and 19th c to the south they are generally 1000 years old.
I LOVE these stones and was lucky enough to be sent some through the gift-it-on thread. If you want to make your stones even more multi-functional you could round off one side of the stone so that it can be used more easily to sharpen recurved blades.
Those three on the far right in the pictures above looks like really nice stones, are they still available?
Those three on the far right in the pictures above looks like really nice stones, are they still available?
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those stones look great, they look like the viking water stones, that ragweed forge are selling, if you would like to sell me one, that would make my day.
take care guys
all the best
lee.
take care guys
all the best
lee.
robin wood
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
I loved the idea of using natural stones like these but wanted to try a larger piece alongside the range of benchstones I know. Dan cut me the biggest piece he had and tonight I put it to the test alongside a range of stones from King, Spiderco, Shapton as well as some natural Japanese stones.
They performed surprisingly well, I used my trusty frosts 106, I know exactly how this knife feels on stones of different grits. I cut alternately diagonally then straight with different stones and looked at the resulting grooved surface with 30x magnification to compare the results.
The first thing to note was the stones gave a lot of feel, that is they grip the knife nicely as you cut, sometimes hard fine stones can give little feedback and the knife skates on them like on glass. Second they removed metal reasonably quickly, another failing of many hard fine stones. Third they produced a good compromise polished working edge, not as fine as I normally go for woodcarving knives but a good edge very comparable to the king brand 6000. In fact the finish under magnification of the King 6000, the Shapton 5000 and the Moughton Scar stone was almost identical. A knife finished straight from this stone would be good though I went on to my 12000 Japanese natural stone and finished on the Shapton 16000. A very similar effect can be had by finishing with autosol metal polish smeared on a piece of MDF.
I can see why these stones were popular in their day. They are beautiful and work as well as the king brand 6000 grit stone. For a little stone to touch up a knife in the field I think they would take a lot of beating.
Thanks Dan for all the work, walking, cutting packing and posting, it is a joy to have a stone with that sort of provenance.
They performed surprisingly well, I used my trusty frosts 106, I know exactly how this knife feels on stones of different grits. I cut alternately diagonally then straight with different stones and looked at the resulting grooved surface with 30x magnification to compare the results.
The first thing to note was the stones gave a lot of feel, that is they grip the knife nicely as you cut, sometimes hard fine stones can give little feedback and the knife skates on them like on glass. Second they removed metal reasonably quickly, another failing of many hard fine stones. Third they produced a good compromise polished working edge, not as fine as I normally go for woodcarving knives but a good edge very comparable to the king brand 6000. In fact the finish under magnification of the King 6000, the Shapton 5000 and the Moughton Scar stone was almost identical. A knife finished straight from this stone would be good though I went on to my 12000 Japanese natural stone and finished on the Shapton 16000. A very similar effect can be had by finishing with autosol metal polish smeared on a piece of MDF.
I can see why these stones were popular in their day. They are beautiful and work as well as the king brand 6000 grit stone. For a little stone to touch up a knife in the field I think they would take a lot of beating.
Thanks Dan for all the work, walking, cutting packing and posting, it is a joy to have a stone with that sort of provenance.
Post #1 http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=46727
Post #3 in first blue link So your 3 years behind and it's on BCUK no need for Google, but that's OK thanks for interest
cheers Danny
