Bearing Block

[chris_r]

I picked up a pebble at the beach at the weekend with a view to using it as a bearing block for bow drill. Seems I made a good choice as it polished up quite well. The stone on the left shows what it looked like before, and the stone on the right is my new bearing block. Looks a little like soapstone. Any amateur geologists out there?


12042011072 by gibbermonkey, on Flickr

 

[mountainm]

Nice finish - what did you use to polish and make the cavity?

 

[chris_r]

Nice finish - what did you use to polish and make the cavity?

Thanks. I used a 10mm masonry bit in a drill press, so no hammer action. I then used wet and dry paper to polish it. I started at 80 grit and working up through, 120, 180, 240, 400, 600, 800 and eventually 1200. Probably took about an hour and a half. Gave it a go on a buffing wheel this morning, but in all fairness the 1200 grit gave a good result without buffing.

It works a treat too. I had an ember in about 30 seconds on her maiden run last night. Very happy.

 

[789987]

thats pretty cool... now i have the urge to polish stones

 

[The Big Lebowski]

Thats really nice...

al.