Hi all,
I have the opportunity to get of a job lot of slim sharpening stones, light enough to be suitable for carrying with you on a trip -- a few grammes. The stones are described below, the trade term is 'india file' but these are actually a cylindrical stone four inches long and one-quarter inch in diameter. There's a 'medium' and a 'fine'. I can get up to about 30 of the medium and 50 of the fine:
http://www.buckandhickman.com/find/keyword-is-india+file/product-is-267595
http://www.buckandhickman.com/find/keyword-is-india+file/product-is-267594B
I don't know the exact meaning of 'medium' and 'fine' here but I'm guessing at 100-200 grit for medium and 300-400 grit for fine. I've used something similar for touching up blades for many years. Used with care for the maintenance of well-kept blades and perhaps smoothing out the odd nick I would expect one to last pretty much indefinitely. I wouldn't recommend them as your main sharpening tool as they're so small, but if you're only going to tickle an edge now and then it would serve the purpose. As they're cylindrical they could be used to sharpen plain (straight or curved) blades, but not serrated blades.
The list price in the links above is just over eight pounds plus VAT each, but given sufficient interest I'd expect to get them for about half that including UK delivery. Note that the photograph in the pages linked above is of a half-inch diameter stone, not a quarter-inch. A half-inch stone would be four times the weight. The stones can be used wet (oil or water) or dry, but if used with water they should be dried carefully before being stored. On a trip they would probably need to be protected, for example in a survival tin, as they are quite brittle and could break if crushed in your pack. I have one half of a one-inch diameter stone that was left to me by my grandfather, he broke it in two when he was a lad but it still works.
Anyone interested?
Incidentally people from the USA need not apply, the stones are made there by Norton Abrasives. They're cheaper to buy in the states and it wouldn't make sense to send them back there anyway.
I have the opportunity to get of a job lot of slim sharpening stones, light enough to be suitable for carrying with you on a trip -- a few grammes. The stones are described below, the trade term is 'india file' but these are actually a cylindrical stone four inches long and one-quarter inch in diameter. There's a 'medium' and a 'fine'. I can get up to about 30 of the medium and 50 of the fine:
http://www.buckandhickman.com/find/keyword-is-india+file/product-is-267595
http://www.buckandhickman.com/find/keyword-is-india+file/product-is-267594B
I don't know the exact meaning of 'medium' and 'fine' here but I'm guessing at 100-200 grit for medium and 300-400 grit for fine. I've used something similar for touching up blades for many years. Used with care for the maintenance of well-kept blades and perhaps smoothing out the odd nick I would expect one to last pretty much indefinitely. I wouldn't recommend them as your main sharpening tool as they're so small, but if you're only going to tickle an edge now and then it would serve the purpose. As they're cylindrical they could be used to sharpen plain (straight or curved) blades, but not serrated blades.
The list price in the links above is just over eight pounds plus VAT each, but given sufficient interest I'd expect to get them for about half that including UK delivery. Note that the photograph in the pages linked above is of a half-inch diameter stone, not a quarter-inch. A half-inch stone would be four times the weight. The stones can be used wet (oil or water) or dry, but if used with water they should be dried carefully before being stored. On a trip they would probably need to be protected, for example in a survival tin, as they are quite brittle and could break if crushed in your pack. I have one half of a one-inch diameter stone that was left to me by my grandfather, he broke it in two when he was a lad but it still works.
Anyone interested?
Incidentally people from the USA need not apply, the stones are made there by Norton Abrasives. They're cheaper to buy in the states and it wouldn't make sense to send them back there anyway.
