Don Berry wrote:
> .....Bah, humbug!  SS just ain't all that special.  It is
> reasonbly convenient if one hasn't already obtained a basic set
> of stones and some means for buffing/polishing, but it's not
> as if takes your irons and chisels into a a new range of
> sharpness previously unknown outside of Tibet.

Jeff Gorman replies:
> Dead right Don! But all credit to Steve LaMantia for a brilliant
> new name for an old idea.

Steve agrees & adds his:
> ....philosophy stuff....
and then a plausible theory on the originator's cuts. (I should know)

then Don Berry returns:
> ....I obviously underestimated (or neglected) the fact that many
> newer folks hadn't seen a really keen edge before.....

That is true.  And they're clearly impressed once they go forth and
actually use it.  They run to show their SWMBO, and shout it out to 
all that will listen...."I am a woodworker!!!"  A serious ego boost.

But really, many of us have already been there, some for many years.
I'd like to believe that I'm an intermediate level user/collector.
I'm certainly way beyond when I was sharpening on sandpaper years ago
(long before the trademark) but hopefully not foolish enough to think
that I'm actually on par with a few of the guys at that CRAFTS picnic
last Sunday, most whom are not even members of this group.

But to make this post more than just opinions, and actually something
useful, here's some general info and substance....

First, back in the December 1983 issue of Fine Homebuilding, there's
a very good article on sharpening by John Lively, where he mentions
a 50yr old master craftsman working with him in a small woodworking 
shop in Texas, who had served his formal apprenticeship in Mexico.
This dude was an illegal, so was being underpaid for his skills and
didn't have a good set of stones.  And yet, at the end of each day,
he would re-hone his tools for the next day, using guess what?
Yep, Silicon Carbide sand paper (before the trademark).

Second, here's some general info on abrasives & sharpening stones
from Norton themselves that was published a few years back.

Silcon Carbide (SiC) is actually coke & silica fired at 4500F degrees
which forms a solid block, which is then crushed in size, continuously,
to obtain the desired grit size for abrasive particles.  Norton's
Crytolon(tm) stones are made from SiC, as are Carborumbun stones.

Alumimun Oxide (AlO) is made from bauxite, coke, and iron pilings,
fired and crushed in the same manner as above.  Emery, Saphire, 
and Ruby are all natural forms of AlO with impurities.
The abrasive in Norton's India(tm) oilstone is AlO.

Sic is actually harder & can cut faster than AlO, but an India oilstone
is actually harder, will last longer & cut finer than a Crystolon, because 
of the bond that is used.  Actually a ceramic-type bond, as opposed to a 
resin, shellac, or sodium-silcate type.  I'd guess that one of these bonds
are used for AlO waterstones, to allow them to break down & form a slurry.
Another factor which makes India oilstone harder is the pressure used to 
create its form & density prior to it being fired (again).

Natural oilstones are great too, next up from the man made India is
the Washita, then the soft-Arkansas, then the hard-white, and finally
the hard-black.  Unfortunately the quarry is dry, and the new ones
don't really measure up to the old ones.  Hence the popularity of
waterstones, which are just fine.  Roy Underhill does provide a nice
look at a variety of traditional natural oilstones, in one of his
books, many of which I'm sure were fully capable of SS(tm) results.
Certainly I've seen that the finer stones in the Arkansas family are.

I prefer oilstones, because their tradition, because I already own MANY,
& because the results are excellent.  I've used a variety of alternatives,
including SiC paper (which is great for the initial work on rusty irons).

The polishing/buffing that Don refers to is different then honing.
A fine hard-arkansas is cool, but inbetween, a leather strop or a 
hard-felt wheel charged with a fine compound like the Veritas green,
or Dico's Stainless (similar, different base) is easier then pulling
out the stones & can of oil.  Some use Tripoli or Jewler's Rouge etc.
But I like something more aggressive for polishing the hard steel.
Talk about a mirror on the back of your blade (like it really even
matters 2" away from the edge, right Don ).

Hope some of this was good reading.

Walter
who'll soon introduce QuickLap(tm) to blow away your SS(tm)