::  -----Original Message-----
::  From: oldtools-bounces@r...
::  [mailto:oldtools-bounces@r...]On Behalf Of
::  Sgt42RHR@a...
::  Sent: 19 September 2009 16:14
::  To: oldtools@r...
::  Subject: Re: [OldTools] 18th Century Evidence about 18th Century
::  Sharpening
::
::  Do you know if the Charnley Forest stones are also novaculite
::  or are they a
::   form of slate (note Christopher Gabriel's specific reference to "Blue
::  Stone" as  separate from Turkey Stone.

It must be about 50 years ago when I visited the site of a former quarry of
Charnley Forest stones near the village of Nanpantan near Loughborough in
Leicestershire, in an area known as Charnwood Forest.

When we were ferreting around an elderly gent charged up the slope and
demanded to know what we were doing. When we said we were looking for
fragements, he said that if we could answer questions about woodworking,
he'd let us take what we could find. I can't recall his questions, but we
passed his test and took away some pieces whose form suggests that they are
slate-like.

I do recall posting a chunk to a Galoot (apologies for forgetting his name)
who, when working it, was disappointed to find a fairly large flaw, possibly
explaining why the site was abandoned.

I think I've still got one or two pieces, only one small fragment has been
flattened for use for sharpening my penknife - Not having a diamond saw, I
haven't tried cutting and flattening anything elso, and I've already got a
'proper' stone mounted in a box.

As a matter of possible interest, in our training workshop at Loughborough,
we had a flattened but irregularly shaped fragment (set, I think, in plaster
of Paris) that must have beem about 10" long and  6 or 7 inches at the
widest part. Our tutor said that there was no need to make it rectangular
and we had a greater area to work on anyway.

Jeff
--
Jeff Gorman, West Yorkshire, UK
http://www.amgron.clara.net

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