Search results

Koalas are normally pretty grumpy and aggressive, but one summer we had a female around our garden who was the opposite - very friendly, inquisitive, and calm around humans. When I was working down in the shed at night (Koalas are nocturnal) she'd often come sit in the doorway and watch. We...

FWIW - there were still commercial, wooden, square-rigged sailing ships being used up until about WW2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moshulu

This was a slightly unfair question tbh... On the right is a Morihei Japanese oyster shucker. Which they grind with a single bevel, like a sturdy kiridashi / marking knife. The left is a Meuchi spike. Intended for nailing the heads of live eels to a board, to stop them thrashing about too much...

You should become a member J! ;)

I'm not certain on this but it may be that Kom Kom are the slightly more premium version of Kiwis. It's the same company certainly. This is the one I got, cost the equivalent of about $5 USD: https://www.chopchopchop.co.uk/173.html

Yep, about that. They are (almost) paper thin.

I almost mentioned Kiwis actually... I also lived in Aus for the last few years, and they were everywhere in kitchens. Don't see them so much here, though perhaps because they're even cheaper in Aus if that website is anything to go by. People there basically treat them as disposable (for better...

I couldn't agree more! I think I said earlier in this thread, but it's actually quite difficult to completely f up a knife handle. Global manage it pretty comprehensively though, with all their 'sand-filled' nonsense marketing bollix. Not my favourite knives generally; they don't really have...

Very interesting thread here @D_W, especially all the stuff about steel and HT, which I think I said before is an aspect of knives and knifemaking I don't know so much about. FWIW though... AEB-L is a very popular steel in the 'kitchen knife community', it's the preferred stainless option for a...

I worked for about ten years kinda in and around the London restaurant industry, and had customers ranging from pubs to posh Michelin starred places. Regardless of how fancy somewhere is - Victorinox knives are basically a constant in professional kitchens, I probably saw them as much as every...

I've never even heard of a Pig Sticker. Looks very cool, what do you use it for? It reminds me slightly of one of my most used tools, on the right here along with my the other thing I use a lot. Anyone fancy having a guess what these two are...?

What grinder do you use D? Variable 2x72s seem popular in the knife world...

I think the descriptions of use on the 'normal' grey Tams referred mostly to the size and shape of the stone. With those ones that talk about carpenters tools being for larger more bench stone type ones. Here's a weird oval stick one I have for pruning shears and secateurs. Which I made a...

Yep - those swirly patterns are certainly very Dalmore-like on that Idwal. Another few thing's I've been lucky to find; Water of Ayr x Tam O'Shanter Dual Hone, Fine Tam, and White Tam. These are all 8" stones, I've never seen another WTOS this size.

Yep, this is exactly my take on how they're working. Some Idwals can finish razors very finely indeed because they're so hard (notably harder than CFs) and relatively slow, but under a scope they're certainly not as pure, compact or fine as a translucent ark. Though there is variability in them...

Another little bit of history... The term 'novaculite' was coined by Richard Kirwan in the late 18th century in his Mineralogy. And the greenish-grey stone he describes is clearly what we know now as Llyn Idwal, even down to its flaty and fplintery fracutre. The black and white stone mentioned...

Novaculites are effectively metamorphosed (thermally) forms of Chert, altering the structure of the silica more toward 'cryptocrystalline'. They cut depending on how rough the surface is, which is impacted by a few different things including friability and porosity. Washitas and Arkansas stones...

Yep - for kitchen knives something around 1k is a very good catch-all grit level to go for. For a synthetic stone - the King Deluxe range come at 800, 1k and 1.2k, and are excellent for the price. Though being in the UK you can also find old Washitas fairly cheaply if you look around. One of...

@essexalan - Speaking of Welsh slates, here's an interesting one, which perhaps you may have come across in your travels...? I now have three of these stones, one of which I found in Australia in fact. I've seen a few other examples too, most often being mis-identified or mis-sold as...

Ah cheers! I understand there are few smaller quarries around LM, and not all of them are for the slate hones. There is at least one that apparently has green Idwal-like rock there too. I have a few various different YL Oilstones, including an Idwal Yellow lake, and one of the older purple...