Cheshirechappie
Established Member
AndyT's thread on his vintage Llyn Melynllyn honing stone brought forth a bit of a diversion when the currently available equivalent was mentioned by Graham Haydon. I now offer grovelling apologies to Graham for stealing his thunder - since I too have invested in a Dragon's Tongue ( http://www.inigojones.co.uk/products/Honing-Stone.php ), with the intention of seeing if it could be used as part of an economical but effective sharpening system - and out of sheer curiosity!
These stones are made to order, so delivery isn't instant. Mine took three weeks, which is well inside the 28 days stated on the website. The packaging was superb - lots of bubble wrap. I ordered two - one for proper, and one to 'abuse' to see what would hurt it - the total cost for two stones including postage and packing was about £26, so that's about £13 for one. The size is 8" x 2" x 1/2", with both faces ground flat, but the edges and ends still 'from the saw'.
First impressions are very good. A perusal of the razor forums revealed that they rated the stone at about 8000 grit, and it is definitely a polishing or finishing stone - it needs to be paired with a faster-cutting Norton India or similar for repairing dulled edges, leaving the slate stone to do refining work only.
When first out of the box, the stone has a sort of 'fuzz' or grinding roughness that works off leaving a surface with a fell like polished marble. The razor forums reckoned that a new stone should be 'dressed' with very fine wet-and-dry to take this 'fuzz' off, and in retrospect, it's good advice. The stone definitely gives a better finish to a tool once the 'fuzz' has gone.
The box states that water is recommended as a lubricant, but I used mine with baby oil to see if it would fit in a sharpening system with a Norton India combination stone and as little complexity as possible. So, same lubricant for all honing. It worked fine, the oil becoming stained as the stone cut metal. If AndyT's experience with his Llyn Melynllyn sone is a guide, a thinner lubricant would be better than a thick one, and as the slate is impermeable, something like paraffin could work really well.
As my current woodworking project involves fenceposts, tanalised timber and rain dribbling down the back of my neck, I havent really had need of ultra-fine edges recently. However, I did restore a rather nice secondhand 1 1/4" FLL b/e chisel that my sister and brother-in-law found in a junk shop and bought for me as a Christmas present. The flat face wasn't too bad, but the edge was badly chipped - so a new primary was formed on a grinder. The flat face was brightened up on the fine side of the India, then worked on the slate to give the edge a good finish. It was slow work, but improved the finish from the India quite markedly - quite a nice polish, in fact. The bevel was quicker work - India then slate again - and the resulting edge cut paper, arm-hair and even endgrain wood very easily. It's as good as a stropped edge, and I felt possibly a tad better.
One slight negative is that I found the stone did take a mark a bit if abused, though the mark seemed to disappear in the oil and I can't find the damage (if indeed there was any) when the oil was cleaned off. So it's a lot harder than waterstones, though maybe not as hard as a translucent Arkansas. Another point is that it needs a box to get the stone surface a couple of inches off the bench - using it without a box means having it close to the bench edge to avoid chisel handles fouling the bench surface when backing off. (That means your toes are at risk if you drop the chisel - don't ask, except to say that I'd forgotten I could dance like that....)
Could the Dragon's Tongue make a useful addition to the Tightwad's Sharpening Setup? First impressions are that as long as you can put up with it's being a slow-cutting stone used only to refine edges when the fine India isn't quite good enough, then yes it could. At less than £15 a throw delivered, you certainly can't lose much!
These stones are made to order, so delivery isn't instant. Mine took three weeks, which is well inside the 28 days stated on the website. The packaging was superb - lots of bubble wrap. I ordered two - one for proper, and one to 'abuse' to see what would hurt it - the total cost for two stones including postage and packing was about £26, so that's about £13 for one. The size is 8" x 2" x 1/2", with both faces ground flat, but the edges and ends still 'from the saw'.
First impressions are very good. A perusal of the razor forums revealed that they rated the stone at about 8000 grit, and it is definitely a polishing or finishing stone - it needs to be paired with a faster-cutting Norton India or similar for repairing dulled edges, leaving the slate stone to do refining work only.
When first out of the box, the stone has a sort of 'fuzz' or grinding roughness that works off leaving a surface with a fell like polished marble. The razor forums reckoned that a new stone should be 'dressed' with very fine wet-and-dry to take this 'fuzz' off, and in retrospect, it's good advice. The stone definitely gives a better finish to a tool once the 'fuzz' has gone.
The box states that water is recommended as a lubricant, but I used mine with baby oil to see if it would fit in a sharpening system with a Norton India combination stone and as little complexity as possible. So, same lubricant for all honing. It worked fine, the oil becoming stained as the stone cut metal. If AndyT's experience with his Llyn Melynllyn sone is a guide, a thinner lubricant would be better than a thick one, and as the slate is impermeable, something like paraffin could work really well.
As my current woodworking project involves fenceposts, tanalised timber and rain dribbling down the back of my neck, I havent really had need of ultra-fine edges recently. However, I did restore a rather nice secondhand 1 1/4" FLL b/e chisel that my sister and brother-in-law found in a junk shop and bought for me as a Christmas present. The flat face wasn't too bad, but the edge was badly chipped - so a new primary was formed on a grinder. The flat face was brightened up on the fine side of the India, then worked on the slate to give the edge a good finish. It was slow work, but improved the finish from the India quite markedly - quite a nice polish, in fact. The bevel was quicker work - India then slate again - and the resulting edge cut paper, arm-hair and even endgrain wood very easily. It's as good as a stropped edge, and I felt possibly a tad better.
One slight negative is that I found the stone did take a mark a bit if abused, though the mark seemed to disappear in the oil and I can't find the damage (if indeed there was any) when the oil was cleaned off. So it's a lot harder than waterstones, though maybe not as hard as a translucent Arkansas. Another point is that it needs a box to get the stone surface a couple of inches off the bench - using it without a box means having it close to the bench edge to avoid chisel handles fouling the bench surface when backing off. (That means your toes are at risk if you drop the chisel - don't ask, except to say that I'd forgotten I could dance like that....)
Could the Dragon's Tongue make a useful addition to the Tightwad's Sharpening Setup? First impressions are that as long as you can put up with it's being a slow-cutting stone used only to refine edges when the fine India isn't quite good enough, then yes it could. At less than £15 a throw delivered, you certainly can't lose much!
