Thread: Natural Stones

I experimented with one of our local building stones, Kanmantoo Bluestone, when I first started to use Japanese natural waterstones. It is a micaceous siltstone from the Early Cambrain period. To me it looked similar to some of the Japanese natural stones so I thought I would give it a go. I cut a piece with the diamond saw and flattened it with diamond. The piece I selected turned out to be very hard and produced almost no slurry. Perhaps not all that different to the very hard finishing stones that the Japanese use with Nagura stone as a lubricant.

As others have said of their stone supply, after cutting many tons of Kanmantoo Bluestone I have found it to be variable in its colour, particle size, density and hardness. When I get the time, I must try some softer pieces to see how they compare. As can be seen from the picture below (workshop on left), I still have a supply to select from

Neil

I too am curious to know how they would perform as water stones. They certainly look good in the walk and walls. There's a lot of nice stone work there (hard work too I imagine). Beautiful job Neil.

Steve