The South African sharpening stone

[bsfsu]

I've been looking at old NZ papers and have come across references to the
"South African sharpening stone" some old ads say it's better than a Turkish stone, good for knives, axes, scissors, sharpens everything except wit etc..

I have not heard of this stone, does anyone know about the "South African Stone??

 

[KingShapton]

I've been looking at old NZ papers and have come across references to the
"South African sharpening stone" some old ads say it's better than a Turkish stone, good for knives, axes, scissors, sharpens everything except wit etc..
View attachment 167314
I have not heard of this stone, does anyone know about the "South African Stone??

The only two stones that I know of from Africa are the Zulu Grey and another stone that was sold by the same seller.

I think the website was called zulugrey.com, it's currently under construction, but I don't know how long it's been like that.

The Zulu Grey was a very fine stone, said to be 8-12k, more of a razor finisher. The razor community was divided on the stone.

The other stone from the seller is said to have been more suitable for knives, 6-8k from my memory. But I don't know of anyone who has tried this other stone.

With a little searching you should be able to find info on the stone in the razor community...

 

[bsfsu]

The only two stones that I know of from Africa are the Zulu Grey and another stone that was sold by the same seller.

I think the website was called zulugrey.com, it's currently under construction, but I don't know how long it's been like that.

The Zulu Grey was a very fine stone, said to be 8-12k, more of a razor finisher. The razor community was divided on the stone.

The other stone from the seller is said to have been more suitable for knives, 6-8k from my memory. But I don't know of anyone who has tried this other stone.

With a little searching you should be able to find info on the stone in the razor community...

I have come across the Zulu Grey as I trawled through the Google results.


I've been doing some more research (googling) and the "South African sharpening stone" was only sold by 1 engravers shop in Auckland NZ around 1880's/90's. I presume it was a family who brought a box of stones from SA (perhaps bought along the way?)when they arrived in NZ.

I think maybe a fruit less search.

 

[cotedupy]

I've been looking at old NZ papers and have come across references to the
"South African sharpening stone" some old ads say it's better than a Turkish stone, good for knives, axes, scissors, sharpens everything except wit etc..
View attachment 167314
I have not heard of this stone, does anyone know about the "South African Stone??

This is very interesting! I thought I knew a fair amount about recherche sharpening stones, but I'd not come across mention of this until now. Keep us updated if you uncover more about it...

 

[kayman67]

+1. Never heard of it and had and read about lots of stones.

 

[Skylar303]

What I found as it piqued my interest.

Definitely not the same source, but probably the same type of stone. Along with the Zulu.

The other type is most likely Claystone.

What is said about said stone. - "Their medium-to-hard grades make them ideal middle and finishing - naka-to and shiage-to - stones. These natural stones dish more slowly than their modern, synthetic counterparts, and last much longer. Cut parallel to the sedimentary layers, the stone's face is uniform grit size and offers an even, high quality sharpening surface." Then kind of goes into a sales pitch...

Sorry for the horrible photos... (Camera pic from another screen...)

What I found anyways. Hope it was helpful. Maybe you can narrow your results more with 'claystone' as a keyword. Because my first few searches as you mentioned were pretty fruitless... Almost comical, on what 'Google' thought I was trying to search...

 

[KingShapton]

What I found as it piqued my interest.

Definitely not the same source, but probably the same type of stone. Along with the Zulu.

The other type is most likely Claystone.

What is said about said stone. - "Their medium-to-hard grades make them ideal middle and finishing - naka-to and shiage-to - stones. These natural stones dish more slowly than their modern, synthetic counterparts, and last much longer. Cut parallel to the sedimentary layers, the stone's face is uniform grit size and offers an even, high quality sharpening surface." Then kind of goes into a sales pitch...

Sorry for the horrible photos... (Camera pic from another screen...)

What I found anyways. Hope it was helpful. Maybe you can narrow your results more with 'claystone' as a keyword. Because my first few searches as you mentioned were pretty fruitless... Almost comical, on what 'Google' thought I was trying to search...

Wow! These pics are stunning!

 

[Skylar303]

Wow! These pics are stunning!

At a glance you'd almost think "jnat". Edit. Also that's the same stone (I think) front and back.

 

[Grayswandir]

Very interesting looking stone. How much did it cost?

 

[stringer]

At a glance you'd almost think "jnat". Edit. Also that's the same stone (I think) front and back.

That seller advertises their products as Japanese inspired but South African sourced. I don't know if it would have relationship to the historic advertisements. But definitely intriguing on is own merit

 

[cotedupy]

Blimey that is pretty! I'm fairly tempted to pick one up. At least as much for the utterly excellent tag line on the website... 'Where WA meets ZA.'

[And, I've just looked at the ZAR to AUSD exchange rate... maybe I won't pick one up after all!]

 

[KingShapton]

Blimey that is pretty! I'm fairly tempted to pick one up. At least as much for the utterly excellent tag line on the website... 'Where WA meets ZA.'

[And, I've just looked at the ZAR to AUSD exchange rate... maybe I won't pick one up after all!]

Am I missing something? Somehow I don't see any dimensions of the stone in the online shop...?!

The numbers given are not explained in detail either...or am I blind?

I find the price differences within the numbers strange...it doesn't go up or down continuously...more like a zigzag line...I must have overlooked something?!

I checked also the exchange-rate...really not cheap...

 

[Skylar303]

Am I missing something? Somehow I don't see any dimensions of the stone in the online shop...?!

The numbers given are not explained in detail either...or am I blind?

I find the price differences within the numbers strange...it doesn't go up or down continuously...more like a zigzag line...I must have overlooked something?!

I checked also the exchange-rate...really not cheap...

No I couldn't find weight or dimensions either... Could be a pocket stone size for all we know... And that's one of the cheap ones..

Edit-Yeah and I wonder how much shipping to the EU, much less the States would be...

 

[Skylar303]

Very interesting looking stone. How much did it cost?

Hey, not my stone just one I found while searching and wasn't sure if posting the link/site would be acceptable. But gave people keywords they need to find it. Probably nice jnat range? Again not sure if posting their prices are acceptable.