TC Blades

Japanese style Kitchen knives

TC Blades
Contact us at:

info@tcblades.com

Natural hones & Whetstones

Natural whetstones & hones

Anyone who takes their knives and / or straight razors seriously inevitably finds themselves involved to some extent with the use of whetstones and hones.There comes a point where one becomes very aware of the subtle differences between natural and man-made products, and it is usually at this point where the dilemma regarding the use of synthetic VS natural comes to light as well.

TC Blades Natural whetstone collection Part of our collection

Owning fine blades, goes hand in hand with honing & sharpening them. The finest whetstones and hones usually come from nature. They are a rare instance where geology, chemistry, crystallography, and physics come together as one, to form a substance so suited for sharpening and polishing a blade that it is rarely out done by something man made.

However, as these are natural and most often rare objects , the cost of high quality natural hones and whetstones is considerably higher than that of most synthetic ones, and with the depletion of natural resources the price of such objects is almost sure to rise in the future.

Already there are hones that are all but extinct save for a precious few items in private collections. Stones such as the venerable "cutler's green", for example, are not to be found.

The Negev desert in Israel The Arid Israeli Desert.

We collect natural whetstones and hones. We use these stones to polish and sharpen the finest of the blades we produce. These stones come from as far away as Japan and New Zealand, but some come from right here in the Israeli desert.

The process of finding these stones, retrieving, classifying , cutting, lapping, boxing, and documenting them is VERY labor intensive, and often requires a financial investment as well. The final product however is high grade, rare, and in most cases well worth the investment.

snake Retrieving the material from the field does not come without risk of personal injury.

We often go hiking in the desert, The wealth of geological material in plain site allows us to find suitable material to cut into a hone from time to time (sometimes a few hones - but not much more). Some of these hones we use in our shop - others are sold (IF and WHEN there is any extra material).

rapelling We are willing to go the extra mile - sometimes even vertically.

It's always a gamble. Looks can be deceiving. Not every stone we bring back from the field is of high enough quality to use. More often than not we will see something that looks like it can be a good hone, only to discover that it is a low grade lump of junk. We never let this discourage us - it's all part of the adventure.

Raw material for cutting out hones Raw material brought in from the field.

Retrieving the material from the field is a difficult task and is not without risk of personal injury. There are vast empty areas to navigate. Sometime we have to hike for quite a few miles into - and out of some pretty arid desert with no roads in site. We navigate by compass and map (GPS cannot always be trusted here).

Some of the terrain has tall crumbly cliffs that have to be negotiated. The area is abundant with reptiles and insects - some of them very poisonous. We often meet with them when looking through a pile of stones, and it is NEVER a pleasant surprise.

This however, is just the first part of the job.

Washed sample, ready for further testing.

Once we get back with the material, we usually consult with friends and colleagues in an attempt to identify and classify the material. Special thanks to Avi, Rei, Charles, Dani, Vlado, and everyone else, for their time and effort - and for putting up with our nonsense).

Microscopic structure of the sample.

The material is acid tested, photographed, macro photographed, and sometimes photographed under a microscope.

Then, we test some sample to see how they perform as a whetstone. We do this by honing our knives on these samples. If the sample proves to be "hone worthy" the material is cut into slabs, then lapped and boxed in acacia wood. Some will become part of our collection. If we have extra material we offer it to other collectors world wide.

Cut, lapped & boxed hones - all set to ship.

All the stones we offer are cut and lapped. Some are even slabbed and boxed in Acacia wood. Others, are cut and lapped - but left as a "slice" of the larger rock they came from. These may be offered simply as a slice, or mounted on a wooden base.