Howard,
Hard to answer your 'grit' question - I've not that much experience with using a varying amounts of sharpening stones - mostly I just use the Lansky for all my smaller work and a flat diamond for the larger blades, so getting in to knowing the actually grit of a stone from feel would best be ansered by someone with more experience.
The size of the flat rocks range from 8-12 inches at the widest point and 2-3 inches thick although this varies according to what the people can find. They remind me of the old Native American 'corn mills' that you find that were hollowed out sandstones. Most of these rocks are well worn from using the same areas - much like the old hardware store carborundum stones that old-timers sharpened their knives on while they hung out and talked about the weather.
Sorry but the rocks are too heavy to bring home! I imagine Customs would want to ask questions on that one also
We try to avoid 'impacting' cultures too much while we're there - as best we can. We live just as they do (eating, sleeping, bathing, ect.) and will avoid ANY senstive tribe if one of our members is sick. One of the main things you have to do is be careful when treating a sick person with 'white man's' medicine, especially if you do not know the history. An aspirin to some of these people can be like a mjor drug to us. So we do the best we can to help when asked but within reason so as not to harm.
Of course most every tribe(that I've met) there now has been exposed to some form of 'civilized' culture. I've gone many miles deep in the jungle and found a Pert shampoo bottle in the most remote hut of the region - obviously traded upriver and through the jungle by many different Indians. It's a shame, but in may ways 'civilization' is actually a curse on the people. The more we give them to 'improve' their lives the more dependent we make them on technology and less on their true survival skills. Then once the 'great white saviors' decide it's time to leave, or we run out of 'aid', money, or interest, the people are forced to return to the old way and many times it's hard on them. Especially if this has spanned generations.
The funny thing about these people is they value EVERYTHING - including empty Pert bottles. There is no waste from these cultures. Anytime they take an animal or tree from the forest every part has a purpose. Garbage to us is valuable items to them. Even the simplest things like a worn out pastic garbage bag or broken shoe string becomes a part of their very existence. Thye are true survivalists and the most innovative people I have ever met. The good old common horse sense that our culture has lost is alive and well down there.
It's a beutiful place that makes you appreciate your easy life in the States, but also makes you just a little envious of their freedom.
Hope this answered all your questions.
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Randall's Adventure & Training
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