The Stone Age????

L6steel

L6steel

Joined
Sep 23, 1999
Messages
5,855
Has anyone ever ground a blade on one of those old mill stones?? The kind Jethro used to sharpen Granny's axe. Looks like a 24" diameter wheel would make an interesting hollow grind. Or would it just be a funny looking flat grind?

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"Always think of your fellow knife makers as partners in the search for the perfect blade, not as people trying to compete with you and your work!"
 
Hey Michael, I had one of those old mill stones about 12 years ago in New Orleans. It had a very fine grit, I'd say about 300 or so. It was very slow to even sharpen with, not to mention coordinating your pedaling. I don't think you'd be able to grind a knive on it, unless you spent days pedaling. Of course I thought about adapting a motor to it,but that wheel was really heavy and it wouldn't have been worth it for the results you'd get. It was a neat old thing though, too bad it got busted up on my move North.

Jake
 
I have the stone off of one of them. It was on my great grandparents farm. Unfortunately the stand and everything was long gone when my great grandma passed away and we found it.So I never got to try using it. It is very heavy and fine though. We have it for a stepping stone outside out garage door. Walking on it for several years has produced no wear at all, and it doesn't show any signs of the use it must have saw 100 years ago. I have a feeling it got used a lot because the old farmhouse had a really big fire place. The house was heated with a coal burning stove for a while, and I bet they used wood sometimes too, along with the stove for cooking which was eventually replaced with a gas stove.And they cleared a lot of dead trees out of the woods every winter, along with soem nicer wood to cut up for lumber.

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Fix it right the first time, use Baling Wire !
 
I have heard that they are great for "deep sea diving". They will keep you down for an awful long time, especially if tied around the neck!!!

On a more serious note my granfather had one and I sure would like to know what happened to it. It probably got tossed with his other turn of the century tools. He used to sharpen lawnmower blades with it.

Check out the following site http://www.ucs.mun.ca/~t64tr/knap.html

C Wilkins

[This message has been edited by C L Wilkins (edited 01-25-2000).]
 
I have two big stones, one about 12 in Diameter and 4 inches thick(a natural stone as far as I can tell) and another brand new 18 inch by 2 1/1 inch stone (for a surface grinder I think). I have not figured out yet how to go about mounting either of these because they have large center holes. If I had a lathe I would turn two part center hub/flanges out OF MAPLE to clamp 'em up on an arbor. I was thinking of running them at a slow speed, wet, but if they would not cut but very slowly, it might not be worth the trouble.

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Matt, thats way too much of a treasure to be used as a step. Man, if it was mine it would be cleaned up and sittin in the corner of my den. Just think of the hours your Great Grandfather and your Grandfather spent sharpening things on it.
Jake, thanks for the hyperlink!! It's ashame alot of our past did get thrown out. Sure would have been nice to watch em work on one of those grind stones.
Fox Creek, I have a metal lathe. If you can come up with the material, hard wood or nylon, or even aluminum, and send them to me with the dimensions, I'd be more than happy to turn the hubs out for you.
Thanks for the relpies and info Forumites!!! Take care! Michael

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"Always think of your fellow knife makers as partners in the search for the perfect blade, not as people trying to compete with you and your work!"
 
Matt, you should clean up that old grind stone and make a nice maple or oak stand for it. I remember my grandfather had one on his Wisconsin farm about 50 years ago. Most farms had them before electric grinders became available. Brings back memories... My grandfather didn't have electric or indoor plumbing until about 1950. There's nothing like a Wisconsin outhouse when the temperature hits 20 below.
biggrin.gif


Carl
 
Michael, my neighbor boy ground out a knife on one. His father would not let him use the benchgrinder at the time. Sheffield used the Large stones to grind knives for years. If you have neighbor boys... and soda pop, you have a motor. I believe they are used wet, can suspended over wheel with a hole in the bottom. I have one, wheel only, dug up out of Granpa's junkyard, real out of round, he had started to cut it back round, but gave up. It lay buried probably 40 yrs, use it as a step until i get time to mount it and round it up.
 
L6,
I have to agree with you on that. Old tools and ways of doing things are of a lot of interest to me. I like the new ways too, Thats whats so great about knifemaking and woodworking, you get to use a little of both. If it was up to me, I'd have tried to make a new stand for it. The wheel itself is about 18 or 20" in diameter and 3 or 4" wide. The drive hole is a square about 2 inches across.The wheel is still really round to which also leads me to think that it saw alot of use. I thought about taking a 2" peice of square steel tubing and welding some pipes in the ends for the shaft, and then building it up from there. But I'd rather it be more of a replica of how it was.Maybe someday,right now my dad wouldn't be a real happy camper if he came out of the garage and steeped in a fresh hole in his driveway.

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Fix it right the first time, use Baling Wire !
 
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