Indian Stones for grinding and smoothing

[peggy332014]

Bob suggests that we get Indian Stones for grinding or smoothing. I was looking at the different types. I even did a Google search on Indian Stones, and it was almost funny what I ended up with! They gave me old Indian relic stones, vestals and mortar sets that they use for grinding flour! 😆

Anyway, I did come across a good selection of Indian honing stones, and they have 3 types. oil stones, water stones, and diamond stones.

Which ones would be the best? : Ebay has a few good selections.

[arutha]

Peggy,
I am probably the last person who should answer this question as I have a bit of a stone fetish, if I ever see a good stone at a boot sale etc I cant help but buy it. For re-grinding tools and screwdrivers just a plain oil stone will work well. Arkansas stone is used to give you that nice final polish and a keen edge on your graver/tool bit. As a rule of thumb, if the stone is coarse it will cut faster but obviously not give such a good finish, if it is a smooth stone (hard Arkansas almost looks like glass) it will hardly cut but give you a polished finish. They do have a new ceramic stone out that is supposed to be as good as Arkansas. Diamond stones are for cutting/finishing carbide gravers etc as oil stone won’t touch them. I have some small diamond plates which are great for preparing my pivot burnishers. Enough waffle from me but hope that helps a little.
Paul.

[peggy332014]

Thank you Arutha! That answer works for me! Hubby has a three-sided Arkansas stone he uses all the time. I was looking through Bob’s suggested tool list, and I’ve been trying to set up a cost list, so I can see what I can get.. a little at a time.

[david pierce]

Peggy,
The absolute best supplier of polishing stones that I know of is THE FALCON TOOL COMPANY. They have every selection of stones in various materials that is known to exist. Their prices are reasonable and if compared to a watch supply house they could be called inexpensive. In addition to the India, aluminum oxide and other standard stones, they also carry solid polycrystalline ruby and degussit stones. It is well worth checking them out on the internet.
david

[willofiam]

@peggy332014 wrote:

vestals and mortar sets that they use for grinding flour! 😆

Well…..at least you could make some sort of dough in clock repair, maybe I should get some of those William

[willofiam]

whats the matter David???? I waited for you to come up with that…..are you napping lately?

[peggy332014]

😆 😆 😆 Good one William! Maybe if the parts don’t stay together after re-assembly, the dough will help them stick on! 😆 😆

Thank You David! I’ll check them out!

I had fun yesterday and today! I have a round quartz desk clock about 2 1/2″ dia. and I just wanted to see how they come apart and what they look like inside! Yup! It fell apart when I opened it up and it took me well over 6 hrs trying to figure out where all the wheel cogs go and how they went back in there.. after that I decided to just throw the thing away. Then today I decided to get it back out and was determined to get it figured out! After watching a YouTube video of how the square ones looked like, I finally got it back together and the hour and minute hands work good… it’s just the sweep hand falls off before I could put it back in the holder! 😆 😆 So, I chock that up to a learning experience! No, I didn’t take pics of it while taking it apart cause it was a cheap non-running clock anyhow! A good lithium battery would get it going again… I wonder if it will actually keep time now : 🙄 🙄 😆

[willofiam]

Great job Peggy, you have increased knowledge and skill very inexpensively, alot of working on clocks and watches is having the right dexterity, you can have all the best tools available but in how you use them will determine their actual value, nice to gain that experience now before that customers family heirloom is sitting in front of you. the first pocket watch I worked on was a real cheapy, I took it apart and put it back together 6 or7 times JUST to get familiar with using the tools and handling small parts. If you can find a cheap (even broken) hermele movement…..Just looked on ebay, search Hermele clock movement for parts….15 -25 dollars will get one. real cheap practice clock movements, and even if you dont get it running youll have some parts in the future if needed. areas to practice bushing ect…ect… Keep on keepin on Peggy , William

[peggy332014]

Hey! William! thanks for the encouragement! I’ve been wanting to get one of those Hermele movements, and even a pocket watch, but I’m going to have to wait till the first of the month when I get paid, unless I get blessed with some money before then! Most the ones I’ve seen are on auction, so I’ve had to grit my teeth and watch them go by!

[willofiam]

try this ebay # 111300011356

[peggy332014]

Thanks! William! I put it on my watch list. The lowest bid is $7, so I’ll have to see what happens. It has 3 days to go on it. Retail is $15 and $25 shipping…ouch!

I see two or three others looking pretty good, just low on funds right now… drat! 😥

[mahlon]

Hey Peggy, I just got back from a mission trip with the youth in our church and saw your post. A cheap source for Hermle movements can be found at most thrift stores. I see them all the time. Most of the cheep key wind clocks you will see have hermle movements. I find that most of them, once cleaned and oiled will run. Just make sure you take pics. before you take them apart. Also when putting them back together, take care when placing the plates back over the pivots. Then tend to brake easily. Mahlon

[peggy332014]

Hey Mahlon! A mission trip with the youth! How awesome! Brother! A mission can be very challenging! Nice to know I have a fellow brother alongside!

I’ve got a post going “My very first piece”. I’m going to be doing updates on it!

Taking pics, notes, and drawings in my notes that arutha suggested. Already is helping!

Thank you for your service with the Lord! I’ll keep you in my prayers!

Peg

[mahlon]

Thanks for your prayers Peggy. My wife and I went to cook for the 29 kids. I think we had just as much or more fun than they did. We are a little bit sore from sleeping on air matresses and having no heat for a week, but were truly blessed with the kid’s work for the Lord.They had 20 people accept Christ this week . As for reassembling movements, the hardest part for me was to remember that the time train and strike train operate independently Once you have the strike set up correctly it all seem to go like clockwork Mahlon

[peggy332014]

Hey mahlon! Ya, I do know what it’s like sleeping on air mattresses. Fortunately for the most part, when I’d go to church retreats, we had bunk beds and a fire place in the Hall auditorium. They had heaters in the dorms, but usually were turned down. I hated getting up from my sleeping bag to take a shower, which was not all that warm either.

Cooking for all them sounds like a busy time! I did a Thanksgiving dinner for our church one time. Lot’s of work! But it’s for a good cause! We did many a spaghetti dinners too. I used to live in Blythe Ca, and every year our church would have a River Float. Many churches came and we spent 3 days out there putting on some guest speakers for the youth rally, feasts in the cafeteria, and top it off floating down the Colorado River! Got burnt to a crisp, but we all had fun! Blew up a bunch of inner-tubes for everybody! My husband and I did the boat thing.. being out there in our boat for the swimmers if they got tired or cold. We had about 5 boats all together so there were plenty of help. We averaged 200 floaters every year!

Praise God for those Salvations!

Thanks for the ‘heads up’ on the time and strike! I’ll remember that!

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