Aloxite is an abbreviation of aluminum oxide, in 1890 a clever Pennsylvania man named Edward Goodrich Acheson was trying to create diamonds by superheating carbon. It didn't work, but further experimentation with carbon and clay resulted in a brick with tiny specks of silicon carbide that would scratch glass. This was the first manufactured sharpening stone, and probably for reasons of the newfangled stuff called electricity, Acheson moved his company to Niagara Falls, NY. From the company website.
Canadian Carborundum was the Canadian branch located just across the river. It was in operation till at least 1960 or so and the parent Carborundum company is still an important player in abrasives, currently owned by the French company Saint-Gobain.
I held out for the longest time telling myself "who needs those newfangled diamond stones; my oil and water stones work just fine." Then one day I was at Menards and they had a diamond stone set on sale and I picked it up just to try them out and that was the end of that. I still use my Japanese water stones now and then because the tactile feel of the stone disintegrating and forming a slurry is so nice (and I inherited a lifetime supply of stones) but my oil stones have been relegated to honing gardening tools. Now I'm starting to think about cubic boron nitride grinding wheels since they last forever and never need truing or dressing...
ReplyDeleteThat is a nice stone in the picture.
I did the same with diamond burrs for sharpening chainsaws. They're great. And... I should have bought that stone.
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