Clear Creek Stones by Norton

[Nicholas Lawrence]

I was looking for information about Norton Arkansas stones in response to another thread and I ran across something called the "Clear Creek" stone Norton sells. They bill it as a softer, cheaper alternative to an Arkansas stone. Has anyone tried one? They are on Amazon for about $20.

[Mel Fulks]

I'm guessing it is the stone "formerly known as Queer Creek" It's from this country and has always been cheaper than
Washita stones. It's slower and and little finer.

[Warren Mickley]

I bought a Queer Creek stone in 1983 because I wanted insight into historical sharpening methods. Before synthetic stones began (maybe 1870), there were rub stones, rag stones, and oil stones or hones. Rub stones were generally sandstone, rag stones were usually schist, and oil stones were novaculite, Arkansas stones stones, Turkey stones or similar. The Pike Company, which was later part of Norton, got its start mining schist.

The Queer Creek stone, now called Clear Creek, is a fine sandstone from Ohio. It is somewhat finer than the Ohio sandstone that is famous for grindstones. I would call it a water stone. Because its natural binder is harder than we would usually design for a synthetic coarse stone, it is susceptible to glazing. It is serviceable as a coarse stone, though.

I used to use Queer Creek as an example of how sloppy the grit comparison charts were. It showed up between soft Arkansas and hard Arkansas. Nobody who used these stones would think that right. I does not polish like the Washita stone.

[Nicholas Lawrence]

Warren, that is helpful, thank you. How do they compare to the India stones?