Cretan Knives Skalidakis Natural Sharpening Stone of Crete Ladakono 6000/8000 Grit

Cretan Knives Skalidakis Natural Aconolite of Crete Ladakono 6000/8000 Grit. Natural knife sharpening stone of Crete (acololite), well-known as 'ladakona'. The product may have some differences from the photo, because it is natural. It is a famous traditional product of the region of Elounda (in eastern Crete), with reference already to the texts of the Iliad. The official name of the product is "Flint" but many people know it as "oil stone", "Candia stone", "Levant stone", or even as "Turkish stone". It is a natural non-metallic mineral composed of 96-99% of silicon dioxide (SiO2) that is found in micro-crystalline form of horizontal layers only in the mountains of Elounda. These layers are from 4 to 15 cm thick and are located between many and thick layers of various calcareous minerals. The mining of aconolite due to its location, rarity and inability to automate is done as before with manual tools, ie the chisel, the crowbar, the bunch and the heavy. The veins of the mineral are located, but they must be revealed one by one. The calcareous rocks are removed with dynamite and a hand compressor, thus exposing the mantle layers. Lighting a fire on the superficial vein of the aconite, due to contraction - expansion, the aconite comes off from the rock below, and we remove 10 to 40 kg aconolite boulders that are stacked in pallets of 800 to 1200 kg that are taken to the processing plant. Mining is always superficial and always from top to bottom and is a very laborious process that takes weeks. Aconopetra is a characteristic product of Elounda, which was mined in antiquity and continues to be mined today. The visitor can see on the slopes and in the hills of these mountains the cracks, dams and quarries that have been opened since antiquity. The edges have different colors from white to dark gray. The whiter the stone, the thicker the grain and the faster the sharpening process. The sharpening quality of the sharpener ranges between 6,000-8,000 Grit which ranks it worldwide in the top quality position. Water or oil can be used as a sharpening lubricant. Our tradition shows a user preference for oil (The dilute thin single engine oil the so-called 10 raki). Hence the name "ladakono". But newer tests have allowed us to find a very good behavior of the stone in sharpening with lubricating water mixed with common dishwashing detergent. We therefore unreservedly recommend the use of the sharpener with soapy water. At the end of the use the sharpener is rinsed with water and is ready for its next use. In any case, if we start using the stone with oil, we must continue only with oil. The change from oil to water requires boiling the stone for 2-3 hours With a strong detergent to remove oil residues from the body. Apart from being a traditional product that has characterized the area since antiquity, the Cretan sharpener is still a valuable tool for various modern professions. Butchers and "Chefs de Cuisine" for the maintenance of their knives, carpenters and woodcarvers for their beaks and blades, tailoring professionals for their scissors, farmers for their daily life and in general hobbyists for their outdoor activities are the privileged potential users of the Cretan stone that deserves a special place in our cultural heritage.

CRETAN NATURAL SHARPENING STONE – USER INSTRUCTIONS

 

The quality of this stone allow us to use this stone from the beginning till the finishing of every blade.  It is not necessary to use bonded abrasives to start sharpening. You can use this natural stone from the start to the end of a blade complete sharpening. You must respect the following steps:

 

 

1. Place some honing oil on the stone (any natural oil). Never use it dry. The oil will keep the steel shavings from clogging the pores of the whetstone.
2. Lay the blade across the stone as illustrated, tilting it to the desired honing angle and draw the blade across the hone in a slicing motion, sweeping the length of the hone so that the whole blade from guard to tip is passed over the hone in one motion.
3. The honing angle must be kept between 20 and 30 degrees. The larger the angle the tougher the edge. Maintaining a consistent angle is the critical factor in honing your edge, too small an angle makes a weak edge which will dull rapidly. An angle much less than 20 degrees will make the edge so thin as to bend the knife edge slightly under honing pressure and there for it cannot really be made sharp.
4. Turn the blade over and again tilt to the same honing angle and repeat the same motion as in step 2. Take equal numbers of strokes for each side. After your knife has been honed , clean your whetstone by applying more honing oil to it and rub with your fingers then wipe off excess oil with a clean cloth. You can wash away the remaining oil if desired with soap and water.

 

HISTORY AND GENERAL INFORMATION     

The stone on your hands is a natural non metallic mineral composed mainly (96-99%) from SiO2 (Silicon bioxyde) in a microcrystallised form. It is extracted from mountains beside Elounda Bay. We find these stones into the form of layers of 2 to 15 cm of thickness.

 

The Natural sharpening stone of Crete is a mineral very rare and characteristic of the region. It is mentionned in the Iliade d’Homère as a valuable sharpening tool. It was discovered at the 18^th century by French explorers. They applied to organize local extraction and they started importing this material to the South France region specially at Avignon. They have created there several factories dedicated to the elaboration and distribution of this stone.

 

Historical reports give to this stone the name of “Levant stone”. Italians and French customers also call the stone “Candia stone” from the traditional name of Iraklion. We can find the same chemical composition and the same stone quality at Arkansas. The stone is called Novaculite either Arkansas stone which have the same sharpening abilities with our stone.

 

Despite the fact that at our days most of our honing needs are fulfilled by artificial human made stones composed mainly by several carbides the true blade professionals are still remaining amateurs of our stone.

Everybody is accepting that incomparable quality of the honing procedure using our “Levant Stone”.

 

Extraction – Elaboration

Due to the very small quantity and the field morphology, the stone extraction is performed with traditional very simple tools without any automatism. Each stone is extracted by hand either with the use of simple handmade tools. Raw material is composed by stones of 5-50Kgrs. These blocks are loaded to special cutting machines and cut to the desired dimensions. After cutting the stones are polished using special polishing machines.

Use a diamond tool specially made ​​for sharpening you’ll find in our stores, a local Cretan natural stone world known as Ladakono, water or oil in a 30 degree angle on both sides or a chew High quality maintenance of the ridge.

The knife needs a little care to preserve it and enjoy the edge for a long time:

• Rinse immediately after use with warm soapy water, drying in the sun or at room temperature.
• Do not use strong detergents.
• To avoid injury when drying always hold the knife by the handle to the edge.
• Do not soak knives with handles made of natural materials for a long time.
• When storing a knife make sure that the blade is not in contact with other metal objects (other knives spoons forks etc) to avoid damage and scratches on blade.
• Store knives either in a suitcase, in a knife case, in a drawer, or in a wooden or leather case suitable for knives.