a rock that has been quietly making knives sharper since before the united states had refrigeration.
means a natural whetstone quarried from novaculite, a hard fine-grained silica rock, used for honing edges on blades and tools.
from named for the ouachita mountains of arkansas, where thick beds of novaculite formed over 300 million years ago from ancient seafloor sediment, later quarried commercially starting in the 1800s.
translucent arkansas stone — finest grade, used for razor and surgical edges, near-white and dense
black arkansas stone — hardest natural novaculite, prized by machinists for final polish
hot springs quarries — garland county, arkansas, the historic center of novaculite mining
washita stone — softer, coarser cousin from the same region, used for initial sharpening