Novaculite Localities

The most famous locality for novaculite is where the Arkansas Novaculite Formation outcrops in the Ouachita Mountains of central Arkansas and southeastern Oklahoma. It is a Devonian to Mississippian-age rock unit that ranges from about 60 feet thick in the northern Ouachitas to about 900 feet thick in the southern Ouachitas.

Outcrops of the Arkansas Novaculite Formation are prominent landscape features of the Ouachita Mountains. Compared to most other types of rock, novaculite is very resistant to chemical and physical weathering. This makes it a ridge-former and a cliff-former in the areas where it outcrops. Peaks, cliffs, and ridges formed by novaculite are prominent landscape features of the Ouachitas.

**Arkansas novaculite sharpening stones:** Sharpening stones made of Arkansas novaculite. The white stone has a coarse texture for initial sharpening, the mottled stone has an intermediate texture for resharpening, and the black stone has a very fine texture for honing an ultrasharp edge. The stones are used with a drop of oil that lubricates the sharpening strokes and keeps metal from loading the pore spaces in the stone. Stones are about two inches wide, six inches in length and 1/2 inch thick.

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Novaculite Localities

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