To grind and also polish stone axes they made a slits in a rock. Then they move the axe along the slitsande use water and Quartz sand in different grits, from coarse to fine. To polish the axe they probebly use fine sand made from fine sandstones.
The slits could be used during long time for bigger and bigger axes. We have thousends of this slits - and they are named "svardslipningsskaror" in Swedish, "sword grindingtable slits" translated ro English
Search on internet with the Swedish name and then pictures and you will se man photos of those slitses.
Rupert, yes, this is very short and fast 6000 year of knife development and knife design there can be many books in tis matter. I think that history are important but a lot off people dont like history - so I keep it short 
Traitional knifes are allways designed out off use and needs. The design are made to solve a specific problem.
Today knifes are designed to be sold and they are often designed by a office desk surviver...
Traditional knifes are allways designed for traditional materials, that often means soft materials as fresh wood, huds, fresh meat and so on. Few people today work in those materials - they work in modern hard materials as dry wood, rubber, plastic, frozen meat, dry leather and so on - that traitional edges not are designed to work in.
City peoples edges today hold aound 40 degrees edges total to stand modern materials - my edges hold 18-26 degrees to be used in traitional materials.
People today thinks that edes shall be as sharp as possible and use shapness as a meassuring how good knifes work - traditionals say that edges shall only be as sharp they need to be for theres purpouse, not shaper then that.
Today we have special tools to meassure sharpness and that is nice. But - I have still to se a table or graf where there someone describe that this levell of sharpness is perfect for this and that type of knifework... They all describe how sharp an ede can be...and only that. Shapness have gone to be the goal to reach - when levell of shapness is the important thing together with blade design and profile. That is why we have both razors and huntingknifes and other types of knifes with offerings blade design, blade profile - and edges in different levells of sharpness.
Thomas
The slits could be used during long time for bigger and bigger axes. We have thousends of this slits - and they are named "svardslipningsskaror" in Swedish, "sword grindingtable slits" translated ro English
Search on internet with the Swedish name and then pictures and you will se man photos of those slitses.
Rupert, yes, this is very short and fast 6000 year of knife development and knife design
there can be many books in tis matter. I think that history are important but a lot off people dont like history - so I keep it short Traitional knifes are allways designed out off use and needs. The design are made to solve a specific problem.
Today knifes are designed to be sold and they are often designed by a office desk surviver...
Traditional knifes are allways designed for traditional materials, that often means soft materials as fresh wood, huds, fresh meat and so on. Few people today work in those materials - they work in modern hard materials as dry wood, rubber, plastic, frozen meat, dry leather and so on - that traitional edges not are designed to work in.
City peoples edges today hold aound 40 degrees edges total to stand modern materials - my edges hold 18-26 degrees to be used in traitional materials.
People today thinks that edes shall be as sharp as possible and use shapness as a meassuring how good knifes work - traditionals say that edges shall only be as sharp they need to be for theres purpouse, not shaper then that.
Today we have special tools to meassure sharpness
and that is nice. But - I have still to se a table or graf where there someone describe that this levell of sharpness is perfect for this and that type of knifework... They all describe how sharp an ede can be...and only that. Shapness have gone to be the goal to reach - when levell of shapness is the important thing together with blade design and profile. That is why we have both razors and huntingknifes and other types of knifes with offerings blade design, blade profile - and edges in different levells of sharpness.Thomas