Thread: Any guesses on this hone?

This hone is actually part of a wood all-in-one travel kit I bought off Ebay a month or so ago. See this link for pics of the entire kit: http://straightrazorpalace.com/showt...963#post160963

I've only started to lap this very delicately with a DMT 325 since it's bonded to the wood kit (don't want to get the wood wet). The hone is silky smooth but it seems to be a very hard stone (like a belgian blue). When wet, I thought it had a mudstone smell similar to the belgians (I like that smell). I passed a razor over the hone a bit, but it didn't seem to leave any scratch pattern, or diminish the fine scratch pattern already on that razor (so, it didn't really seem to do anything). I would definitely need to test this hone more to say definitively whether it seems to polish an edge or not. I don't have a matching slurry stone, So I would just have to use it wet or dry. It measures just over 1/4" thick, approx 1 1/4" width by 7 1/2". Worst case, I wondered if this was even just a piece of slate. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.





It's hard to tell from the pic, but there are variations in color that go from gray/light gray to even a gray green.

This pic shows the slate backing of a piece of yellow bout coticule for color comparison. The pic doesn't pick up the variation too well but the bout slate is quite black, while this hone surface is gray.

I am certain I have the same kit and I believe the hone is similar to an Escher if not actually an Escher!

Really? So a handmade wooden travel kit with possibly an escher hone and a russian shell strop? The strop on this one I would think is not restorable. One of the dovetail wooden sides on this one cracked and was glued back at some point. I'm curious as to its approximate age though.

Wouldn't that be cool if there were at least two of these handmade kits probably made by the same craftsman?

Chris L

It looks like a grey escher to me. Many of them seem to come bonded in a wooden box, but I have never seen one with a compartment for a razor. Looks like a great stone!