Thread: help with ID

I was wondering if some one could help with I D of this hone
T did a swap with a friend today and acquired a hone .
the story goes about 20 yrs ago this fellow went to buy two Arkansas stones ,one hard for finishing and one soft for setting the bevel which he did, as he was walking out the door the shop keeper asked if he would be interested in buying a really super fine natural stone for finishing,the fellow said he had just imported the stones from Europe and they were natural cut from a quarry somewhere but my friend couldn`t remember where the fellow said they were from.
Used it today the stone is 6"x4" x 3/4" lapped on top rough on the bottom and one side, it is extremely fine and hard and is better than my 6"x2" Swaty
I was wondering if someone could Id the stone
Kind regards Peter

Sorry, I have not seen one like that before. I do have a similar one that is a 2 color, manmade hone.Is yours all one color or is th other side darker?

It is al one colour ,translucent white
Kind regards Peter

My father, who grew up in Istanbul, claims to have had a straight razor hone whose description matches that stone exactly, but he can't remember where it was from, either. He says it was a white natural stone that was very fine & soft enough to get a belly scooped out of it over time.

Originally Posted by bg42

It is al one colour ,translucent white
Kind regards Peter

It sounds like an arkansas translucent which is apparently the finest stone grit wise in the arkansas family!

Originally Posted by JMS

It sounds like an arkansas translucent which is apparently the finest stone grit wise in the arkansas family!

I agree, translucent is the key word. I am not a professional hone collector but the only white, translucent hone I know of is the Arkansas.

Hi_bud_gl sent me a small piece of turkish oilstone a couple of years ago and it is definitely not translucent.

No ,its definately not an Arkansas,my friend purchased two of them at the same time he aquired this ,the vender said it was from a country in Europe. If I didn`t know it was a natural stone I would sware it was a ceramic of some sort. There are no percievable grains ,if you keep your eyes closed and run your hand over it you would think it was glass. My mate has used it for putting the final polish on chisels for the last 20 years and has never lapped it,that`s how hard it is, the only blemish on the face is to the right hand edge near the centre,its a cream colour
Thank you all for your sugestions,they are always apreciated
Kind regards Peter

I have spoken to my mate again and he seems to remember the stone was quaried and imported from the UK
Kind regards Peter

is it a piece of milk glass with a rough surface on the bottom? could you post a pic of the sides and bottom so we can see it?