Thread: Not a piece of wood

This is how it was advertised:







Two layers, thin fine lighter one, thicker coarse dark one, woodgrain pattern, wood box, 'soap stone' - naturally my mind wandered to the possibility of a vintage Belgian. Just the strange deep hollow in the would-be BBW side was a bit odd. Then again, people maltreat their hones in every possible way. At less than 5 Euro well worth a try.

Then it arrived, looking like two red bricks glued together. But look what appeared after initial cleaning:

And now after sweating out some oil in a hot oven, soaking and scrubbing with BioTex, and lapping I have this beautifully grained Yellow Dalmore:




It doesn't show on the pictures, but in real life it has a nice crystalline sparkling too, and a wonderful silky touch.

Wow, I've never seen a hone quite like
that. Nice job on bringing it back to life!

How well does this work on razors?

- Scott

From the caterpillar to the butterfly ! Beautiful job of cleaning that up. Thanks for the great photo progression.

That is an amazing progression with a beautiful stone in the end. The grain is very striking.

Can I have it?

Wonderful!

Nope. I'm not having it! I still think it's a lump of wood.

Connor

Wow, that REALLY does look like a hunk of wood. Have you tried a razor out on it yet? I'd really be interested to see how it performs.
It was advertised as a 2-sided hone, and it looked artificial at first, but it turned out to be a natural. My question is: do both sides feel different? Is the 2-sided/layered appearance just due to the natural grain and both sides perform the same regardless? Just curious!

Thanks for posting the pictures.

Very interesting stone. It's also interesting since you categorize the surface as having a silky quality. The Dalmore Yellow I have is not silky, it's on the coarse side and has a characteristic sandstone nature to it.

Would you rate the stone here as falling into a broad category of coarse, medium, fine or polishing (super fine) grit?

Thanks for posting the pics.

Chris L

Thanks guys! It is very nice to be able to share things like this with people other than my dear 'o-it's-him-again-with-some-rock-let-him-rant-for-a-bit-he'll-be-fine-soon' friends & family...


@sebell:
There is another picture somewhere on this forum of a nicely patterned DY, can't find it though - sorry! I think Dylandog (who just sold a gorgeous DBlue to 0livia has some too.
Although very silky to the touch, it's actually quite coarse a hone. Could be used for razors as, or just after, a bevel setter.

@Utopian:
Not inclined to break the habit of trying to forestall discomfiture, I couldn't possibly provide further comment.

@0livia:
Felicitations are in order for you too! I envy you no little for the DBlue you just acquired! But's in good hands; judging from your site you know how to care for it and put it to good use. Don't forget to share your pictures and results!

@Rosco:
It isn't, it isn't! Please don't make me torch it to substantiate!