I see lots of sellers insisting that their oil coated black brick of a hone is in fact, a razor hone.

What do you guys do? Take the gamble and buy it? Talk them down, get them to clean it and send you pictures?

I bought a rock like that recently on ebay, hoping for a Thuringian and wound up with a nice Dalmore Blue. If I'd paid a lot of money I would have felt jipped. In hindsight, it was a foolish risk. It paid off because I didn't get the razor finisher I wanted, but I did get the knife hone I actually needed. But I could have wound up with a generic slatey something or other.

Do you guys just aquire some sort of spidey sense that lets you know what's under that oil slick?