Thread: Help with another hone

Just in case you experienced folks weren't tired of playing the "what's this hone" game here is another one for you. The stone is very soft and lapped quickly, haven't tried it with a razor as I just got it this afternoon. That purple coloured inclusion (not sure if you can see it) when away after some more lapping. The edges and ends are the same type of colour with no saw marks of any kind. I was thinking it was an Arkansas, but not sure because I have heard they are very hard and this one is not. Thank for any help and insight you can shed.

Soft compared to what? I have a similar stone which I suspect is a Llyn Idwal but I would describe it as hard.

Compared to the norton and the C12K/PHIG I have. I haven't had to lap the small Coticule I have yet so my basis of comparison is rather small admittedly. I said soft because when I beveled the sdges it only took two stroke of the Norton Lapping Stone to put a nice bevel on, it took a little more work with the Norton 4/8K.

I tried it on a razor tonight and it seems to be leaving a courser scratch pattern compared to the 4k, although in a arm shave test it cut the hair smoother.

Llyn Idwal is a Welsh stone, correct?

It's not a Arkansas as they are harder than a PHIG. If you are thinking it's coarser than a 4K, makes me wonder if it could possibly be a Hindostan. Mine falls somewhere around 2-3K. Is it a "thirsty" stone when you put water on it?

It holds water water as well as the Norton, very similar to the Coti. I don't have enough experience with honing yet to tell anything more than the scratch pattern. I've read that scratch pattern is not necessarily an accurate indicator of grit level (think I read that on here somewhere). I honed an old razor I had kicking around on it, I actually used it as the finishing hone so I'll shave tonight with it and see what the edge is like.

I also forgot to mention the slurry smells kinda like mud (go figure).

It can't be a Llyn Idwal from your description. A Dalmore Blue could be that coarse but the colours don't quite match.

What did you flatten and lap it on?

I lapped it with the norton flattening stone.

I still think that it is LI as there are softer variations as well as I believe that Norton flattening stone is SiC.

So if its an LI what's the general K range of those stones?