Thread: Mystery Stone

I just received this stone from my grand mother, it was my great grand fathers whetstone he carried in his pocket everywhere he went. It measures about 5.5 inches by just under 2 inches. Brown color on one side and grey on the other. Feels very smooth on both sides. It seems natural to me. Any ideas of what it is?

Looks like a coticule. They are good stones.

Agreed :-) nothing more to add only if there might be more questions....

If you hone a razor on it, turn the hone so that the chip is facing away from the hand holding the razor.

Not sure it's a coticule, seems like a natural combo stone. I'm starting to think it's a type of slate, 6-8k scratch pattern on the grey side. I need better pics, will post later.

Mhh better pics might help, looks like a coti as said, and you should use the yellowish/beige side...if you do not have a vintage coti with a BBW or a Rouge Du Salm...it might be any kind of schist which could be not useful to hone a razor...this depends on the material which was used on the backside

Whats interesting to me is why a man would carry a stone of that size, everywhere he went,he must have liked it alot

Originally Posted by xMackx

Not sure it's a coticule, seems like a natural combo stone. I'm starting to think it's a type of slate, 6-8k scratch pattern on the grey side. I need better pics, will post later.

The dark side is not used, not until the last decade in any case. There are very few light colored naturals, and, even fewer in combo with a dark stone.