Thread: Mystery natural hone. Lots of pics

Maybe something home made ? Saw marks doesn't make it sound that old to me. How long have they been cutting rock with saws? Since Corundum maybe.

I wish I took a photo of my start point. Really old. It was reinforced in spots with 1800s cut nails which had just as much real patina as the rest. Not even nice patina, the savage kind that is a nightmare to deal with. Unfortunately, it fit too glove-like and the whole thing was caked in a resin along with old oil, plus it was in a fire at some point, apparently, given some external scorches so it had me heaving once it got some moisture in it and things came to life a bit. It had to go. Actually, having lapped both sides and seeing how soft it is, I amend the saw assessment and now suspect those are be a huge number of breadknife marks before it got chucked in the surgical glove-tight box.

I will say in the one brief test with a generic solingen I have been left intrigued. The feedback coming off the thing is somewhat unnerving, but it definitely feels like it has major potential. I'm going to refine the finish of both sides a bit further if I can and give it a proper shakedown.

What I meant was that it could be a piece of slate.

Mhh think its a Slate on the first step i thought a kind of Arkansas Stone....

To be fair i dont know what it is...

I maxed out the honing surfaces today. Feedback of blade on stone has improved drastically. I took a shave ready generic solingen blade that was done conservatively on synths and gave it 200 halfstrokes, circles and X variants on this hone using water and no pressure to make sure this thing had a chance to do something positive or negative to the edge. It came off this stone phenomenally sharp after a30/60 strop. Like keen to the point I was willing to put it to the perimeter of my beard on my neck dry to see just how sharp and it went through some of my densest hair like nothing. I have no idea what it is, but it seems extremely capable. More testing is in order.

Surfaces post-high grit finishing. It drew some additional detail out of the rock. Stone has glittery particulate in it btw.

BTW, this was the box it came in. It was a very deep brown/black when I got hold of it. It had to go for numerous reasons. I was never going to get the hone out of it without damaging it, plus it smelled so unbelievably awful, no word of a lie you could smell it 10' away. It had me heaving...

Originally Posted by doorsch

Mhh think its a Slate on the first step i thought a kind of Arkansas Stone....

To be fair i dont know what it is...

Do silkstones ever have banding more defined than this example that has its box? How hard or soft are they?

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