Thread: What is the Sp Gr of Your Best Arkansas Stone

Originally Posted by Neil Miller

I have had a few, well, more than a few WoAs since then and can confirm they are very good finishers indeed, on a par with good thuringian hones, and sharing similar characteristics - broadly speaking.

Regards,
Neil

Shame they weren't more widely available then!

Originally Posted by DaveW

Shame they weren't more widely available then!

I expect they were, at one time.

These days they are comparatively rare - you find the odd single stone:





but more usually find them in combos such as this one:





which is glued to a tam. Notice that the wording on the WoA label reads "For Razors, Scalpels or Very Fine Knives.

I suspect that most of them were used by jewellers, cut into slip stones of various sizes. The main use seems to have been polishing precious metals prior to rouge buffing, as the hone did not leave any appreciable marks on the metal, and easing watch and clock escapements, once again because no appreciable scratch pattern was left that might catch on the clock movement.

One use involved powdering up a piece of the stone and using a paste made from it, but I cannot remember offhand what this was used for. When I tlaked to Kenneth he said he had a quantity of the singles, some larger hones that were not cut down to size and some combination hones. He did mention having had someone to help sort and cut them (no mining was done - this was all old stock raised a very long time ago) but I got the feeling that this other person had gone and poor old Kenneth could not keep up with demand.

One person - Adrsprach? - from this site did go visiting there once.

Regards,
Neil

Regards,
Neil

Originally Posted by Neil Miller

One person - Adrsprach? - from this site did go visiting there once.

Some years ago Simon Coulie was the source for the Tams, Dalmores and WOA, limited on the WOA. I cannot remember whether he went personally, or whether someone, maybe Adrspach, went on his behalf.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

Some years ago Simon Coulie was the source for the Tams, Dalmores and WOA, limited on the WOA. I cannot remember whether he went personally, or whether someone, maybe Adrspach, went on his behalf.

No - Simon went by himself. Sometimes he had them posted to him. It was well before Adrsprach's time.

Regards,
Neil

I've seen pictures of that site somewhere online, it is a museum now or some sort of protected heritage site, isn't it? (the buildings where the WOAs were cut)? IIRC, there are still piles of stones inside the building, but given the designation, I'm sure that they would like to see them stay there.