Thread: Help! Identify Unknown Mystery Finisher

I have been following SRP for awhile but finally made an account as I have a question, Thanks for looking!

Here is a hone I picked up in a Southern Missouri antique shop for $5 dollars. Looking at the surface through a loop it looks very similar to a hard Arkansas of mine, grey surface with black speckles. Although, this mystery stone seems to have formed in layers, kinda of like slate. Novaculite doesn't form in layers as far as I'm aware, so I don't believe the hone in question is from Arkansas (google "raw novaculite"). When lapping it with a dmt 325 it feels softer and is a lot easier to create a slurry with the dmt, compared to the ark. (the ark is in the photos with the blue label on the side stating "norton" and bear of course). I have taken several razors to the 8k level then brought it to the mystery stone and it definitely improves and 8k edge. It smooths it out some, but mainly increases the sharpness to around 10k-11k. the slurry is more like a soft white talc when dry. check the pics, let me know what you think!

Looks like a Japanese natural stone to me. Definitely not novaculite. You'll know when you're lapping an Ark.

definatly a nice looking hone you've got there, how soft is it? does it autoslurry when honing?

I have no idea but the Jnat option seems reasonable since it has some of the outer shell on it....

Looks like a J-nat to me too. How many passes with steel before the slurry starts to darken? Who knows (or cares) what mine it may have come from, so long as it works good. Congratulations thanks for showing.
Mike

If it's not a Japanese natural stone, it could be one of the British Llyn Idwal or Grecian type of stone. They vary in hardness, and from the looks of the stone and slurry I think it's the British kind.
Also, there are many types of novaculite. The Arkansas stones are hard, but not all novaculite types are that hard.

Originally Posted by Vasilis

If it's not a Japanese natural stone, it could be one of the British Llyn Idwal or Grecian type of stone. They vary in hardness, and from the looks of the stone and slurry I think it's the British kind.
Also, there are many types of novaculite. The Arkansas stones are hard, but not all novaculite types are that hard.

Same here LI / Llyn Idwall Stone....Vasillis knows the stones ;-) here are two of my stones:

LI or Jnat,

both is possible among others of course. I would vote for Jnat though. LI's normally don't come with a natural skin (kawa) on the backside, which is on the other hand very common for Jnats. There are no flakes within the stone visible, which would be very typical for LI. The visible hits and small breakouts look more typical for a Jnat.
So nobody really can tell from the pictures and I am not an epert in Jnats. But if it is a Jnat, there is a certain possibility that it might be a Nakayama Mizu Asagi. The grey/blue color with blue/black spots would fit.
Here are two of my examples for comparison:




If so - you may have found one of the finest Jnats that money can buy.

while honing the slurry doesn't turn dark with metal swarf or takes a VERY long time to happen. Which pushes me to think it is a LI.
here is a LI i found that looks similar to mine
PHIG and Llyn Idwall stones By request

I think jnat's or nakayam mizu asagi's produce dark metal swarf more prominently than my hone. here are some pics
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l7...wai/6920-4.jpg

[QUOTE=hatzicho;1508482]LI or Jnat,
So nobody really can tell from the pictures and I am not an epert in Jnats. But if it is a Jnat, there is a certain possibility that it might be a Nakayama Mizu Asagi. The grey/blue color with blue/black spots would fit.

My thoughts exactly sir, hence the darkening of the slurry question. Can you believe it? What are the chances of finding stone like that in the wild?

Actually that particular j-nat takes a long time to darken the slurry. It is a very hard very slow j-nat. When I first tried I thought this stone does nothing when in fact it is extremely fine slow finisher. Hope this helps some.
Mike

Yeah speed isn't really a great indicator in all cases. There are slow and fast JNats just like slow and fast coticules. I didn't mention the LI personally because I didn't see the usual slight translucent looking effect near the chipped area where the thin edges are. This is a pretty good indicator IMO that it's not LI.