Thread: Anyone know what this is?

Antique store find. A bay state abrasive product no a66.JC is written on the side. Seems to be some sort of ceramic material. It was sitting with a bunch of no Name barber hones. No sign of oil so, I tried it with lather, water and dry. Seems to work best dry. Refreshed a gold dollar edge (such as it is) with a few strokes. Any Thoughts?
It is rather large for a barber hone. 2.5"x8" approximately.
It is also, extremely hard material. Took over an hour on 400 grit paper to remove pencil lines, when I tried to lap it.

In the unlikely event nobody here knows what an BSA A-66 is, your friends at Radiac div./Tyrolit will. They ate Bay State.

Radiac Abrasives | BRAND CONSOLIDATION - Radiac Abrasives

Could possibly be a fine India.

I have a Norton Fine India and this is finer and sllightly different color.

Not all "India" or aluminum oxide stones are the same color. There are quite a range of colors and grits.

It is an aluminum oxide stone of some sort. (as said with fine india above).

I've got them from bright red to dark brown (and including the tan in the middle like the stone above).

The old aluminum oxide vitrified stones are likely to be extremely hard, as you found out. Same with the norton silicon carbide stones. They get harder as they get older (at least most of them do). I don't know why, but it's not a particularly desirable characteristic before the advent of diamond stones to wake them back up.

So, I'm going to need a diamond lapping plate. And I assume I can use it with oil, water, or dry? Like I said it seems to work well enough dry. Like a barber hone, a few strokes refreshed a GD well enough.

I know what that is this is a bevelsetter hone . Thats it , you first need to know this .

Winner winner chicken diner, fine India stone it is. I found it online after discovering it is an a-66 FO not JC. Surprised with the edge it gave my GD. Probably won't touch another razor after properly lapped. Maybe for chip removal. Feels totally different than my Norton fine India. Which I have used for chip removal and to refresh pocket knives. Thanks all.