Thread: Natural combo id - help needed

So I played the auction site lottery once more, and this is what i got in the mail yesterday. A natural combo - but which? It was described as 'like Escher' but I'm pretty sure it is not a thuri. Almost finished lapping, it sure is pretty...

light side; sunlight; dry



dark side; sunlight dry


dark side; Electric light, wet


light side, Electric light, wet


combo, sunlight, wet


combo, sunlight almost dry


light side, sunlight, wet-dry


dark side, sunlight, wet-dry


Any help is greatly appreciated.

An dual layered slate stone....

...not sure but i think its not a thuringian Stone....

Probably you could be lucky and it could be a WOA Water of Ayr stone, but iam no expert on those

It doesn't really show in the pics, both sides of the stone have reflective particles evenly distributed across the surface. Dunno if that helps - this was also the reason that I think it is not a thuri. It smells very similarly though..

Some more info:

touched up a razor on the lighter side yesterday; the stone is rather slow and doesn't have lot of feedback, feels harder than my dark-blue thuri. Honing sensation was similar to honing on my LV 5 Wakasa Jnat with just water. The edge came out very nice - keen and crisp, the shave was very nice - close and no irritation. So it is definately in the finishing category, gotta test some more but initial results are promising.

Oh and it produces a whitish-grey slurry.

Checked 'Grinding and honing part 3' and some other threads around here and WoA seems to be a reasonable guess. (I guess)

I am not sure about the WOA.
To me it looks simillar to Jaka hone, slatey, that whiter band on side and gives decent edge.

Could you elaborate on what a Jaka hone is, adrspach? Search function returns nothing and google only comes up with some sites about gemstones...

Originally Posted by AnsichtskarteausSolingen

Could you elaborate on what a Jaka hone is, adrspach? Search function returns nothing and google only comes up with some sites about gemstones...

Would have asked the same....

Slate hone in past mined in Walachia which is now part of Czech Republic. One of the colleagues from here Radyx still works on thorough research of this hone. There was a big article made for Henk while he was still alive for his book. I am not sure if he managed to publish it before he died. however even if it wasnot published as yet I believe there are plans to continue in his work.
The stone is not mined anymore but there are still some deposits left. There are different quality level samples and some of the spoils from the original mining are used by one of the hone makers Mr Suchacek for his hones but there is a difference between those makers.
Here is one unmarked. Please note the white band on the side.

And one more

The size is irrelevant as the one shown was made especially for one of the directors of the company who used to own the mine and manufacturing of the hone during comunist times in Czechoslovakia. The usual size is 200x50x25mm with different presentation boxes.