Thread: Pike's Lisbon Chocolate Hone

I have it from a good source that the best honing medium for the Chocolate Lisbon hone is whipped cream ........

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

I have it from a good source that the best honing medium for the Chocolate Lisbon hone is whipped cream ........

Mhh that sounds good Jimmy :-)

Hey guys, sorry for the late reply to this one. Actually it took me quite a while to get that stone sent to germany.


I wanted to my first findings here with you. Actually I think its one of the most interesting finds during the last 2 years. You might ask yourself now why ?

- actually just because such a stone was never seen the last years
- it still shows the original labeling from Pike Mfg. New Hampshire
- its not a razor hone and probably a coarse natural stone
- it’s a really beautiful looking and glittering stone (haha I love those)
- a lot of details on this stone is still available

All those points sum it up to be in the group of the most inters testing stones around where I still rate f.ex. the Lunes, Special Stone for Good Razors, Pierre de Sud Ouest.

I can report the following details till now, I still have to evaluate more details on the working properties and its working grit. As a first estimation I can tell that a well set and polished bevel (up to 10K finished on a TransArk) can well be changed after using the Pikes Lisbon Chocolate Hone. You will see quite deep scratches after using the chocolate hone. As a first estimation I would rate it in a range of 1-3K of a comparable synthetic grit stone. I will also try some surface prepping and see if this changes the general working behavior.

So here are my first impressions to describe that stone:

1. A very hard and dense mica-slate with a good amount of quartz. It really took me some hours to get out the dish which was around 3-4mm of deepness. I first used 220 WD paper and needed more than 6 sheets and 2 hours of lapping, still leaving a dish. I switched to 80grit WD paper and needed another 2 sheets and 1 hour more to have a flat surface. In hardness it could probably compared to harder stones (f.ex. Arks, Quartzites)

2. Hell !! It’s a beauty of a stone. I still don’t really get that name chocolate Hone. Used with oil it was very dirty and it really looked like a chocolate bar. But after cleaning it showed its glittering beauty. The coloration tends to go in a brown-red with a bluish reflection. It’s hard to describe this coloration, the color changes within the angle the light is reflected.

3. It can shows partly identifiers of other well-known stones, in this case a Belgian Blue Whetstone (the surface look) or Lorraine Rouge (the slurry color). It also shares properties of the La Lune Stones (slurry color) and Special Stones (surface glittering).

4. Actually after having the Chocolate Hone and the Special Stone only for good Razors (SSOFGR) in my hand it seems that both stones might be a type of mica-slate. That’s why I added also a comparison shot in the video

The video took me a while to create, its filled with some quotes of older Literature.
I hope you enjoy watching it !!

Love it Sebastian! video is very well done. No guessing around or making stuff up, a labelled stone. Thanks for sharing.

Originally Posted by Martin103

Love it Sebastian! video is very well done. No guessing around or making stuff up, a labelled stone. Thanks for sharing.

Glad you like it! Yeah its preferable to just show whats actually available on information, based on older catalogues or Literature....