Thread: Not sure

Picked this hone up at an antique shop last week. It was extremely dirty when I got it. Got it some what cleaned up, it's been soaking in a lye bath for almost a week. Im.sure its an Arkansas stone but it seems to be some what translucent. Going to try and get it lapped this weekend. It's a very heavey stone

I can't tell if it's translucent or just the reflection from your hand.



Image from razorandstone.com

The surface finish is suspect. Arkies especially black and translucent are a type of stone that polishes to a really high standard. You see rough ones, but they tend to have cut marks rather than that soft sheen yours has.

They also chip and fracture like flint, with a very specific chip pattern. The chips in yours don't seem to match this.

I have a sneaking suspicion it's a washita stone, But I'm not sure of the grade. Better pictures some outdoors in natural light would make identification easier.

Washita is still a very dense feeling stone, but it's porous and has a much lower grit rating than a translucent ark. The slurry from a washita feels slightly sandy, and the rock itself is pretty soft. You can scratch and gouge most washita stones with a chisel.

By contrast Arks don't tend to slurry at all, and are as hard as glass, It's hard to put a deep scratch into an Ark, They will surface scratch but gouging one is very hard, It'll do more damage to the chisel than the stone.

I'm going to get it cleaned up a bit more then take some outside pics. I have a feeling it's a Washita, had one before, but the color seems a lot lighter that the one I had before.

Might be a lilly white then.

When clean they look like a nice bright white. I used biological enzyme based washing powder (clothes washing powder). Bucket of warm water, Throw in a good dose of soap then leave the rock to cook overnight. Then the following day let it dry. Do it for a week or two and the drying action seems to bring a lot more oil to the surface.