Thread: Honing Stone Identity

Hi members; recently purchased the following Natural Stone from the U.K. It measures 8" x 2" x 1 7/"8 - 1 5/8". Weighted at 1.488 kg. Stone was in a real mess when I received it making early identification difficult.



I flattened the stone on all faces using 220 sic powder over a float glass, followed up by 400 grit w&d. That revealed the following features;



The stone works best using water, as honing oil dampens the cut of the stone to severely. The stone is difficult to work up a slurry, but what there is milky white, and of a extremely fine grit. After working the primary bevel on a 1" woodwork chisel, my gut feel is the stone is 12000 grit +. The following shows the bevel of the chisel after being worked on the stone.



My initial thoughts are this stone may be a Tam O Shanter, but its a difficult stone to identify.

Any feedback would be appreciated;

regards StewieS

Victoria;Australia.

I'm sure it is a CBA.

Originally Posted by Kees

I'm sure it is a CBA.

CBA ?

Could Be Anything.

I don't know. Not a TOS, if it must be a Scottish hone it looks most like a Dalmore Blue. But not a very typical one.

Originally Posted by Kees

Could Be Anything.

I don't know. Not a TOS, if it must be a Scottish hone it looks most like a Dalmore Blue. But not a very typical one.

My immediate first impression was Dalmore Blue as well. Not as much figure as the couple I've had that have come and gone, but a DB nevertheless. A Tam 'O Shanter is generally spotted with freckles. They called them 'Snakeskin' hones back in the old days. Of course I could be wrong ...... The dimensions of the hone sound like it was marketed for a machinist. or carpenter.

Not wanting to ruffle the feathers amongst the membership, but I tend to think adrspach who posted on the u.k forum site, is likely correct in his analysis of this stones identity;

Then my educated guess is LI - Grecian hone.

Stewie;

Originally Posted by StewieS

Not wanting to ruffle the feathers amongst the membership, but I tend to think adrspach who posted on the u.k forum site, is likely correct in his analysis of this stones identity;



Stewie;

He knows his stuff. I would defer to his opinion with no feathers ruffled ..........

More importantly, how does it hone?

adrspach and I are usually in agreement on these mystery stone identity threads - no different this time. As soon as I saw the lapped photo I was thinking LI/Grecian.

Originally Posted by dinnermint

More importantly, how does it hone?

The new stone is superb. It has now replaced my Chinese Guangxi 12000 grit stone.

(L-R) Norton Crystolon medium grit oil stone; Aoto Nakato 2 - 3000 grit waterstone; MST Muller 8000 grit waterstone; Guangxi 12000 grit waterstone.



A traditional wooden smoother after being sharpening on all 4 stones.



StewieS.