Thread: Hindostan hone.

Mine is around 4k, but not suitable for a razor. I only use water on mine. There are too many odd sized grains that effect the edge of a razor. I do use it from time to time on knives, but mostly it gathers dust.

Thanks for this thread! I have a natural stone I got at a flea market in Indiana a few years ago. One side was very dished out & I have yet to fix that. The other side was pretty flat so I worked on that side & got it very flat. Seeing the finished picture of your stone confirmed to me I have a hindostan also. It has the typical sandstone color with the black splotches
I know the area where these were mined in southern Indiana near French Lick. I have found that this is a really hard stone & mine is also probably in the 3K to 4K range. I would love to find one of the quarries & get some rough stones to work on.

Slawmeister ;-)

I have one from my great grandfathers tool box that I think is a hindostan also. When I mentioned to my wife about taking a vacation to Indiana to check that area out....

The chisel shown was worked with a medium grit Norton Crystolon stone prior to the Hindustan stone. The Hindustan was 1st trialled using Honing Oil, but was rejected soon after due to the dulling effect it had on the cut of the stone. Using water as a stone lubricant was much more successful. Taking into account the rate of cut, and the size of the wire edge formed, my personal opinion is that this stones characteristics was comparable to a Mst Muller 8000 grit.



Testing the sharpness of cutting edge (straight from the stone). The cutting edge was good enough to cleanly slice through the end grain fibres, but slightly more effort was required, compared to that of another chisel, by the same maker, to the same bevel angle specs, but taken to a higher grit of 12000+ on my Welsh Llyn Idwall Grecian Hone.



StewieS.