Thread: Weird french paddle

Anyone have any ideas? Came in an extremely old paddle. The level of surface mirroring is ridiculous post lap and some burnishing. It is not a trans ark. Pingy, no oil smell at all, white slurry. Strange inclusions that under a loupe seem vaguely crystalline but do no harm.

https://youtu.be/DpxutmNjCmo

https://youtu.be/MSMtuMPiZkI

Can't get them to embed. Links work fine

Dont know, but it sure is pretty. Perhaps some sort of marble?

It would be easy enough to test for if I had some acid around

Originally Posted by kcb5150

It would be easy enough to test for if I had some acid around

Don't damage the stones just for the sake of finding out what it is. It took some hundreds of millions of years to be formed... only to be destroyed by someone who will dip it into acid to see a reaction? At least, if you are determined to see it damaged, make some slurry and drop the powder it into vinegar to see if it bubbles.
It's strange that France is such a big country yet we know so little about its stones, with 4 or so types known and another perhaps thousand unknown. If it's not a coticule or something from Germany, like the classic Frankonian, or the novaculite type of stone found there, it could be something unknown.
It's the edge that produces what matters, not the name.

No... I wouldn't dunk it in a vat of hcl...

The first edge was a korean frameback I have been periodically rehoning to get to stable steel and being due for another try I went to this off the coti. It was an aggressive hht5 root in off my hair which usually =no joke but true to form for this razor, the edge packed it in after a pass in the middle... At least it was just the middle of the edge this time vs the whole thing so I should be close to clean metal there. Going to try a filarmonica next, those just go out and do a good job with no complaining. The edge didn't have that telltale foil feel while it was alive fwiw

It contines to burnish throughout testing.

Looks like one of those polished "sud-ouest" stones from the first video. Use it as polished is, or hit it with a coarse DMT and see?

I have owned one of those. Those are mud stones. This is decidedly not one of those. Idk. I just honed a pax on this which should be a real lie detector as that blade is completely fine and I am familiar with it