Thread: hone ident help please

picked this stone up at an antique store. black with use and pretty dished in the middle. a LOT of laps with the atoma and i get what you see now. its very (very) hard and feels smooth with just a hint of grit. not as smooth as the trans ark i have but pretty damn close. dimensions are roughly 5.75 x 2.0 and 1.25 thick.

any help would be greatly appreciated.
thanks.
-s.

Washita? I'm near sighted and color blind but that's what I'd call it. Very useful score!

sloanwinters;1737296]picked this stone up at an antique store.

trans ark i have but pretty damn close. dimensions are roughly 5.75 x 2.0 and 1.25 thick.

any help would be greatly appreciated.
thanks.

It looks like a decent arkansas stone.
Mostly it needs to get the old black oil off.
Coat with clean light oil and see if the old gunk will move.
Common drugstore mineral oil or sewing machine oil can help.
WD40 can also soften gunk... just wipe it off so you do not add more gunk.
For the most part the black is oxidized steel swarf mixed with old gummy also oxidized oil.

Try to not wreck your diamond lapping hone on it. The diamond hone might be worth more.

You have some large flat areas and can worry them with some common steel stock to see how
they cut or polish a flat block. That should tell you more about how worthy it is. You can
compare with your transparent ark.

Almost certainly Washita or Soft Arkansas.

Yup a Washita.

It will trash your Diamond plate, get some 60 grit Silicone Carbide from GotGrit.com and get it flat.

But first, tap the end of the box with a small hammer, the box will pop off, probably held in with swarf.

Then spray with Oven Cleaner, from the Dollar store, wash in dish soap and water. If you want to remove all the oil, soak in Simple Green or Awsome, from the dollar store and water may take a few weeks to get all the oil and smell out.

Will be a nice knife stone.

awesome. thank you all for the information and suggestions above! much appreciated.
-s.