White washita?

I picked up a hone in the bottom of a box of tools, covered in oil. After a few days soaking in a solution of TSP it appears white. It was pretty flat on one side but still took a TON of work to lap it. It has one good usable side now and I'm guessing it's a white washita? It measures 7 3/4 x 1 7/8 x 15/16. Has a sort of "metallic" ring to it when you tap it.

I am sorely lacking in understanding of novaculite hones. For example, is a washita the same as a soft Arkansas? And how to identify these types of stones when there seems to be so many colors and patterns?

I know there are some guys here that use novaculites for razors. Would a stone like this one be for bevel setting? Used with oil?

As you can see - I have about as much understanding of novaculite stones as I do jnats.

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Then after sitting for a little while more oil comes to the surface like this... Need to soak it a little more I guess.
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Thanks for any help and insight!

I was just helping someone getting started with honing and we found that his Washita fit nicely between his King 1k and 6k. YMMV

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Originally Posted by bluesman7

I was just helping someone getting started with honing and we found that his Washita fit nicely between his King 1k and 6k. YMMV

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Thanks, and I have and use both of those so I will try it in between. These only get used with oil, correct?

I have used nothing but a Washita (both lily white and a dans Washita) to set countless bevels (well over a hundred) this past year. It is not only doable but very efficient if you keep one side "fresh" and let the other side burnish. I sold off my 1K stones (Norton and King) and all I use now is Washita stones.

I use a water soluble oil-ballistol but you have many options.

We were using the Washita with Smith's honing solution, which is water soluble.

Washitas are even slightly less dense than Soft Arks. This means that they cut a bit faster and can be slightly more friable. Most of the time you won't notice any friability (shedding of grit) anyway though unless you're honing something like a narrow chisel.

If you soak the stone several times over the old orangish oil will eventually stop seeping out. The black spots visible indicate that this stone wouldn't be a Lily White, but it could possibly be a #1 Washita, which is basically the same thing except not perfectly blemish-free.

I find they are very useful for tool sharpening and can be used for razors but I'd follow Steel's above advice: keep one side freshly lapped for bevel setting and if you want a little more intermediate finish, let it settle in without lapping.

Thanks eKretz, that's immensely helpful. Well, one side is nice and flat but the other side has some chips and dings that will take a lot of work to get out. Sounds like it will be worth it though.

concerning washitas i found this one very helpfull:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgQ1xhMtoBQ

Oh boy...

(I still can't always tell what's a washita and what's not, but have decided that in the end, the practical test is best. Soft ark stones never achieve the same edge smoothness for a given level of fineness when compared to a washita stone. I have no clue why. It might be interesting to take a picture of the edge from some of them, but even then, I wouldn't be surprised to find that the soft ark stone and washita edges don't look that much different. One thing is quite clear, though - the pike mine made stones that have a certain property that no stones from other mines have. It still could, and the stock is cheap and easy to get in large pieces from it. I think Norton knows that they would quickly exhaust the market if they bothered to do it again (they did it in the early 2000s)), and I'm sure one large corporate synthetic abrasive customer probably eclipses their entire line of oilstones in terms of revenue.

I'm somewhat surprised that they even still cut and finish arkansas stones at all.

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Originally Posted by bluesman7

I was just helping someone getting started with honing and we found that his Washita fit nicely between his King 1k and 6k. YMMV

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Thank you again. Almost all my razors are now honed.

I read somewhere that the Washita is a flexible stone. It was stated that depending on how you finish the stone. It can work as anything from below a 1k to over 3k. Tried to find the article or thread but have not been able to.

As Victor stated mine fit nicely in between my 1k and 6k. All I have done is lapped it.




Enjoy the day,
Benson

They differ from stone to stone, but I'd say that you could put a wider range on that. The stone that I use to set bevels is faster than a 1k synthetic stone, but it leaves a better groove geometry and can be followed up more easily with a strong natural. For example, I can set the bevel on a razor and either finish (albeit not necessarily ideally, but very capably) with a washita that has been intentionally allowed to settle in completely (and that has been kept absolutely free of surface contamination), or I can go to something like a soft but reasonably fine suita and work on slurry to clear and have a shave that is at least as good as an 8k synthetic stone, but with a much mellower edge (and I might say, keener than most coticules that I've tried).

I've had a couple of strop-top washita stones (the boxes being strop top) that were being used with razors. They were conditioned a little bit finer than an 8k synthetic, and were on the very fine side for washitas, but still would've set bevels easily if someone lapped them off fresh. (if that makes sense).

It's looking more and more like I should go ahead and lap the other (chipped) side so I will be able to keep one side burnished and one side fresh. That will take some work but it sounds like it will greatly increase the versatility of the stone. I like the prospect of a mellower edge and have relied almost entirely on coticules for that up to this point, but would like to give washitas and arkansas stones a go as well.

I posted somewhere else about a method to use the washita to finish (i may have had two barber shop hones, but they were gotten to that point over years, and your first use of one will probably make a harsh edge).

You may wish to do what you're saying (two sides), and then hit the razor with the linen. Then like 5 strokes or so with very light pressure on the fine side of the stone again, and then the linen, and back and forth until you have an edge you like. It may take 4 or 5 iterations.

Or, you can get a near finish on the washita and then use a mellow final finisher to chill the edge out until or unless the washita is totally broken in.

It is a great stone to learn touch on, though.

Washita and Arkansas stones can be very predictable and repeatable IF you don't ask them to do more than they are capable. The Washita's, as said, seem to have more of a range but even they have their limits and it gets much more difficult when you ask novaculite stones to do more than their range allows. For example, I used to move on before my bevel was set completely figuring I would finish setting it on a soft Arkansas that had settled in. A foolish move as I was there for many many strokes trying to get the bevel to meet. Lesson learned. Once the bevel is set though, it is a very fast and effective stone but only within its own limits. Likewise trying to get a well burnished translucent to do anything more than burnish is futile in my experience BUT take a finished edge and within a few minutes I have turned that into something special. I think this also holds true for any stone natural or synthetic but it was a lesson I learned the hard way on Arkansas and Washita stones.

I lapped the other side of the stone and got the big chip out but these small cavities keep opening up. They're in the stone, as soon as I get close to lapping some out, others start to open. So, if this side is unusable at least the other side is good.
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These are some other stones (with the white one on the right) I have that I suspect are novaculite too.
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This one has pinkish banding
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This one is light greyish
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This one feels finer, harder and denser
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Originally Posted by xiaotuzi

I lapped the other side of the stone and got the big chip out but these small cavities keep opening up. They're in the stone, as soon as I get close to lapping some out, others start to open. So, if this side is unusable at least the other side is good.
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You could probably still use the holey side for coarse work. But you have enough stones that you don't have to do that.