Thread: "Turkey" honing stones

HI Friends,

For those that did not read it , I am new on the forum, and wrote some introduction words in a previous post. Happy to be here guys;

Some months ago I bough a stone on ebay that was sold to me as a Turkey honing stone by the seller in uk.

Was not sure about it, but I trusted him. He told me he prepared the stone and laped it for a 1k honing, but he told me too that well laped it could go 'till 6k.

I did not use it yet. But I would like to get your opinion first...

Do you think it is really a turkey stone? I newly laped it with a 400 Atoma diamond plate, 500,1000,1500 sand paper grit.

It is much more smooth than when I got the stone. It is really smooth ..for exemple smooth as my Dragon tongues stone.
When I laped it, it gave me a white slurry.

If it is really a turkey stone, can someone tell me how much I could expect as grit? Should I use it with water, mineral oil?

I don't know where to place it in my progression stones, and if even it is really for straightrazors honing.

Well if you could help me that would be great.

Thanks for answers
Chris

I can't tell exactly what it is. There are generally two types, the light type (which has less of a flakey look) and the dark type, which looks like small cleaves of rock stacked together, and looks like it will break (and can if it's impacted).

That doesn't really look exactly like either, but there are a whole bunch that look sort of like one or the other.

Do you have a chisel? The thing I notice about both of mine (I have one of each type) is that when sharpening tools, they will continue to be gritty and shed particles. I've never cleaned either off to hone a razor on them, but they remind a lot of what you'd want in a synthetic stones - good solid hard feeling with just a little bit of particle shedding to stay fresh.

You can tell they're harder and more durable than a slate stone, and not fragile on the surface, but if can play with yours a little bit with knives, etc, and it never loses that bite, it's probably what it was sold to you as. If it glazes over and stops cutting, then no.

Mine of the white type sheds particles faster and is a little bit coarser than the dark one (when I went out to try to find pictures, I was led right back here). My flakey looking stone is also lighter in color and brownish like the one shown. They're often more black in color.

http://straightrazorpalace.com/hones...-turkey-3.html

Thank you Dave I'll try with knifes and tools.. Good idea... Do you use oil or under water ??

Always oil for all novaculites, except for tools WD 40 for heavier work on the finer stones. The stones do not flush properly with water, and I don't want to lap them to "unclog" them.

Thicker stones and those that release particles faster will always work better with oil. Even though it might not seem like it stroke for stroke, over time, the lack of extra maintenance that you have with oil will pay off in time dividends.

Water soluble things that emulate oil may also be good, I haven't tried them. I know I've seen smiths and ballistol mentioned a lot. I don't like soapy water, the action isn't right, the results not quite as fine and the stones get tired too fast because they're clogging at the same time.

+100 WD40 ......Couldn't hone without it....It's a must try for Arkies. It's amazing what it will float out of a hone.

I was asking myself what oil to choose, tryed mineral oil but after a while started to have a "glue" feeling...smith's honing solution to get it in France is really really expensif....you think I could use WD40 to hone a straight razor on these stones even arkansas?

Yes, certainly. You might just need more mineral oil, but not sure about that. I've had the opposite problem where too much mineral oil can suspend things above the stone and it's essentially not doing anything.

I've honed razors on WD 40 and no problem. The only potential issue you'll run into on a turkey stone is if it continues to release particles, it's not really going to finish a razor, but they should be hard enough that if you aren't doing heavy sharpening on them, the particles should stop coming free. At least with my limited experience with them.

Tools or knives with mild steel, wrought iron or soft iron are going to rip a lot of particles loose, though, so I'd not sharpen them on the same stone you're going to use on razors.

I'm pretty sure it's a turkey the last pic really looks the goods, I have two of them and they are both dark stones like yours mine have quite a few white little dots on them and those fractures running through them. They look and feel like glass when lapped and used a bit, I am told they all start off as a white stone but over the years absorb a lot of oil and turn darker I'm sure as any natural stone the " grit rating "varies I'm sure you could run a razor over them and see what kind of edge it improves on until you find out what it's capable of. Cheers.

Originally Posted by DaveW

Yes, certainly. You might just need more mineral oil, but not sure about that. I've had the opposite problem where too much mineral oil can suspend things above the stone and it's essentially not doing anything.

I've honed razors on WD 40 and no problem. The only potential issue you'll run into on a turkey stone is if it continues to release particles, it's not really going to finish a razor, but they should be hard enough that if you aren't doing heavy sharpening on them, the particles should stop coming free. At least with my limited experience with them.

Tools or knives with mild steel, wrought iron or soft iron are going to rip a lot of particles loose, though, so I'd not sharpen them on the same stone you're going to use on razors.

Thank you for all these informations.. I will try that.. I must admit I'm good enough in the understanding of the particles things😁... Buy the way, are they some good books out there that give good information about stones and particle relased.. Geologic books or so ?

Originally Posted by thebigG

I'm pretty sure it's a turkey the last pic really looks the goods, I have two of them and they are both dark stones like yours mine have quite a few white little dots on them and those fractures running through them. They look and feel like glass when lapped and used a bit, I am told they all start off as a white stone but over the years absorb a lot of oil and turn darker I'm sure as any natural stone the " grit rating "varies I'm sure you could run a razor over them and see what kind of edge it improves on until you find out what it's capable of. Cheers.

Thank you so much, I feel good that I finallt bought a true Turkey stone..the stone is not a big size stone, nor large though.. But I will give it try now I have some old razor to prepare. ... Hope it will be a good finisher stone! Cheers