Thread: Mystery yellow green hone

How does it perform as a finisher?

Originally Posted by Scipio

I have seen unknown green hones like this before and the general consensus is they are Lynn Idwal or Greican hones, some of which can produce a very fine edge similar to that of a Charnley Forest, although often not quite as fine.

I posted some examples years ago. Have a look here

Thanks Scipio. The resemblance between one of the stones your posted and mine is striking.
Upon suggestion from another forum colleague, I was also considering Saxonian oilstone as a possibility. But I don't think that's plausible anymore.
I bought the stone from the UK and the descriptions of the harder LIs echo very well my experience with it.

Originally Posted by JP5

How does it perform as a finisher?

So far, I'm quite impressed with it. It improved the edge quite a bit on a Coti finished Filarmonica 14 DT and bumped up a little bit the keenness on a Thuri finished Double Arrow.
I used glycerin and soap as a medium. On water, the stone is almost magnetic after only a few strokes.
The test shave was great on both (comfortable and smooth), especially on the Fili.

* I also experimented with a Tomo Nagura slurry on a ZY test razor.
Was impressed by the speed and the keenness. The razor passed HHT (1-2) directly off the stone. For this particular razor, this is a first, as it always needed stropping before it was able to pass HHT.

Perhaps it could be Canadian novaculite. Those have all sorts of colors - have a look at Federal Abrasives' FB page.
That being said, the density is a bit high to fit the bill, as they told me the stones they found/quarry is more around 2.5, though they recently found some stones around 3.

Originally Posted by kamots

Thanks Scipio. The resemblance between one of the stones your posted and mine is striking.
Upon suggestion from another forum colleague, I was also considering Saxonian oilstone as a possibility. But I don't think that's plausible anymore.
I bought the stone from the UK and the descriptions of the harder LIs echo very well my experience with it.


So far, I'm quite impressed with it. It improved the edge quite a bit on a Coti finished Filarmonica 14 DT and bumped up a little bit the keenness on a Thuri finished Double Arrow.
I used glycerin and soap as a medium. On water, the stone is almost magnetic after only a few strokes.
The test shave was great on both (comfortable and smooth), especially on the Fili.

* I also experimented with a Tomo Nagura slurry on a ZY test razor.
Was impressed by the speed and the keenness. The razor passed HHT (1-2) directly off the stone. For this particular razor, this is a first, as it always needed stropping before it was able to pass HHT.

That is great that it is finishing that well. And if you got a good price on it as a "mystery stone" that is even better.
If the question of its' origin keeps you up at night at all I'll be glad to take it off your hands. I'm nice like that.

Originally Posted by JP5

That is great that it is finishing that well. And if you got a good price on it as a "mystery stone" that is even better.
If the question of its' origin keeps you up at night at all I'll be glad to take it off your hands. I'm nice like that.

For a mystery hone it was more expensive than what I hoped it would be. Oddly enough I won the auction at the max. bid I entered. Had it gone 1 penny higher, this would have been someone else's mystery to solve.
In the end it worked out well. I like the results I'm seeing so far and there's lots of experimentation to be made to keep the fun going strong

If I get access to a large enough diamond cutter, I may consider cutting this one in half. There's plenty of real estate available (depth wise) and both sides look extremely similar in structure and texture.

I would not try to saw it unless your saw is a slow speed saw designed for the purpose. Sawing stones always has an element of risk from the vibration and stress, and while having 2 pieces sounds good, having 3 or 4 pieces maybe not so much.

I would not risk such a nice hone.

Cheers, Steve

That is sensible advice Steve. I have been cutting stones for quite some time now and fully agree with that. Unless the stone is very stable and solid, pieces can easily break away during cutting. Especially if the person doing the cutting doesn't have much experience at learning what warning signs to look for. It is usually pretty safe to cut a very hard stone that has a strong binder. Softer stones with weaker binder are very troublesome to cut without damage, and the ones in the middle can often go either way. If you do attempt it, be sure to cut from the surface inward on all 4 sides so the cuts meet right about in the middle to be safest.

Absolutely Eric, same experience here. But it is always a gamble at some level. I would not saw a stone that I couldn't stand to lose.

The difference between a soft jnat and a hard one WRT layers can be obvious. Once a friend cut me off a hunk of Hakka from a broken stone, a nice large one for knife or razor-pre nagura. I was using it on another Hakka, both thirsty, the slurry stuck the nagura and it separated. I had a piece stuck to the hone and a piece in my hand. There was no line, inclusion, etc, it just separated along natural layers.

Cheers, Steve

I have had that happen too. Just like an Oreo, heh.