Thread: Mystery yellow green hone

Hi guys,
I just picked up off a new hone the auction site. The seller suspects this is a very fine green slate of some description. Initially was thinking/hoping a yellow-green thuringian, but not so sure.
Any idea what this is?







Thanks,
Bob

Doesn't look like a y/g thuringian to me. Without having handled it/seen it I'd guess the seller was right at initial evaluation

Does not appear to be a thuringian to me either

Is it very very hard? Could be a translucent Arkansas stone that needs to be cleaned ?

Nice measuring stick. Looks like oil was used, coming out of the pores and corner as shown. Looks light grey, light blue from my screen's color balance. Doesn't look like an Arkansas as far as I can tell. I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest something in the Charnwood direction.

Thanks for your help guys.
The hone arrived yesterday. Took some photos after a bunch of cleaning and lapping.

Some conclusions: this is a very hard stone. Even after lapping on 80 grit w/d, the stone remained pretty smooth and glassy. This is by far the hardest stone I've ever owned. It chews up low grit w/d like candy.
It's also a very dense stone, I've calculated the density at 2776 kg/m3 (which should represent a specific gravity of 2.77, if I'm not mistaken). The particulars of the stone are: 34mm x 59mm x 177mm and weighs 986 grams.

Not owning any novaculite based stones, it's impossible for me to determine whether this is an Arkansas, CF, Turkey, etc.
Arkansas I do doubt. Considering the hardness and color of the stone, I was expecting some translucency, but the stone is completely opaque.
Charnley is possible, I think, as the red-brownish streaks on the sides look somewhat similar to other CFs I've seen in pictures.
Under a 60x loupe the streaks from the side look similar to iron oxide. And in the top surface I can see small glittery particles of quartz, densely packed together.
The top on the other hard shows some subtle patterning, which reminds me a little bit of some Llyn Idwal, but also some light colored CFs.

What do you guys think?

Pictures below:

Just looking at the sides I would not think this is any sort of Arkansas stone, or really anything that came from the Americas...
I agree that structurally it looks like a CF, but it would be much lighter in color than any CF that has passed through my hands by a significant amount. So I don't think it's a CF either.

One thing I've learned about these older natural stones is that there often isn't a "brand name" you can assign to them. Back in the day there were so many stones that were taken from the Llyn Idwal region and similar areas around there that it's not beyond the realm of possibility that a lot of these stones were picked by the same individuals who intended to use them and carried home without giving consideration to the geographical area or geological characteristics from which the stone came. It was much more about "do I have a stone that meets my needs?"

Unless someone here has the silver bullet - I'm afraid it's likely the best you're going to do is get an educated guess on what continent it came from, and an even less educated guess on what area of that continent it was taken from... I've resigned myself to this conclusion on a couple of my stones myself. It's OK though because the most important thing is how the stone performs!

Thanks Butzy.
Just to throw a wrench in the works, here's a darker version of the 2nd pic to show the surface texture better.
I don't know why, but I'm also thinking of Pierre Du Sud Ouest as a remote possibility.

I doubt it's a so-called pierre du sud-ouest; those are generally ochre in color and not significantly hard as described here. My CF is in a paddle, so I don't know what the side looks like. I can't tell from the latest pictures; my earlier guess was based on the seller's pix. Maybe if it was used with oil it might be easier to identify?

Definitely not a Pierre de Sud Ouest - these are typically soft and easy to raise a thick slurry on. I have a couple an can assure you they are quite different to the hone you which you are referring, examples of which I am also familiar with.

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