Thread: Unusual Vintage Sharpening Stone ID

I found the same stuff on glanrafon but it is a quarry not a stone type. Obviously they also had Charnley Forest stones. I can't find others that look like this. So not really sure if it is a stone from that quarry or the Fiddish River stone a coticule or something else.

Originally Posted by rideon66

So I accidentally bought this stone on the bay. Not sure what it is. Very hard and puts a nice edge on a knife with slurry. Didn’t look or feel like oil was used, but the box and stone have a slight smell. So I will do a simple green soak. It cleaned up well and has su and greenish grey brown slurry.
....

Perhaps the place to start is with some norton water based honing solution and see how it hones.

Any steel previously polished on a known modern hone will let you see the scratches.
Perhaps polished with a Naniwa 8K Snow White for example (any 8K will do).

Originally Posted by celticcrusader

It could also be another Welsh stone a llyn idwal hone?

https://www.google.co.uk/search?clie...H-wKBo#imgrc=_

I was under the impression the llyn idwal were more like a Charnley Forest stone and this doesn't seem quite like that more like a hard coti/thuri feel to it.

So both Peter and Sebastian have given me the info I was looking for and I believe this is a Fiddish River Stone. Seems there is no real documentation of these just a made up term for this stone at sometime. It should be a fine finisher though and that is the end game here and who knows with the lost history of a greenish stone with green slurry for cutlers.

So the Charley Forest stone from the glanrafon quarry is starting to bother my mind. So how does one come from Wales. I think this may have been a llyn idwal, but I could be wrong.

Originally Posted by rideon66

The more I mess with this stone the more it seems like a coticule in feel, slurry and looks. Everything I find about the glanrafon tells me it was just a quarry not a stone type. The one previously seen with the label from the bay was not a good label to tell anything. I found a fully intact labeled one and it is a Charnley Forest stone.

Attachment 280952

Interesting, does remind me a bit like the Franconian Stones, just from the Cut the Stone Shows.
Would be cool to compare a labelled one to a Bavarian Frankonian Stone.....

@Hatzicho: did you see the cut of that example Peter ? I dont trust the those vintage "warranted genuine wordings".....

Originally Posted by rideon66

So both Peter and Sebastian have given me the info I was looking for and I believe this is a Fiddish River Stone. Seems there is no real documentation of these just a made up term for this stone at sometime. It should be a fine finisher though and that is the end game here and who knows with the lost history of a greenish stone with green slurry for cutlers.

Here is the one i own, those are real beauties, Fiddish River is only the term it is known as. Till today there is no proof...





Haha ist a greeneeeee, always thought "Cutlers Green" would sound great for such a Stone

Originally Posted by doorsch

Here is the one i own, those are real beauties, Fiddish River is only the term it is known as. Till today there is no proof...





Haha ist a greeneeeee, always thought "Cutlers Green" would sound great for such a Stone

Beautiful stone.
That is what my slurry looks like. It is a joy to hone on and the shaves are just superb. Sometimes accidental purchases are great and fun learning too. Here is some info I found about the Fiddich River Stone.


I did find a reference to hones or whetstones are obtained near Balvenie, on the Fiddich. 1868 Abbas Combe to Eyworth. & a reference to the same stating it had sufficient supply for the whole of ifland . 1803 The Gazetteer of Scotland Also in a later reference it states laminated marble found in the bed of the Fiddich, is formed into whetstones and hones.1901

I recently saw what was listed as a llyn idwal that sold as a bin I was going to buy but just before I could it sold that I was wondering if it was a Frankonian stone. Heavily spotted and looked similar to me.

Also found it interesting that the labeled said Charley Forest stone not Charnley.

I picked this Fiddich River up some months ago. Said to have been purchased many years ago from a barber during a trip to England. It was mounted in wood and had a broken corner. Very friendly edges but not the keenest, it's been a joy to use and shave off of.

Very friendly edges but not the keenest, it's been a joy to use and shave off of.

How are you using the stone? What grit are you pre-finishing to.