Thread: Emerald green hone?

I have been looking for a Charnley Forest as a finisher for a while but the end price is just to high for me right now with summer coming up.
Yesterday I snagged this beautiful stone of the bay pretty cheap. It was described as green slate wetstone oilstone and it seems like there is oil residue on the surface.

I know CF is not slate but on the other hand I have no idea what slate is supposed to look like. It doesn't seem to have the characteristic purple streaks that is common to CF so I don't believe it's that. So what are everyones thought about what it can be based on the pictures. Charnley Forest, Llyn Idwal, Cutler's green, unknown welsh slate or something else?

One more thing, if it is oil on the surface and the stone can't be removed from the box what would be the best way to clean it?

There'd be nothing wrong with continuing to use it as an oilstone. Just lap it flat with SiC paper on a tile, or with a diamond plate, and finish your razors on the hone with light mineral oil.

A lot of people get hung up with the name and source of various hones. I contend that the honing characteristics of a specific stone are far more important than the name or source of the hone. Is the stone suitable for honing razors? If so, where in the honing sequence does the hone best fit? As long as the stone fills a role in your honing sequence, it is a valid part of your tool kit. Since you are looking for a finishing hone, hopefully your new acquisition will fill that need.

Yeah, I hope so to.
The name really doesn't matter for me either, it's just that with my little experience I would at least know if I bought a Charnley that it was a finishing stone.
But if it isn't a finisher it wasn't a lot of money and I guess I can use it to sharpen my kitchen knives.

Let's see pictures of it cleaned, lapped and wet and dry, then we can advise! Could well be a CF or LI. Nobody knows what a Cutlers Green looks like. It is referred to in various ancient British literature but I could never ascertain exactly what it is, or find one. I gave up! Happy with Thuringians. Lately, I have been happy with DE blades in a shavette, too!

Will do once it has arrived. Hopefully it's not glued to solid to the base and it is possible to get it out so I can see the full stone.

Sounds like ya found a winner. Dense Novaculite is a great finisher, does tend to leave a blade a bit in the sharp/nippy side. Especially if used with oil, imo that puts you about at the peak of what the stone can do. But on the bright side, you can switch to a thin shave lather rather than oil or just strop it a few more laps than you otherwise might to calm the edge down a bit.

I noticed earlier you were asking about oil. Dense Novaculite isn't terribly porous, so the oil likely hasn't penetrated far. If you want to clean it up, toss it in a bath of Simple Green (or similar degreaser) and let it soak for a day or two. I've got a vintage yellow lake that was used as an oil stone likely for decades before it fell into my hands. You wouldn't know it now.