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.

PMH, even if it is glued to the base, you can remove it by pre-heating the oven to around 150 and leaving it in there for around 5 minutes. This melts the glue and it should easily be removed.

I hope its as fine a stone as your looking for. Its so hard to tell when buying used rocks on line. I can just never pull the trigger. You just cant tell much until you get them in your hands and put some steal on them. Good luck and let us see it cleaned up and a report on how it feels.

Will do.
I have a Heljestrand MK30 waiting for it. Will try and find a decent USB microscope as well so I can see what happens with the scratch pattern.

It arrived today and I think it might actually be a Charnley after all.
Lapped it and got most of the oil out, smelled like WD-40. The cut out in the box is made after the stone so there is no corner in the box were it is missing on the stone.

Here are some picture of it dry and wet.