Thread: New guy stone ID

Thanks for the background, and I hope you can understand the reason for my asking.

Like the others, I agree that it looks like an Arkansas stone. Perhaps a lily white Washita as well, but the latter is a little bit grainy.

Assuming it hasn't been cleaned up, try putting some water on the surface to see if there's a oily discharge. Most Arkansas and Washita stones have been used with oil, and that is how I always use them. If it is an Akansas or a Washita, I would not recommend using a diamond plate to lap them. These are very hard stones that can trash a diamond plate pretty quickly. Silicon carbide powder and water on a thick sheet of glass or a dedicated lapping plate are better. I use the powder like this in the 80x to 320x range, followed by wet/dry sandpaper on up to 2000x as needed for the black hard Arkansas. Or sometimes the grit powder to 600x, followed by w/d sandpaper.