New to me Washita Lily White

I realized i posted my pics on this stone in the wrong place so i will put it here.

Picked this on up on eBay for a decent price. Ive been watching them so i had an idea on what they go for. Plus with the help of a friend here on SRP. Going by the label it was made around 1930 as it doesnt say Norton anywhere. It came with the original box and by the glue and splinters on the back of the stone i can tell its the right stone for the box. And thats good since the label is on the box. 1 7/8 x 5 3/4 x 1.

The top surface is dished about 1mm so not much. Guessing it has a great burnished finish. So i think i will lap the glue side so it can be used for bevel setting or course work.

So here is a couple picks of it including a pic of a label one off www that matches this label as mine is hard to see. So for your rock viewing pleasure...

Stollen pic.
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Many years of oil Attachment 302192
Glue side Attachment 302193

Where does that end up in an Arkansas progression?

Nice looking stone.

Pike Lilly Whites are finer than the later Norton Lilly Whites folks say. Usually a pre-finisher but depends on the stone face finish.

I would soak in plain warm water and remove the label with a single edge razor blade once the glue loosens up. Store it on a piece of glass.

Then soak and lap with loose 60 grit Silicon Carbide, lap finish and burnish, re-apply the label and seal.

Nice stone and great label, or just frame the label. They are great knife stones.

The first picture is not mine.
The label was shown to show what mine looks like that is on the box. I think i will leave it on the box.

As compared to a SB or Trans Arkie this stone would be used before them. That is if you really want to go with a full natural progression.

It still has the original pike green, not often seen. Nice examle of a pike lily white!

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Originally Posted by Toroblanco

It still has the original pike green, not often seen. Nice examle of a pike lily white!

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My guess is it is a turn of the century stone. 1890-1932.

Very nice stone. I love Washitas and how much they can vary from grade to grade/stone to stone, and especially how versatile they are. They are the North American version of a Suita stone in that they can cut very fast, and also very fine. Congrats on a nice score.

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Originally Posted by Gasman

The first picture is not mine.
The label was shown to show what mine looks like that is on the box. I think i will leave it on the box.

As compared to a SB or Trans Arkie this stone would be used before them. That is if you really want to go with a full natural progression.

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Mine had the label on the back of the stone, in the box. I see this one had the label on the box. It's a very nice collectors piece. I had all of them (still have some), except the Rosy Red version I saw only once for a huge amount of money, so I said no.

Sure would like to give it a try, Jerry.

We could do a swap, for a bit.

Your Lilly white, to my Butterscotch.

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Originally Posted by cman670

Mine had the label on the back of the stone, in the box. I see this one had the label on the box. It's a very nice collectors piece. I had all of them (still have some), except the Rosy Red version I saw only once for a huge amount of money, so I said no.

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A 6x2 Rosy Red sold recently for almost 500 dollars. That’s crazy money.

I seen a rose red for sale on eBay. It wasnt a very high price but was still going. It also wasnt very red in color. I dont know enough about them so i passed on it.

Mike, give me a little time to play with this one and to get to know it and you got a deal. Im always willing to send you anything i have to play with. Wait, that didnt come out right. Ha.

Id really like to keep the many years of burnish on the top of this stone even though it is a tiny bit dished. Time will tell. I took a sick day today so im going to lap the edges a bit to clean up some chips on the corners and lap the glue side than give it a go. I will post up my findings later today.

You have fun with that.!! Went through a pack of 220 grt., and a small DMT, getting mine lapped. :rofl2:

Harder than a wedding night, weiner. :roflmao

I found this one to not be very hard. I had no issue lapping. I did all sides just to clean up the small sides. Then went over the edges to take off the sharps. I started on my belt sander to take off the Glue from the backside. Then went with 120, 180, 220, 320 and 400 by hand on a piece of marble tile I use for lapping.

Attachment 302269Attachment 302270

I've now spent about 3 hours on it playing. I brought up a little slurry and took a razor that I had just worked on the buffer. So it had NO bevel left! Figured I give the stone a hard time to start with.
I managed to set a bevel without too much of an issue. It might have taken a little more time than using the Green Brick, but not an extreme amount of time. I killed the edge and set it again just to be sure.
I then washed off the stone and went with more Balistol and water. What I've been finding is the edge looses its sharpness. :shrug: I've done this over and over and I still get the same outcome. I'm not sure what is going on with it but something is happening. I'm going to set it aside for now so I can get to some other razors. Not too sure what is happening but it's not agreeing with me right now.

It set a nice bevel with slurry using a diamond card and oil. If I can't figure out something with it the next few times I pick it up I might be sending it out for another's opinion. It's just a very odd thing. And with it being as soft as it was during the lapping makes me wonder. :thinking:

Took the same razor up to 12K and a Thuri and no issues, so it's not the razor. Could be just my judgment. I will need to go as far as I can with the Washita, then jump to the Arkie and see what happens. Maybe next week.

Wecome to the wacky world of Arkies! Slurry on Arks is not recommended, because of the way it leaves the edges. Weak, ready to crumble. One way around if you want to use slurry because it is so fast is use one side dressed to 80-100 grit(for bevel setting) the other dressed to 220 to get past the chips( bur). Or you can strop after you bevel set get rid of the bur on a linen strop. Worked for me, hope it can work for you.

Slurry on a washita? Don't do that anymore. Absolutely not necessary. Let the stone do its thing. Don't fight the force!

Agree...no slurry.
Did you burnish it, Jerry.!?

I keep mine burnished, takes for ever to remove chips, if there's any. But mine sounds harder, than yours ( semi translucent )

I had to start somewhere. I only slurryed from one side. The original, darker coloered side was lapped too but i hadnt burnished it yet. The stone is a bit soft. I figured id have one side unburnished for the hard work (the glue side i cleaned up) then use the other side for finishing on. I will spend some time burnishing it on my next days off and give it a try again.

The original finish on the face really wasnt burnished. I dont think this stone had seen much use. I will get serious next week.

I agree that it is a good idea to keep one side "awake" so you basically have two different faces. It can be very useful. Jerry, I have no idea what you are, or aren't doing, and it is very hard to give you help. When I lap a side to freshen up the cutting ability, I don't leave the slurry on. I rinse it off. It is the rough surface that you create that does the cutting. I HAVE used slurry before and nothing like you describe happened though so I don't know if that is what it is. I don't use slurry anymore because if you are not careful and large chunk can get in the mix and being 99% silica (hard!) it can really scratch things up.

I don't know what you are using for tests that it is losing sharpness. A HHT? or AHT? TPT? It COULD be that it is actually still sharp but not "toothy" anymore. Have you tried to keep going and see if it ends up shaving?

Other than that it is pretty confusing as I don't think I have ever experienced what you are describing.

I think you said it Steel. Not being toothy any more so its making me think its not sharp as in its loosing not gaining. I came to this thought just the other day but ha ent had time to get back to it. Work always gets in the way. Im going to try a bit in a couple days and see where it goes. I had to start somewhere and slurry has been a good friend for me lately so i guess thats why i went that way. Now i know.

Going to start tomorrow by lapping one side. I have a nice piece f stainless bar ive had for years. Or does it need to be done with something else. I figure the stainless bar is smooth. Hell, its like chrome. But hard as hell.
I have about every hand tool you can think of so if anything works better let me know.

Burnished one side and put another razor on it. Set bevel on the coarser side. Flipped the stone to the burnished side and used it to smooth out the bevel a bit. Then went to the Trans Ark. TPT tells me its keen but not like my 20K. I expected that. The scope tells me its a passable edge. Not perfect but should be close enough. Shave test in the morning. This will be my first full natural stone honing progression. Crossing my fingers.

Failed!
The Razor was not even close enough to pass marginally. Back to the starting point. Hey, its all in fun anyway.

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Originally Posted by Gasman

Failed!
The Razor was not even close enough to pass marginally. Back to the starting point. Hey, its all in fun anyway.

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Never say failed. You learned something new!

OK, How about It wasn't what I was expecting. I will do better next time.
Does that sound better? LOL

Honing up one right now but as soon as I get it done I will break out the naturals again and give that one another go. I love honing. Gives me a chance to listen to my music and NOT be driving.