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I got a pebble, a very characteristic pattern, but I can't find it anywhere ... please help
Dimension 148x48x22mm
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That’s a good looking hone. Where does it fit in a progression?
Hard or soft?
I have seen some newer manmade stones similar to that pattern. I don’t recall the maker, I think they were similar sized and in the 1k range.
What does the end look like, don’t see any saw marks? The scratches on the side look like a soft stone, slate-ish.
It is relatively hard, I evened the surface with diamonds and it goes very slowly. At the ends there are marks after cutting...
Looks like a Tam O Shanter I have, only mine has lite grey dots on a white stone, though I have seen some dark grey stones with black dots not the wiggle lines like yours.
Grit o matic was selling some Tam O Shatners for their knife jigs a year or so that looked more similar to yours, black on grey, and like I said earlier, there are some man made stones that are speckled, but more of a marbled pattern. Saw mark are an indicator of a Natural stone.
Ken Schwartz is selling some synthetic stones for knife Jigs. Ken was also the importer for the Nubatama stones a few years back that were a speckled / mottled stone. I have a 1k that is a very nice 1k. Perhaps those are the stones he is now selling, just cut smaller. He calls them “Speckled stones” now, under the Jende line.
Tam O Shatner’s run the gamut on grit from course to fine, probably not over the 6-8k ish range.
It is a nice looking stone, probably make a good knife stone.
Thank you for the information
From the side it actually looks like Tam O Shanter and I was also looking in that direction but all ToS have dots and here the pattern looks like "worms" especially when the stone is wet and shimmers against the light. It seems to me that the structure is too heterogeneous for a synthetic stone
I bought the stone at the antique market and the look in the pictures is after cleaning. When I bought it, it was uniformly dark gray. It turned out to be a thick layer of dirt
If you have other synthetic stones of know grit, hone a razor or knife on the Speckled stone, then hone the toe half on a known grit stone.
You can then compare the stria to each other with magnification, until you find one close to a known grit. Then you will know where it will fit in a progression, probably not more than 6-8k grit.
Hard naturals make great knife / tool honing stones.
I think it may be a tam o shanter. Maybe a piece near a layer transition or something.
Compared to the other Tam O'Shanters that I have this is not one of them. Tams have little dots, not squiggles.
Tams are also difficult to generate a slurry on but when you do finally generate a slurry it is the best 6K I have ever used.
I would follow the above advice to see where it fits in a honing progression.