So I bought a stone...

[Eurofighter]

Ebay is an evil place! I've bought a stone. It was advertised as Belgian coticule. I should have paid more attention to the pictures probably. Although my experience is rather limited I am quite sure this stone is not a coticule. Definitely and old stone: it came in a wooden box held together with wooden pegs. It is fine to the touch and it is glossy. Light shines through it. Is it a translucent Arkansas maybe?

[Steve56]

Yeah, it looks like a trans Ark that’s been used with the red honing oil which IIRc was automatic transmission fluid.

[Eurofighter]

Thanks! I'd better start reading about Arks then, as I don't know anything about them.
Should I do something special with it or just start testing it?

[outback]

Give it a good scrubbin, then let it soak in degreaser for awhile.





This can take up to several weeks, to get them clean

[Eurofighter]

It is not oily to the touch and it doesn't smell of oil either. I'll give it a scrub.

[Euclid440]

Yup, looks like, put it under hot water for a couple minutes to warm it up, then spray with oven cleaner and let sit for a bit, scrub and rinse. That will get most of the surface rust off.

Then soak in 50 percent water and any good degreaser, 409, Simple Green or Awsome is what is available in the states. The longer you soak the whiter it will get.

But if it does not smell it really does not matter what color it is. Lots of information on Arks and Translucents. Other that clean it I would try it on a razor before I did anything to the stone face. Chances are it has been burnished to a fine finishing face from years of use, and it would take you a long while to reproduce that should you lap or sand it.

WD40 will clean up the box.

Nice find a vintage stone, well prepped can produce a fine edge.

[Toroblanco]

Nice find! That stone will refine pretty much any coti, so it is not as bad as you think. Just clean it up with Oven cleaner in a thick plastic bag. Then rinse with some non-toxic degreaser. The plastic bag is so the oven cleaner does not dry up and keeps it working loner. Just spray oven cleaner all over the stone and place in bag and put outside in a shaded area. After a at least a hour take out and spay with the non-toxic degreaser and repeat I would say two more times for your stone.

Then lap your stone flat and prep one side to 600 sic and the other 1000. That should get you to a great finisher. It does not look to be to much work. Nice stone!

[Eurofighter]

Thanks for the advice!
Time for me to go shopping and see what oven cleaners and degreasers the UK supermarkets have to offer.
It never crossed my mind to use wd40 to clean the case. I was thinking about sanding it. Will give it a go with wd40.

LE: what is 600 sic?

[Toroblanco]

Silicon carbide.

[Eurofighter]

Thanks!
I cleaned the stone with oven cleaner. It took about 30 seconds and it was clean. I scrubbed some more, but that was it. I then soaked it in degreaser and left it there for a while. Nothing happened. The degreaser was just clean.
This is the result:



After reading about arks I've decided to leave it as is and try it with a razor. I contacted the seller and he doesn't know what stone it is. He only knows that it is an old stone and that it has been used to hone razors.
My Thomas Turner razor needs a refresh and I think it is a good candidate to test the stone.
Anything else I should know before I start?