A Tale of Two Washitas

I picked up a vintage Washita from a used tool store, which came in a wooden box.

It came smelling heavily of old oil. Pictures are afters soaking in Simple Green for two weeks. It came in a wooden box, and was at one time glued to the bottom. The inner lid is stamped, and while the left side is illegible the right side reads "No. 1 Quality / Washita-Oilstone / For Mechanics Tools."

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I also bought a "First Quality" Dan's Whetstone.

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The vintage Washita is denser. Although a smaller stone, it is heavier than the Dan's stone. The Dan's stone is also porous... I'm not sure how I'd use oil on it, it would just soak into the stone... It feels coarser, kind of like 800 grit sandpaper, while the vintage is fairly smooth.

I haven't used either stone on razors yet... neither are flat and I need to get some silicon carbide. I did test them on kitchen knives... I was super impressed by the vintage Washita's cutting speed and edge that it left. It didn't seem to load up at all even after removing a fair amount of steel. The Dan's stone was definitely a lower grade that seemed to cut quickly, however I could only use with water due to the porosity. Not sure I would try it on a razor.

Looking forward to getting the vintage stone lapped in the near future for use on a razor...

Congrats, on a great stone. Probably the most versatile hone I've ever used. Burnish the living crap out of it, once u have it flat. The longer u use it, the better they get.

I only use mine with water for most of my honing, but if I want a more polished edge, I'll use oil or pure glycerin.

I have two washitas, one like yours, and a butterscotch colored one. Both work very well, but the butterscotch is a bit better, but its been used a lot more than the other.

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Welcome to the club.!

Washitas working range can be very eye opening. Great stones IMHO.

Nice old Pike Washita in the original wood box. Those are my favorites, nice find!

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Originally Posted by Toroblanco

Washitas working range can be very eye opening. Great stones IMHO.

Nice old Pike Washita in the original wood box. Those are my favorites, nice find!

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Thanks, hadn't realized this was a Pike! Found a couple matching photos on the web showing the left hand side.

Modern and vintage washita are two different beasts.
The vintage washita is an amazing stone. Even the vintage washita can vary in density and performance.
The denser ones will have potential to offer higher grit range performance at the same time bevel set or post bevel set. It took me a while to understand my first washita. Once I unlocked the code it has become one of my favorite stones. Depending on stone it will auto slurry but I prefer to start with some diamond plate slurry for speed. I also like to use balliistol dawn water mix. Be careful they tend to load up. I think a burnished dense washita is capable of 8k plus but performance will lack in the lower ranges. Experiment with pressure and slurry you will be surprised with stones range!

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Originally Posted by biglou13

Modern and vintage washita are two different beasts.
The vintage washita is an amazing stone. Even the vintage washita can vary in density and performance.
The denser ones will have potential to offer higher grit range performance at the same time bevel set or post bevel set. It took me a while to understand my first washita. Once I unlocked the code it has become one of my favorite stones. Depending on stone it will auto slurry but I prefer to start with some diamond plate slurry for speed. I also like to use balliistol dawn water mix. Be careful they tend to load up. I think a burnished dense washita is capable of 8k plus but performance will lack in the lower ranges. Experiment with pressure and slurry you will be surprised with stones range!

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Yep...my butterscotch is partially, translucent. And is fully capable of reaching an 8k, stage. I find it much easier to just progress to another stone, and use it more for after initial bevel setting, as a mid range hone.

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