Thread: Any guesses as to what this is?

To me it looks like an Arkansas:

or an early artificial India hone:


Vintage Turkey hones look like this:

Originally Posted by Bart

It looks like an oxidized "La Grosse Blanche" Coticule.

I'm far from sure. I don't know a lot about any other natural hones than Coticules.

Please compare to this picture:
I'm mentioning this as a possibility.

Your better pictures and the additional data proofs that I was wrong.

Best regards,
Bart.

Originally Posted by Bart

Your better pictures and the additional data proofs that I was wrong.

Best regards,
Bart.

Don't feel bad Bart .
I bought this for coticule price.
Ends up piece of BALSA darn.
LOVELY SIGN OF the HAD.

I bought a very similar stone from eBay at a low price. It was deeply dished and had a light gray patina, and I thought I was "stealing" an old boxed Escher. Not even close.

When it arrived, it reeked of oil and filth, and required an hour of lapping with a perforated DMT X-Coarse plate to get flat. Mine is very hard, and very rough, not fine at all. I would estimate well under 1200 grit. I've never taken a razor to it, I just wrote it off as a learning experience. I assumed it was some sort of man-made oil stone. No idea what it is, but I see variations of them all the time on eBay, and steer well clear of them.

Maybe this is completely different than what you have. Or maybe somebody will know what these are. I wish I had the original unlapped pictures of it, looked like a completely different hone.

Tim, the break in the bottom pic looks very much like a synthetic to me.


Ok, here's what I've confirmed chemically.

It has a lot of CaCo3. It has very little Alumina (not enough to be an India stone).

Visually:
No garnets.
The surface oxidizes slightly.



If anyone can find me the chemical makeup of arkansas stone (other than silica), it would be very helpful.

All reports I'm finding say that this is far too soft to be arkansas. If anyone has any advice for removing the oil better, perhaps the sides and bottom (I've managed to pry it from it's box) could help uncover something.


edit: Now lapped on all sides... the "top" side was sanded down to get rid of all the surface blackness... other sides I did not bother, they appear like a much darker version of the top side's pattern (absorbed oil residue I'd assume). The residue (if that's what it is) has no impact on performance.

It looks like the yellow Arkansas several people have posted. So much that I'd say that's almost certainly what it is, and I'm just gonna say "Weird but who cares" for the anomalies that disagree. Primarily that it can be scratched with knife steel (Arkansas usually can't) and that it is easily 12k grit (with slurry). I'm just going to consider it the best damn Arkansas ever, since really I have no clue what else it could be at this point. (Actually, I'm going to buy another arkansas and just see if they are vastly under-rated as razor hones, and if not, THEN I'm gonna call it the best damn Arkansas ever).

Thanks every one for all your help. If you come across anything new or have any better idea than what I'm going with now, feel free to post it. I'm a bit OCD about this stuff, so I'd sure be pleased to have a more definite answer.

I did dig around and find stone i think matches what you have. i have not done any test on this and not lapped flat yet. very hard stone. this is the pic's.

That could be my stones twin (though it looks a couple inches longer*). I'm very interested in your findings.

Yours has a prettier home though.

edit: Check the bottom... after I spent a half hour lapping my HIGHLY dished top... I eventually pried the stone free and lapped the bottom... in about two minutes. :P


Was yours used with oil in the past? Are the dark patches oil residue or some kind of coloring?

Also... how many stones do you have that you can dig around and produce a random mystery stone, eh?


*It's not the size, it's how you use it!

Originally Posted by IanS

That could be my stones twin (though it looks a couple inches longer*). I'm very interested in your findings.

Yours has a prettier home though.

edit: Check the bottom... after I spent a half hour lapping my HIGHLY dished top... I eventually pried the stone free and lapped the bottom... in about two minutes. :P


Was yours used with oil in the past? Are the dark patches oil residue or some kind of coloring?

Also... how many stones do you have that you can dig around and produce a random mystery stone, eh?


*It's not the size, it's how you use it!

I don't know if i could take it out. i will try lets see what happens.
it has been used with oil. i wasn't able to lap it to flat that dark spot's are the dished parts.
How many stones HAD PEOPLE has? hmmm
Ask Jimmy he has his kitchen full. We should have pictures of them in srp somewhere.

Mine was glued down, but the glue was old and brittle (and applied sparingly).