Thread: Two Flea Market stones in need of identification

Greetings everyone,

Here are a couple of stones that I picked up at the Flea Market yesterday. They were pretty dirty when I got them, like the darkest part of the upside down stone in the second picture. I still have more work to do to clean and flatten them. So far, they are turning out to be almost the same color, which is surprising, since I bought them from separate vendors. I bought the stone in the case because I liked the nice little box. I paid $4 for that one. I bought the longer stone for $1.

They stones feel pretty smooth, but I have no idea if they would be suitable for razors. I was surprised at how light they are. I don’t know how to identify hones/stones, so if anyone can tell me what these are, I would greatly appreciate it.

By the way, I used Kerosene to try to clean off the stones, but I didn’t have much luck. Most of the actual cleaning came from sanding the stones on my granite surface plate to flatten them. What is the best way to clean up stones/hones?

Looks like either hard or soft Arkansas. Great deal, although perhaps more suited for knives.

Thinking of white washita. I use oven cleaner spray however sanding down is still probably the cleanest option as the crud can be stuck inside of the pores of the stone.

I like a scoop of Oxi Clean, a scoop of Laundry soap in a plastic shoe box full of water. Let it soak for a day or so then scrub and do again until clean. You will see the oil float to the surface. I scrub them in paint thinner first to remove surface oil & dirt.

Marty