found this hone

just found this hone at the cabin, in the tool shed! my guess is it has been there for a "few" years as my mother in-law had no idea it was there!

I am just wondering if any one has any info on it? if not i do understand, the only making it has on it is stamped on the box, the stamp is fairly faded and from what i can read it says "A. GRIER", i dont believe that stamp is the previous owners personal stamp, as there is no one in the family by that name.
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he other things i know about said hone is that it appears to have been used with oil. the texture of this hone it buttery smooth. i do not have any clue on the grit of this hone. The hone is in good shape, one small chip in the corner and a small "groove" in one side but the other side that was in the box and covered is smooth and flaw free, just dirty

Let us know what size it is , what true colour after you clean it and also close up picture would help with recognition.

the width of the stone is 2", the length is 8", and the thickness is 3/4". the true color is a titinium gray if you will, its a deep gray. i will try to get a close up picture of it, i ony have a camera phone right now so that may not help.

Also try to scratch it with a copper wire. If is scratches it would be more like slate type of stone if not it would go more towards novaculite type i.e.Arkie.
Titanium gray could be just oily sludge coating. What colour is the slurry?

i just tried to scratch with a copper wire, i would say it leave's a slight copper color on the stone, but when you run a finger nail over the mark you dont feel a "scratch" no groove is left.

The it is more likely to be novaculite type. Looking forward to see it closer after cleaning.

as soon as i can i will post better pictures when i can! as the phone is not working to well!

There are so many old hones in these wooden boxes that it makes it very hard to tell what is a good stone or not, I hope yours is good. I have paid about 50$ on ebay so far buying old hones like this hoping I hit the Charnley forest jackpot, no luck so far...:gwh: