Odd Hone Identification

I won an Ebay bid with 8 or 10 barbers hones and whetstones. There is one odd duck among them that has me mystified. It is seemingly made of honing material. But, it has a hollowed out side, that dips down like the bottom of a swimming pool with a shallow and deep end. In the bottom of the "pool", there are grooves that make it look like something very fine made scratches. Possibly, something very fine was sharpened in this section like (this is all I can think of) fishing hooks.

I have no idea what this device is used for. So, historical and honing gents, is it anything?

It's an ink stone, or suzuri, Has nothing to do with honing or hones

Thanks!!! You are a historical fountain of knowledge.

From Wikipedia... Chinese Inkstone - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

An inkstone is literally a stone mortar for the grinding and containment of ink. Traditional Chinese ink was usually solidified into sticks for easier transport and preservation. Even a small amount of water could be applied to the end of a stick of ink, and that end would be ground with the flat surface of the ink stone. A larger quantity of ink could be ground from a small pool of water placed on the inkstone. Water could be stored in a water-holding cavity on the inkstone itself, as was the case for many Song Dynasty (960-1279) inkstones. The water-holding cavity or water reservoir in time became an ink reservoir for later inkstones. Water was usually kept in a ceramic container and sprinkled on the inkstone.

It makes me wonder how a Chinese inkstone got into a pile of whetstones and barbers hones. Can anyone help me with that?! :)

Thanks very much, Traskrom.

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Originally Posted by LarryAndro

It makes me wonder how a Chinese inkstone got into a pile of whetstones and barbers hones. Can anyone help me with that?! :)

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It was probably a simple case of mistaken identity, which, as your own question shows, is an easy mistake to make.

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Originally Posted by LarryAndro

It makes me wonder how a Chinese inkstone got into a pile of whetstones and barbers hones. Can anyone help me with that?! :)

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Well maybe, I have a suzuri and I have honed on the bottom side a little bit just for the heck of it. There really was a Sailor Jerry who tattooed in Hawaii for many years. Not just a name on a bottle of rum. He had a suzuri that he used for generating ink for certain applications.

This stimulated me to get one and mess with it. The one that I got came from some mountain in Japan, a natural, not some cheap imitation. When I got into the straight razor thing it occurred to me that I might have something that would perform double duty.

So depending on where the stone came from, it may have been used to do some honing. Give it a try on the flat bottom side. You may have a nakayama there. :)

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Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

Well maybe, I have a suzuri and I have honed on the bottom side a little bit just for the heck of it...

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Can I admit that I had already made the decision to lap the bottom of the suzuri, but not tell anyone of my mad scientist experiment. (I did this after my late night Ebay research revealed to me that my slightly damaged suzuri would not pay for a new Lexus.)

Since we all JimmyHAD has a touch of the mad, but genius scientist in him I now feel emboldened to follow his pathway... :)

Very interesting :)

Thanks guys, I have one of those also and now know whats it is used for.:)

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Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

Well maybe, I have a suzuri and I have honed on the bottom side a little bit just for the heck of it. There really was a Sailor Jerry who tattooed in Hawaii for many years. Not just a name on a bottle of rum. He had a suzuri that he used for generating ink for certain applications.

This stimulated me to get one and mess with it. The one that I got came from some mountain in Japan, a natural, not some cheap imitation. When I got into the straight razor thing it occurred to me that I might have something that would perform double duty.

So depending on where the stone came from, it may have been used to do some honing. Give it a try on the flat bottom side. You may have a nakayama there. :)

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Dammit Jimmy...don't give me ideas.

FYI, for apparently for calligraphers the best Inkstones are Chinese.

Annnnd...here we go. Got one today, a natural stone from Miyagi prefecture. Let's see how it goes! How about the rest of you?

Well done! I was in China recently and watched a monk make ink drawings. His ink was already liquefied though. Haven't seen the Japanese method. Very cool.

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Originally Posted by Howard

Well done! I was in China recently and watched a monk make ink drawings. His ink was already liquefied though. Haven't seen the Japanese method. Very cool.

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Although I have never been to China, I am a trained calligrapher and here is my inkstone and ink stick. Using this method to write is very much akin to shaving with a straight razor. It gives one a sense of practicing an historical artform. We can all agree on that. http://www.drue.net/sumi-e-inkstone.htm
;)

Any results on honing a razor with the back of a suzuri? I just discovered one that I had laying around in my closet for years.

From what I've read, they're often made of slate, and it sort of looks like slate....usually not suitable for honing.

Interestingly enough a japanese friend of mine who is also a retailer for japanese kitchenware and natural stones talked to me about the PHIG or Chinese 12k I showed him.
He didn´t know such thing exists and was interested, so I lend it to him. I also gave him all the information I had. The ebay seller I got it from two years ago
claimed the stone was mined in Guanxi. The friend of mine (a highly enthusiastic stone-addict) checked his sources and came back to me saying in Guanxi there would be no quarry capable
of producing these kinds of stones but his source immrdiately recognized it as a stone used for the preparation of ink.
I have no idea wether that is true or not, nor do I know what kind of source that was.
Looking at the second picture, hell this could be a beat up C12k with a hole in it ...