CHARNLEY FOREST... AGAIN!

right sorry for this folks but i bought another stone from a local seller in old tools etc and he assured me this is a charnley so i waited with great anticipation for it!

it arrived today and by god it is identical to my other stone i had bought before but bigger!

sooooo, either ive got two stones, neither are charnley orrrr both are charnley and im quids in!?

so the stone on the left is the new one and the one on the right is the previous one i bought.

just to note, the guy i bought it off is an older guy and swears its a charnley!

thoughts?!

http://img522.imageshack.us/img522/2510/img2305w.jpg

http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/6166/img2306t.jpg

http://img63.imageshack.us/img63/3879/img2307r.jpg

Might be, might not be .... I'll leave that to sharper more experienced eyes. I know that some bona fide Charnley stones I've had contained streaks of magenta color in them. Magenta being a reddish purple by my definition.

its such a saga but now ive looked through the forum im fairly certain the new one is a charnley, and now the older one too.

either way theyre both the same and what are the chances of getting two stones the same that arent charnley!?

surely slim to none when they are both meant to be charnley forest in the first place

The wood the one on the right came in looks like the two I've had. The size as well. Kind of an olive/gray green other than the streaks and what have you IME.

i was the one of the person said it is not charnley.F.
i don't know what happen your pictures now they are clear. last picture tells me it is c.f/
the reason is not the color of the stone or the color of the strikes but sharpness of the edge of the stone.
c.f edge is sharp .
hope this helps.

hi Bud

the edge on my older stone is very sharp now i have it lapped, they make the same sound when theyre tapped and the same colour of slurry is produced when i rub with coarse wet and dry paper

after having the new one confirmed as a CF i think they both must be. the newest one is from a very trusted man who has sold a lot of CF over the years.

i think my first one is just not the norm at all, the second looks a lot more like the usual suspects in terms of size and colour

C.F could be a lot different color. i have seen dark blue, to---yellowish.
The best way to say from pictures (most reliable in my mind) is to see the edge of the stone.
C.F edge will be sharp and not easy to lap.lets say you can lap Thuringian in 3 minutes but to lap CF will take 3 hours.
Try lap them and test.
Not every CF will be fine enough for Straight razor edge.
try test by using oil and check the edge.
Enjoy.

Colour ok, size ok, style of manufacturing ok (for late ones), box I do not think so, veining no.

Color is right, but putting a blade on it that has been honed to a known 8k would be the key. If it improves the edge, but is a slow cutter then it could be a CF. If it degrades the edge or keeps it on par, could be a Tam O Shanter. I had one that had some simular colors that can be seen here: http://straightrazorpalace.com/hones...-identify.html

The last picture really makes me think it's a TOS..

They both look somewhat similar to Charnley Forest hones and before the first one was lapped I was convinced it was one. However the veins or cracks put me off. They both resemble Neils Turkey way more (see his picture), notice the dark veins or cracks and the speckles. There were a lot of Turkey Oilstones imported into the UK so it would not be that strange you ended up with two.

Then again I have only handled a handful of Charnleys and there's a lot of variety.

FWIW, if one or both are a Turkey stone imported into the UK back in that era they may be as good or better than a Charnley. A_S forgot more about stones than most people know, and he said in a recent thread, that there were a variety of Turkey stones in terms of grade. I believe the old ones were the best because of what was written about them at the time. I know the old literature of the time says they were "better" and more sought after than Charnleys in that they were faster and maybe left a finer edge. Call it what you want, when the razor meets the hone you'll either be glad you got it or your won't. :)

well i got some oil on it after lapping and gave it a go and its a good result!

the razor was already fairly sharp but thought heck lets just give it a go, gave about 40 strokes and it was wiping the oil very nicely down the stone which gave me some good feedback.

didnt leave it mirror polished like my norton 8k but went and stropped it as normal anyway (no paste on my daily strop) and gave it a go, popped hairs with no problem at all and passed a HHT too!

on to a quick face test and it was very good.

so i think the verdict is - GOOD!

it is a seriously hard stone to lap and like my other one, took over 3 hours before i could even think of moving to higher grits to finish it ( it wasnt even that bad to start, maybe 1mm high/low in places)