Thread: Unknown stone any ideas?

Hindostan stone has my vote. You go ahead and give that ol stone a good bashing and cleaning about Louis. Don't let these guy's shade you.
Mike

Originally Posted by Louis

I just got a stone in the mail that I bought off ebay. I rolled the dice and I think I crapped out. It came stuck in a block of wood, so I cut it out. I think the previous owner used oil on it or laquered it into the wood because it is caked with black crap :-/ (anybodys guess) top, bottom, and sides. I tried dial and a wet/dry sanding sponge it with minimal results. Any suggestions on how to clean it up? I'm thinking about using paint thinner on it. Will paint thinner hurt it in any way if it is not a natural stone? Any suggestions on how to proceed would be greatly appreciated.

Anyone have a guess on what it is? Its 7 3/4" X 2 1/8" X 6/8" It gives off a tan slurry, like the dots in the first pic, but it is a B***H to get slurry raised!!! Tons of preasure and like 150 strokes with a small survival knife sharpening stone produced minimal slurry.

Thanks
Louis.

I believe this is a Hindustan oil stone. I collect any natural stone i can find these day as somewhat of a strange hobby (to most) and just happen to live one state over from where they were originally mined (Indiana, USA) for use as sharpening stones and gravestones.

Anyway, I recently purchased a lot of old stones covered in old oil and out of 9 stones, 6 of them turned out to be the same type, Hindustan. What I noticed was that not all had the same stand out characteristic well spaced horizontal layers and orange specs. Some had lines spaced roughly 1/8", some very finely spaced less than 1/16", and some had no lines at all. The only similarities in all of them were the texture, slurry color, and super easily stained! I'm no expert in the subject but what you have looks very similar to all 6 of the stones that I believe to be Hindustan. Hope this is helpful.