Thread: Help me identify this hone?

Lapping a hone is the easiest way I know of to clean the surface. The surprise is whatever is under the stuff. Gunk on a hone prevents a visual inspection of the actual hone, and we are trying to make a visual identification. If you cover a "name your favorite hone" in tar, it might look like a lump of coal, but it's still a "name your favorite hone".

Originally Posted by holli4pirating

Lapping a hone is the easiest way I know of to clean the surface. The surprise is whatever is under the stuff. Gunk on a hone prevents a visual inspection of the actual hone, and we are trying to make a visual identification. If you cover a "name your favorite hone" in tar, it might look like a lump of coal, but it's still a "name your favorite hone".

I did lap it a very small amount...it was eating up my lapping plate. The yellowish color that you see in the far left corner of the first pic seems to be what this actual color is.

Originally Posted by jcsixx

I did lap it a very small amount...it was eating up my lapping plate. The yellowish color that you see in the far left corner of the first pic seems to be what this actual color is.

If it's eating up your lapping plate , my guess would be Hard Arkansas .

Don't think one can do any good honing on it with the crack in the middle no matter which material is it.

It looks like a Norton Oil stone. One side is coarse, the yellow side, and the other side is fine, and looks like a Charnley almost...here are some pics....Mine is 11 1/2 x 2 1/2
Leather is also used by woodworkers, even knife sharpener's. I used leather for years when I sharpened knives....

I have Arkansas stones. My Hard Arkie is gray. The soft is pink...How many different colors are there?

I'm not sure what Norton used..

1st question to zib what kind of norton is that stone it looks like a washita glued to a sythetic (yellow side) and to answer your question on how many colors are there . the variations of colors can be found within the different grades of stones color alone does not determine the grade or classification of the stone. Arkansas whetstones can be found with any of the following colors: pink, gray, rust red, black, blue-black, white, brown, purplish red yellow orange . At times, one will find a combination of some of these colors in the same stone. Color however, does not distinguish the difference in the hardness of the stone. With a trained eye color can be used as one factor when distinguishing between grades of stone. But, only when used in conjunction with other indicators such as opacity, texture, luster, weight and mining formation. Using only the differences in color during the grading process is not a reliable indicator of stone grade