Thread: General Buying Guide for Hones. Tips from the pros.

I was hoping the pros here could chime in and give us some pointers on some of things that we should look for when search flea markets, antique stores, estate sales, and even ebay.

In may cases, the color of the stone can be misleading. Unless the hone is clearly a dark green with the red streaks you may not know you've stumbled upon a Charnely Forest.

I know that Hardness of a stone is a good indicator in the process of identifying old hones. Charnleys are very hard, but the eschers/thuringians are much softer.

Is there are tricks or specifics things to look for (besides obvious damage that may prevent the hone from even being useful). How does one determine the hardness of the stone besides pulling out a dmt.

Is there a clear way to determine that a stone would not be properly used with a razor? I know that anything that is marked as a razor hone is a good indication, but there are many stones out there that may just come in a wooden box or not in anything at all.

Are there characteristics that good razor hones have that we can identify short of taking pics and posting them here. I think that should be recommended as well, but it may not always be a possibility.

Does anyone have anything they could share about the popular razor hones to identify them:

Such as eschers/thuringians being ranging for a dark blue/grey/light greenish color and feel softer?

Or Charnely's with typically have an olive green color may/may not have red streaks and will be very hard

Tam O'Shanters?

I know a lot of this will be subjective, but any help may help me one day find a diamond in the rough so to say.

Thanks to all that are willing to participate. You are all gentlemen and scholars.

I can give a few tips to Eschers at these threads below. All I've come to know about them since I began fooling with them.

http://straightrazorpalace.com/hones...ck-labels.html

http://straightrazorpalace.com/hones...nd-labels.html

http://straightrazorpalace.com/hones...ing-marks.html

Here are a couple of archived threads with useful info on the Scotch hones

http://straightrazorpalace.com/hones...close-ups.html

http://straightrazorpalace.com/advan...er-thread.html

Very helpful thanks

Do any of you guys use the Water of Arye hones for finishing? What are the results like? Superfine finishing stone? Are the Tam's used aa a finishing stone...it seems that they are lower side of grits.

Tam o Shanter is around 8k, and are good for delicate edges, or edges that are prone to chipping...

I've got a WOA and have used it a bit. It is good as a finisher but I need to use it more to really assess it. Very hard to come by IME. Took me 3 years to land a vintage WOA.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

Took me 3 years to land a vintage WOA.

It's taking me longer.

Some hones can be easily identified by looks others take a bit more experience. It helps having a few stones already for comparison and people to ask questions.

Threads like this tire me. What's the use of explaining how to recognize "a diamond in the rough" to one who wouldn't recognize nor appreciate the specifics of a diamond in the first place?

Don't understand me wrongly: I don't begrudge anyone the joys of an Escher or a Water of Ayr. But let's start with understanding and appreciating the basics

- quick buys and easy re-sales solely based on key-words and hearsay are not at all in short demand.



If the question were: how to make sure attributions are correct?- well, that is a useful question indeed. Far too many hones are classified solely based on expected profits rather than by careful evaluation of their characteristics, by those in the know as well as the oblivious. I'd be happy to cooperate in countering such.

I think no amount of written words about features and what to look for in a stone will ever substitute for experience.
Like many of us you will have to go trough a good number of stones to get a good understanding what to look for in a stone when you are buying online.
If you want to be on the safe side and save good amount of funds , look the classifieds and get tested stones from there.