I have to agree with Sham and previous colleague. Washita. Good job done cleaning and lapping it.
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I have to agree with Sham and previous colleague. Washita. Good job done cleaning and lapping it.
I've never heard of a Washita disintegrating from coming out of a box. My money's on artificial.
I thought this looked like a Washita oil stone too. I have one that looks just like it but a different size. You did an excellent job cleaning it up. I know how bad they can get. Mine was given to me by an old blacksmith.
I also think that the stone in the OP is most likely an Arkansas. I've seen quite a few old Arkies that were dished from decades of heavy use that looked almost identical. It blows my mind that a stone that hard gets so much use as to get dished to that extent. I can imagine it must have been used every day for many, many years. That being said you can not know with certainly until it's cleaned up. It could turn out to be a Crystolon hone or something else not really suitable for straights. For $15 or $20 it wouldn't be a high risk venture so why not, It's one more tool in the cabinet.
Sean