Thread: Vintage Hone ID Request

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.

Originally Posted by FatboySlim

Heh, it'd be worth $15 to me to find out. Well, it was at one time anyway. I bought a very similar looking stone of eBay, in hopes that it was a bargain Turkey Oil stone or something exotic. It came in a similar box (but without a hinge), was a dark gray all over. I think I paid about $15 or $20 for it, shipped.

When it arrived, it reeked of oil, and was just filthy. I cleaned it with several scrubbings with Dawn dish soap, and started to notice a yellow tinge. I lapped it for over an hour with a huge DMT XX Coarse perforated lapping plate, it was really tough. It turned out to be a man-made oil stone, and terrible for razors. Pictures of the lapped stone are below. It looks like it's made out of pressed sawdust or something, but it's extremely hard.

In the picture of your prospective stone, I see a similar yellow tinge running along the edge where the stone meets the box. That's what made me think of my stone. My guess could be completely wrong, but I think when lapped it will reveal itself to look like the man made oil stone below. Just a guess.

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