Thread: Help id this natural hone!

i hear there are several different stones known as yellowlake.. and i guess llyn mellynllyn as well because thats the original name that yellowlake is derived from.

Originally Posted by ezpz

i hear there are several different stones known as yellowlake..

I have heard this also. I have heard that few samples are very fine not following the norm and this is quite rare. There was a thread by A_S I believe some time ago, stating this. He is an authority on UK naturals.

Regardless of what it is, like you say, if it works for you it doesn't matter what it is, although it is nice to know! I have a few stones that provide excellent finishes of which although I can intelligently speculate their identities, I can not ascertain with 100% certainty what they are.

Originally Posted by ezpz

i hear there are several different stones known as yellowlake.. and i guess llyn mellynllyn as well because thats the original name that yellowlake is derived from.

"Llyn Mellynllyn" is simply welsh for 'Yellow Lake' and there is a lake of that name in the area, as well as a Black Lake - Llyn Dulyn. Both of these very old names have the habit of having the word for lake - llyn - appear two or three times in the placename for some reason.

I have had a fair number of Yellow Lake Oilstones over the years, in three distinct types of wrappers - all card - one wrapper was blue, one was red and one was yellow. The Blue ones have 'Salmen' printed on them, so they must have owned the mine works at some time. The red and yellow ones are exactly alike bar the background colour and don't specify the owner, just "This Label is Registered & Supplied Only By the Direct Quarrier & Producer" so a search of Companies House records might lead to the identity of the owner at that time.

The stones themselves vary a lot in performance too. Some are on a par with the Devils Tongue slate hone and two others types exceed it - one particularly fine-grained example is somewhere in the region of 12k and a fine finisher indeed. The variation in types is not that unusual given what Ardsprach has reported the cutter at Inigo Jones telling him - namely that the DTs come from all over and not just one place, and that he used to cut hones for Salmens. That could well be the source of the coarse to mid range hones as they are definitely slately and around 8k - 10k, but the fine one is more like a thuringian type and works just like a good thuringian.

Regards,
Neil

Originally Posted by Scipio

I have heard this also. I have heard that few samples are very fine not following the norm and this is quite rare. There was a thread by A_S I believe some time ago, stating this. He is an authority on UK naturals.

Regardless of what it is, like you say, if it works for you it doesn't matter what it is, although it is nice to know! I have a few stones that provide excellent finishes of which although I can intelligently speculate their identities, I can not ascertain with 100% certainty what they are.

I totally agree with you Scipio it would be nice to know the real name of this stone, the same kind of stone from the same mine
from a different area could be of totally different grit,different color , ive been told. That said im not a stone collector, im just like many trying to find the ultimate edge with that sweet smooth feeling.This stone might be it,time will tell.

Nice comparative photo! The green-blue thuringians contrast nicely in color to the . . . have you decided if it's a blue belgian?

Belgian Blues are usually very easy to spot in hand. They normally have a sort of grain, which especially becomes apparent when held at different angles. Almost like there are tiny pockets within the surface.

Originally Posted by Howard

Nice comparative photo! The green-blue thuringians contrast nicely in color to the . . . have you decided if it's a blue belgian?

Well im almost certain its a "Llyn Mellynllyn" after a lot of reading and searching and looking at pics and the fact that they vary in grit from one to the other would make sense that my stone is finer then my PHIG nevertheless the finish out of this stone is great for me sharp and smooth isnt that what we are all looking for afterall?????????

Yes indeed. How did you come to be in possession of the hone?

Originally Posted by Scipio

Yes indeed. How did you come to be in possession of the hone?

Well like i said in the first post about 25 years ago at an auction i got a box full of old woodworking tools chisels,
planes, rulers a few stones etc. Anyway that stone was so full of dirt grime gunk it just sat in the box all these years,
i decided to clean it up se what it was and the rest is history. To bad i didnt find that a while back really.
Also that box had woodworking from all over english chisels, french planes,swedish chisel,
and been using them since, as you know Sheffield steel is also very good for woodworking tools as well, if i remember correctly the swedish chisel was elkistuna.

Hi Martin,

10 months ago I bough a stone like this from UK in a wooden box, used for chisels in the past.The stone is big. Now finally i took the time to clean it, lap it etc.
Looks excatly the same as yours, and I was suprised to see the green specs on it, it had several. So i searched and digged up this old post. Did you ever find out what type of stone it is and approx grits? I have not tried mine yet but its very very fine, vintage thurigian fine.
Is it a vintage purple YLs or Vosgienne or what was your conculsion?
I am thank.full for any info