Brown Natural Stone Identification help requested

I'm going to aggravate some people here because I don't have pictures nor do I have the stone here with me at work, but I'm looking for some geology. I may be able to post pictures later.

I recently got a stone off ebay. It came quite deeply-seated in one of those old school wooden coffins. I'm trying to identify it.

Here's what I know about it:

Size is approximately 8" by 1.125" A true rectangle. I don't know depth yet because I haven't been able to get it out from its seating.

It's very hard. Harder to lap than a hard arkansas I recently did.

It's mottled dark brown/darker brown-- and on the whole darker brown than any Arkankas I've seen in person. Initially I thought this was due solely to the years of grease built up on it, but I lapped at least a few mms off of it and the brownness remains. Maybe the oil/grease soaked in this deep, but my gut says the stone is naturally a dark brown. The mottling appears random, not a woodgrain appearance like I've seen on some stones this color. It is very beautiful and has subtle depth of color up close.

it was very smooth when I got it and has roughed up a bit since lapping. The finest paper my local hardware store had was 600. I tried following up with the stone after a coticule and I stopped when I was getting the feeling that I was hitting embedded grit particles. I have more sanding and DMTing to do until I'll know its place in any progression.

My guess is that it's a relatively fine stone. First because it felt that way to my touch and second because someone put the time in to seat it in a wooden box. Just a gut thought more than anything, but hey.

Since searching for "brown sharpening stone" is proving unsatisfying, I'm looking for some stone names to use as leads in tracking its identity down.

So, anyone know possible suspects for a relatively fine, brown, hard stone? It feels very Arkansas-ish to me, but I just haven't seen one this color.

Thanks in advance!

Perhaps something like the stones in this thread?

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Originally Posted by Piet

Perhaps something like the stones in this thread?

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Ha! Yes thank you that was one of the threads I had been looking closely at. Not so much like the first stone posted, but perhaps not too dissimilar to those that you posted. The stone feels like a novaculite and slurry is a nonissue. It's hard to tell from your pictures, but I'd say mine has a tad more mottling. From my recollection, it looks like the back of an eelpout.

How have you fared with those stones? Were they indeed finishers? I'd like to have some idea whether it would be worth my time to go buy finer sandpaper. It would require a trip to the woodcraft store.

As an aside, does anyone have a good method to remove these from the holders? I soaked it for 24 hours in soapy water but all that managed to do was make the wood feel grimier to the touch (which I didn't think was possible). I suppose I could go at it with a more intense solvent but I don't want to risk damaging the wood.

I'm pretty sure the big one was a finisher. It didn't appeal to me because the bottom was broken and reglued and I didn't know what it was. I sold it locally to make room for a nicer stone.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jimbo7

My guess is that it's a relatively fine stone. First because it felt that way to my touch and second because someone put the time in to seat it in a wooden box.

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If you ever look at ebay.co.uk you'll notice most of the hones are old synthetics in custom made boxes. They made boxes for all their hones not just the finishers.

Here are some brown Turkish oil stones that are very hard to lap. Any similarity?
MIke

http://i.imgur.com/LbClc.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/22YfS.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/n52cS.jpg

Thank you, Sir!

The first one on the left could be promising. In the meantime, I'll see what I can do to upload some pictures I took on my crummy cell phone. I don't have any slurry pictures, but those look about right.

If the stone is glued in it's box putting it in the oven at 150 Celcius may help melt the glue. Some stones are jammed in their box, they require brute force. I usually put a little block of wood on the box and hammer on it, I hammer all around the stone.

Only a few Thuringians and Eschers I have not been able to remove from their box using these techniques.

I would not put too much faith in wooden boxes, all my stones for chisels and plane irons are in custom made boxes with lids to protect them in the tool box, once the wood became saturated with oil it helped to keep the oil from evaporating off the stone, also we didn't have those adjustable stone holders back in the day so four small pins set into the bottom of the box as spikes served to grip it to the bench.

Ok boys, here's my first attempt at a picture.
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Sorry for the flood of pictures, I figured the more the better. I have worked on it a bit more with a worn out DMT 325 and it has become quite a bit smoother. Any further ideas would be greatly appreciated!

I don't want to speculate. It is hard to tell from the pics. It looks to still have oil in the stone. Take a razor to 8K level and see if this stone will improve the edge.

Couple more brown stones.. that are not Arkansas.

http://i.imgur.com/mVCqL.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/cc3nW.jpg

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Originally Posted by MODINE

I don't want to speculate.

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speculate away!!! :) It very well could still have some oil in it, but given the amount that I had to lap and the fact that it doesn't repel water anymore...I just don't think so. I certainly don't know so.

I'm not averse to the idea of this being a plain jane Arkansas. It would definitely be my finest Ark and its length would be conducive to actually using the thing on razors. I just haven't seen one of this coloration before.

I'll give it a go on a razor with a good edge and report back. Thanks for help, all!


EDIT:
I just did a search for "turkish oil stone" and then "oil stone" and came up with this link. This/these appear to be the closest matches I've found.
http://straightrazorpalace.com/advan...han-swaty.html

It doesn't really look like those 2 brown stones I had. I can't think of anything else than Arkansas.

Resurrected, like a zombie.

Apologies for bringing this back.

I've been playing around lately with the stone some more and it's been fun. I was finally able to free it from its base, which took some serious doing. The base needed to be pried off in splinters...whoever glued it in did not want the two to separate. I rubbed by Guanxi stone against it for the better part of a half hour and now it really is smooth. Scratched the heck out of my Chinese stone.

Coincidentally, I found a stone on ebay this morning that is its twin brother. It even has the same arch on the bottom, which I find curious because I thought my arch was the result of years of pressured honing. Maybe it is, I really don't know.

I was hoping to link to it to provide additional pictures and some description which are essentially analogous to my stone. I know its frowned upon to link to an active auction, but since it's a BIN open to offers I thought it might be ok? I'll wait for an opinion before doing so. I do certify that I am in no way connected to this seller, nor is he in possession of my stone.