Thread: 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?

Originally Posted by Piet

Perhaps something like the stones in this thread?

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.

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.

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

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.