Thread: Stone ID

Christopher-I am reviving this old thread in the hopes that maybe some new eyes will see it (or old eyes see it afresh), and give some ideas on this incredible stone.

Folks, Christopher/CJBianco stopped by my house yesterday to troubleshoot a honing issue I was having with a Frederick Reynolds. Long story short, after quickly taming my frustrating FR on his Naniwas, my new SRP friend graciously left me the airport runway of a stone pictured above.

And what a stone it is! Very soft and fine-I grid-lapped it with an old, fine grade Smith diamond hone, and that nearly worn-out diamond plate ate up the grids almost instantly, leaving a shiny surface with that curious mottling. To my nose, it smells of earthy gym socks, if that makes any sense...

Since Christopher hadn't really messed with it, and I didn't have any razors to work on (all shave-ready for a change, and I just can't see bread-knifing my working razors for an experiment), I got out a bunch of knives, some with VERY hard steel, like my old convex-ground Air Force knife, and a big 420HC Buck hunting knife, both a bear to hone normally, along with my Case Shark tooth, and went to work to see how it would do as a one-stone knife hone. The stone almost instantly produced a thick purple/gray/black mud with that old diamond hone, and I started on this with a combination of Japanese-style back and forths, circles, and loooong x-strokes-11 inches of luxury, great for big hunting knives! Going through a few dilutions, I finally rinsed everything to finish on plain water, and wow, this thing produces murderous, scary-sharp, somewhat toothy edges (which I like on a knife), as fine as any I've ever gotten, especially on those honing hardcases!

Now that I have no hair left on my legs, I am really intrigued by this stone. You could almost shave with one of my knives now! Any ideas this time around? When I need to work on a razor again, I'll re-resurrect this thread, and report the results. Thanks in advance for any thoughts. Aaron/SHD

Aaron,

I'm happy you like it. As I told you Saturday, I think I had only used the stone one time, and then put it away for a long while. The one time I did use it was with ten light finishing strokes on an already shave-ready (8-10K?) edge. I shave-tested after the ten strokes, and thought the edge felt nice and smooth, IIRC. But I'm OCD about the stones I use. For some reason, I have to know DEFINITIVELY what type of stone I am using. Otherwise, I won't use it, no matter how nice it may be. (Strange, I know.) Anyway, after a month or two of it sitting in my closet unused, I ran across an Ebay listing for a natural Japanese woodworking stone with identical characteristics--size, cut marks, and more importantly, color and markings. And IIRC, it was listed at around 2-3K. Afterward, I assumed that it was the same 2-3K JNat as seen on Ebay, and that it was slow enough not to degrade the shave-ready edge after only 10 light strokes. (That and my natural, delusional, wishful thinking that it might be a huge block of exotic, high-grit awesomeness.)

Long story short, it may or may not be an all-purpose, shave-ready-able stone. What I am sure of is that it is big, beautiful, and a great centerpiece for any natural stone collection.

Enjoy it, Aaron, and please let us know how it works on a nice razor. =)

Christopher

Pretty shure that this should be a Thuringian. Got a comparable one that I purchased some time ago from an old german barber together with another green Thruringian.

Here are the pics:



Consistency and hoining behavior is absolutely comparable to other old gray/blue thuringians.

Thanks, Hatzicho-I don't have any prior experience with Thuri's, so will defer to more expert opinions. In fact, my only finishing stone is the C12k, but this one does look similar to yours.

Now you've got me wanting to just experiment on a razor anyway-I just hate to mess up an edge I worked hard to get, but I'm dying to know now! Everybody says Thuris are so great for razors.

I believe I have one of them somewhere in my collection. So far I was not bothered to find out what it is byt was expecting Thuri style hone.

CJBianco,

I do not like post my own question already ask but i think you have similar hones to mine. Please check this two posting, maybe it will help you.

http://straightrazorpalace.com/hones...ore-rocks.html
http://straightrazorpalace.com/hones...your-help.html

Proximus,

While I appreciate the help, I do not think the stones look similar. In fact, I think they look very different.

I also believe this stone is definitely not any sort of vintage Thuringian. (Suspecting that it might be a vintage Thuringian is nothing more than wishful/supportive thinking, IMHO.) It may be a great stone, but a vintage Thuringian it is not.

Christopher