Thread: Scottish green hone stones

I am testing a stone I cannot identify. It is not slate. I do not think it is novaculite. I do not think it is a Charnley Forest however it does behave similar to a very fine CF that I have. If it is a Lynn Idwal it is much finer than the one I currently own.

I raised a slurry for test. It is very white almost blue white slurry. Very fine. This stone is hard and would have been used with oil. I have final finished a stainless steel Wusthof for shave testing. The edge is typical of a SS edge finished on high grit CF. Fine even serrated tooth pattern at 100X magnification. I will shave test without stropping.

I wish it were possible to identify a Devonshire or Cutlers Green oil stone. This was obviously a special stone which is indicated by the furniture this stone was housed in. The box is marked C. MURRAY. Here is an article about C. Murray from Perth with a Scottish Pearl. Continue reading further down the page. The new monthly magazine - Google Books

And this about a Scottish amorphous Green stone porphyry that is interesting.
The Edinburgh encyclopaedia - Sir David Brewster - Google Books
If anyone has any other info on these green Scottish stones please respond.
Mike

With slurry


24 passes on oil w/ Wusthoff SS



Box furniture two tone appears as mahogany & cherry


Stamp shown in outside lighting

although I don't have any info for you I just wanted to chime in and tell you that I love the look of it. I have been keeping an eye out on the bay lately for these stones that are stationed in old wooden boxes. Hope you get some info on it

Well by he looks of the box somebody took very good care of this stone, and looking at it looks very very similar to my Llynn Idwall,
very hard stone same color i just dont know about the slurry as i use mine with oil.......

Hard to say from pictures. Are you able to do close up of the surface wet and dry? Are there any chips, flakes, imperfections?

I was kind of hoping you or Neil would take a look at it. Here are some more pics, there is one chip. I understand the variance from the layer of rock and was hoping this might have come from the junction between the slate and hornblend. Getting ready to test shave off of it.
MIke

chip

dry

wet H20

Looks to me like the dark green LI type. They seem harder as CFs to me and are about as fine.

I have 2 big ones just like it but they also come in slipstones:

Looks a lot like my LI...which is 'extremely hard and fine'! Here's a pic for comparison:

This is where you hit the problem. There are CFs which are harder than average and also LI with simmilar qualities and pattern. For that reason I have asked for any chips or damage. From those pictures I would say that I am tending to say more sideways cut LI rather than CF.

I've had this hard hone in my possession for the last 2 years. Fine as a good CF and no idea what it is.

Scipio, that looks very similar. They seem to be of a homogeneous green colour with a wavy speckle pattern, on some stones the speckles are barely visible.