Thread: Mystery hone from the bay

I bought this stone off ebay; it was nearly black with oil and dirt, but cleaned up nicely. Very hard and smooth, it dished my Norton lapping stone a bit. It appears to be a natural stone and was labeled only "GERMANY". Color is light yellow with darker tan inclusions. Any ideas? It's not novaculite nor do I believe it is a coticule. PPlease excuse the poor photo; I haven't posted photos in a while and I am very rusty

Are you sure its a natural stone? was it stamped on it Germany? close up pics? sides? slurry?

I am as certain as I can reasonably be that it is a natural stone: GERMANY is stamped on one side; nearly white slurry is very difficult to raise with a DMT 325 card

She looks nice. What did you clean her up with ?

Dawn detergent, hot water and a Norton lapping hone and a lot of elbow grease LOL

The last few pictures make me think of hindostan but i dont see any layerings on the sides that is always a conclusive identification of this type of stone, and then we have the "Germany" stamp?

It's an Arkeram. A synthetic made from novaculite powder.

I have a small hone about that color, very smooth but hard as hell. Spent an hour+ and 4 sheets 400 grit w/d on a peice of 1/4" thick glass trying to lap it but didn't work. I finally bought a 325 DMT, that did the job. Later I was told it was ceramic.

it looks like a stained synthetic most synthetic will slurry white

So, there seems to be no clear consensus on this one. The taste of the pudding is in the eating, I suppose, so I'll need to put it throught its paces and see what emerges.