Thread: Antique shop find/ good ?

Gents, I found this hone but have no idea of origin. I have been a collector for more years that I care to admit, the box appears to have age. I would guess its at least 50 to 75 years, perhaps older. The stone is slightly dished out in the middle. I ran it under water with a bit of dish soap to clean it up a bit. I is about 1.75 inches wide and 8 inches long. Running my fingers over the stone it feels very smooth,

I am going to guess that I need to lap the stone. I think there will be a lot of work for that. I have a DMT that is smaller than the stone I need to lap. It's blue and I was told it was a medium grit. I got it for sharping knives. Could I use that?

I'd use 400 (or coarser to get the dish out) on a granite tile or thick glass and see what you end up with.

I nearly ruined my DMT using it on a really hard synthetic stone (and I still don't know what it is...)

It need to be lapped for sure. You could use sandpaper instead of DMT. Check Youtube for tutorial.
It is hard to tell for sure what the hone is it until you lap it.

Well..this might be a little bold. But I'd say you found an Arkansas stone. Not particularly effective for razor honing. And very difficult to make flat again.

Honestly, the best thing you can do if you have an interest in honing is to buy some brand new synthetic stones, and start learning. Trust me, there'll be plenty natural stones sitting in antique stores for you to play with later.

If you have an interest in collecting old stones, I suggest you limit yourself to pristine stones with a label indicating it's purpose was for razors. But ofc, it's your collection. Fill it with whatever turns your screw I suppose.

Gents, thanks for the responses so far. I think I will get some sandpaper and have a go at lapping the stone. Who knows it on may be a diamond in the rough. In the state it's very smooth, so I guess I can hope :-) If nothing else I will get some practice on lapping a stone. If it turns out decent I'll update the thread.

I would be so bold as to say you have yourself a fine India stone, an oilstone good with knives. Really good with knives!

Do us a favor, clean her up (undress her, so to speak); then get us some photos.
We will figure out what she is.

Dunno what it is but someone got some serious use out of it. Didn't get dished just sitting in that box so we know it is good for something.

Gents, I have never been encouraged to "undress her" in a pubic forum but what the heck, there is a first time for everything.

The box seems to be original with the stone, as it's fitted in nice and secure. You can tell by the condition of the box, the wear, weight of the top, and other subtle tells that its not new. But then we only have 12 years into the new century :-) Something else, the stone and wooden base seems to be heavier than I expected. The top seems very light, I suspect because it has dried out quit a bit.


I guess a glass of wine, romantic music, and appropriate lighting to get the old gal to undress is in order :-)

I think you better throw in a nice bottle of Simple Green & a scrub brush.