Thread: First Hone Purchase: The Ebay Guessing Game

Well, last week I found that I had burnt through a substantial portion of the lapping film I purchased (so that I could quickly and cheaply sharpen up my blades and start learning to hone), so I figured it was time to get something a little more permanent. Lusting for a coti and fancying myself cool and clever (note: sarcasm), I sifted through ebay until I found a few miss-labeled coticules, waited 'till bidding aaaaaaaaand found that I was far from the only cool and clever person in existence. Those puppies don't even sell for less than the properly listed ones.

Anyway, desperately needing hones of any kind, I found a really terrible listing- with bad pictures that seemed to vaguely describe two hones, one of which was probably a double-grit. The surface of both looked smooth, so I decided to (for the price) bet on natural and bid. I figured that since I needed hones I could find a use for them no matter what I rolled.

ebay listing pic, note, the long one is the double grit:


Well, they arrived the other day and the double-grit was........... most certainly not a coti (Looks like a pike or norton). My silliest and most fanciful dreams dashed, I turned my attentions to the other stone that I had previously ignored. It was a dark blue, almost black, and I figured hey, maybe this'll be something. After playing with it a bit, I discovered that the stone was absolutely soaked in grime, and after a good bit of sanding, scrubbing and soaking in grease remover (these steps repeated many a time), I had unveiled a stone of completely different character. It was now a light brownish green, or perhaps a greenish brown, with some shiny speckles and color variances spread throughout. It's actually kinda pretty, and I half fancy it might be a natural. It seems to be a finisher, but i'm not very experienced in these matters.

Anyway, I'd appreciate your help in identifying it. Or at least attempting to. The stone is hard, and I do not think it is meant to be slurried, though I have included slurry pics below (taken during sanding). Additionally there is still some oil spotting left. It's almost gone, but not quite.



The dark splotches (near the ends) are oil stains, as far as I can tell anyway. It's a pity it doesn't have well defined sedimentary layers:


Here are some pictures wet and with slurry (taken while sanding):



Anyway, if it's not anything special it's not a big deal. I have this on the way to me :