Thread: First natural hone: dark and light green oil stone

Gentlemen, would the rock hounds and hone aficionados please help me identify this hone. Unfortunately, I cannot remove it from the box it is housed in, any recommendations on how to free this guy so I can get some good pics of the sides/bottom (preferably without destroying the case)? Also, I cannot lap it down very much as there is at most 1/8" above the box on the ends and at least 1/16" towards the center. Which is another reason I would like to be able to take it out of the case.

The stone measures 10"x1.75" and definitely reeks of old oil.

Now the pictures:

Dry after cleaning -



Wet before cleaning -



milky white slurry with a DMT 325 came up pretty easily -


and the box, it's only mark looks like "SMITH P" stamped into the bottom of the case.



A couple more points, I cannot compare this to any other natural stones as all I have are a norton combo 220/1k, 4k/8k, Naniwa 3k, and a barber hone. I do have some oven cleaner to help pull any oil still in this thing out, but I am not sure of the proper method to use on a stone, any tips?

Thanks for sharing any opinions gentlemen!

LI. Just tap on one side of the box ans slowly it should come out. Otherwise suspend it in oven upside down. Keep newspapers under it and it will fall out.

I agree with adrspach for the method, but I think the stone is a Grecian. From UK.

Originally Posted by Vasilis

I agree with adrspach for the method, but I think the stone is a Grecian. From UK.

While I was waiting on the stone to arrive I was searching all the terms I could think of to find something similar. The first stone in this thread was the closest I could find based on the patterns, not sure how close the colors are. http://straightrazorpalace.com/hones...ian-hones.html

Here's a quote from that thread:

Originally Posted by Piet

adrspach who has been in the Llyn Idwal quarry thinks he saw these Grecians as well as the harder darkgreen stones at the quarry. So both types seem to be LIs, although it might be useful to call these softer lightgreen stones Grecians to distinguish them from the harder darkgreen type.

So before actually looking at the edge it produces on a razor, is it safe to assume the grit is 10k, +/- 1k?

Only one thing can be safely assumed in world of natural hones and that is that they differ from each other. Apart from that one could expect that it should be finisher.

Originally Posted by adrspach

LI. Just tap on one side of the box ans slowly it should come out. Otherwise suspend it in oven upside down. Keep newspapers under it and it will fall out.

I tried a method similar to this, resting the sides of the box on the edge of a deep pan and covering as best I could with a bowl to steam it out... it hasn't budged. How long does the oven method take and at what temperature should I bake this loaf

i use the steam method myself it takes any where from 10 mins to 20 the pan that i use was only two inchs deep so the water was close to the stone

I would say pan of water in the oven, and heat in oven for an hour at its lowest setting, and raise it by 25 deg every 20 minutes. let stand at 250 for an hour.

If its held in by pitch, that should make it soft enough to come out. If its plastered in place, hopefully the moisture will have softened that as well.

I have gotten some great edges off a similar stone. Good luck!