Thread: eBay Bidding War for a useless rock or what???

I noticed an interesting item on eBay that had a real serious bidding war going on...

for something called:

Straight Razor Sharpening Stone Gator Rock Hone Box
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=330104577546

It looked like a piece of that myhtical naturally formed Belgian Yellow & Blue Coticule. The bidding war ended at US $110.99. I guess if that was the "real McCoy, then it was an ok price... too pricey for my blood, but maybe for one of the REAL HoneMeisters a worthwhile investment...

Is that what it was?... or was that just another "newbie" bidding war for a piece of $5.00 rock???

I'd like to hear from some of the HoneMeisters... was that the real deal?

Tony

I don't think from a users prospective its anything special. From a collectors prospective its unusual and rare and is probably considered a collectable item so thats why the bidding activity. Personally I wouldn't give $5.00 for it but then again I don't collect honing stones. Now if it had badger hair growing out of it, then it would be a different story!

I followed that one too. Nice looking and very thich natural but that staining on the yellow side worries me.

Tony

Tony, that's exactly what I thought about it. Probably a Natural Belgian but with a queationable light colored side, the side of most interest for honing razors.

It's one of those cases where the outcome is like the roll of a dice.

If the dirt is only on the surface and not soaked into the stone, it will clean up nicely and it could be a steal for that price.
But if the dirt and stains are through and through, you paid 110$ for something that is only useful as a small 0.5$ brick.

And that is of course assuming that there are no hidden cracks hidden underneath the dirt.

If you look closely you'll see there's a non-natural (i.e. dead-straight and man-made) seam going down the middle, to the left of the natural seam on the bottom half of the stone. The natural seam then joins it about half-way up.

I think the right half is a belgian natural, unusual in that it's mostly yellow, and it's bonded to a piece of slate (the left half). Another way of putting it is that it's a regular old slate-bonded coticule, only the coticule's got a wedgey bit of blue in one corner.

www.theperfectedge.com is selling "NEW" coticule for Approx. $7.30 per square inch...

So, to compare, IF I were able to buy this block of coticule brand new from www.theperfectedge.com it would cost me $132.49.

That's assuming that the black stain is removeable and the stone is salavageable AND REALLY is Belgian coticule...

At $110.00, used and pretty beat up that really is too much of a risk, I'd rather buy New....

If it had auctioned out at $30, or even $75, it would have been an ok deal...but still a gamble....

At eBay prices buy new I think.

Used stones from members tend to be fair deals too.

Tony

Here's What I got on eBay for US $76.00

For a 2-7/16" x 5-7/8" x 1" "BELGIAN SHARPENING STONE COTICULE EXCELLENT CONDITION"

I guess If I had bought Slate backed coticule of the same size from www.theperfectedge.com, it would have cost me Approx. $100.0, so perhaps $76.00 wasn't so bad....

Here's the BIG question, I'm not so sure that the bottom material in my stone is Slate...

The top material is a warm creamy yellow tan color, and the lower material is a purple, blue, mauve material. They are in fact two separate pieces of stone that have been glued together to form one stone. When I lapped the stone both materials are able to create an abrazive slurry.

The "yellow" material creates a creamy tan golden slurry, and the purple/blue/mauve material creates a blue/purple/mauve slurry. The purple material seems more abrasive that the "yellow".

Is the bottom purple material really just Slate, or could I have a stone that has both Belgian yellow and belgian blue/purple material....???

Here's the real joke...today I was digging around a local junk store near where I live and I found it's twin in a box of beat up old hones and stones.... It was EXACTKLY the same size and configuration.

The "yellow" part was the same but the blue/purple/ part had some purple/mauve in it but was more blue... I bought it for less than 1/20th what I paid for the eBay special...

Is it the "Real McCoy"? Do any of you HoneMeisters have a similar stone?

http://i16.ebayimg.com/06/i/000/95/58/da6d_1.JPG


http://i11.ebayimg.com/05/i/000/95/58/ddcc_1.JPG

The "purple, blue, mauve" is the coarse natural Belgian stone of approx 4k grit. This is how they used to be made. I have several of them.