Thread: Can you help me ID these stones

I'd like to get comments from the SRP community and possibly IDs on these stones.

Thanks again,
John


dscn1843.jpg 7 3/16" long x 2" wide x 1" thick very smooth

dscn1844.jpg 5 3/4" long x 2 1/16" wide x 1/2" thick fairly smooth, barber's hone

dscn1845.jpg 6 1/8" long x 1 3/4" wide x 3/4" thick very smooth

dscn1846.jpg 8 1/4" long x 2" wide x 5/16" thick (exposed) super fine, glued into box
dscn1847.jpg

PS the little piece near the hones is a hunk of natural coticule, for color reference.

Is the background supposed to be white in all the pics? It's hard to tell without seeing them and feeling the texture.
I mean the first looks like it could almost be an arkansas or an old india stone to my poor eyes. Hasn't the second got a makers mark in the rectangular hole and the last looks like an old, possibly glazed oilstone.

Murph,

Thanks for the questions/feedback.

Yes, the background is the same white sheet of laser printer paper in all the shots. I had to play around with the contrast, brightness & gamma to get the best views for each stone, which of course through off the white.

The makes mark on what appears to be a barber's hone says 'New ???? Hone', but I can't make out the word in the middle.

As for the boxed one,it could be an oilstone. I just don't know how to tell. Drop water on it to see if it beads off?

thanks - John

I agree with Murph. The first could be an old brown Arkansas or an old India stone. Too hard to tell given the problems with internet colors. One tip is to look for beveled edges. It's not a 100% thing but natural stones tend to come with beveled edges to help prevent pressure flaking. Artificial stones tend to have crisp shoulders... UNLESS they're really old and the whetter used the shoulders to hone in which case he could have rounded them over.

The second stone is an artificial barber hone. I like them for paper weights.

The last stone is interesting. You have to clean old stones to figure out what they are. The fact that the box is SO nicely done is a hint that it's a special stone but that's not 100%. I have Norton double sided carborundum and crystolon stones in my collection that are in beautifully worked boxes. I guess the guy just really valued his tools OR the stone got in there after the fact. ANYWAY, if the stone is glued into the box, use Murphy's Oil Soap to clean it. It won't bother the wood. It's not as good a cleaner as Easy Off Fume Free for stones but Easy Off is a bit harder on the wood. This has not been a problem for me as the wood is usually soaked with oil as well but I thought I'd mention it.

I have bought black, grimy, completely loaded stones for cheap and cleaned them to find out they're belgian coticules. What a shock that is! Part of the fun of this work.