Thread: Hone ID Question

alright here's my dilema. i have an old hone from an old barber (my finace's grandfather) and its a combo hone, one side being the color of bluestone and the other being a nice yellowy ivory color. its really fine, i just sanded it flat with 220 paper on a precision ground granite surface plate. but i can't tell the difference between the grit on the two sides. is there a way to do this? i would like to know if its useable and which side is coarser. might be of use to me. if not then i guess its gonna just sit in a drawer when i get the norton stone. thanks a lot for your help

What you describe sounds like a natural begian combination. If that is the case, the cream colored side would be the finishing side. Can you post detailed pictures?

here ya go. thanks again

sorry for the bad picture. hope it helps

The yellow is definately a Belgian but the blue side could possibly just be a slate backing. I have one like yours but mine is actually a blue belgian backing. I believe the proper term for the yellow stone is"coticule" or "coticle" if you do a search with these terms on this site you will be flooded with both information and opinions!!

That's quite a find--even more so if it's a combo stone. You saved yourself some serious $$$ and got a hone with some history.

Post a photo of the spot where the two sides join; that'll help us figure out if it's a combo or just slate backed.

Josh

is this sufficient? if not i'll get out the photo box and get a real shot of it.
thanks for the help. i hop this is something good.

if it helps the two pieces seem to have been epoxied together, well it looks that way on one side and the other side is a night tight fit... maybe someone tried filling a gap?? and the blue stone side seems to have little dark flecks in it

hope this help identify the stone.

what grit do you think the yellow side is? thanks

I think that's a yellow coticule bonded to slate. The slate won't hone anything, but the coticule is a great hone for finishing an edge. It's between 8K and 10K, usually. You're lucky; you got the expensive hone for free. Now you just need a coarser (and cheaper) one for taking out nicks and setting the bevel.

Josh

I am not as certain as Josh is. I have a couple of old belgians and one of them is a yellow which is bonded to a blue instead of slate. You might take an old razor or knife and see if you can"t improve the edge some on the darker side. If you can't, it is probably slate.

Originally Posted by JoshEarl

I think that's a yellow coticule bonded to slate. The slate won't hone anything, but the coticule is a great hone for finishing an edge. It's between 8K and 10K, usually. You're lucky; you got the expensive hone for free. Now you just need a coarser (and cheaper) one for taking out nicks and setting the bevel.

Josh

Ok i've got to ask... i have a similar hone... but the epoxy has seperatated the two sides are nearly the same thickness. but it appears the slate here is much thicker than the coticule... is that how you tell visually?
i've yet to use it. i have recently picked up several stones on ebay... one is a "natural blue/ yellow" combo ... there is no glue seam the blue on that feels like the seperated blue above... i can do pictures tomorrow but i have not cleaned them up yet.

You guys are right. I forgot that they made artificial blue/yellow combos... The epoxy had me thinking it was a slate-backed hone, but now I'm not sure....

The backing does look lighter than the slate on my coticule, for whatever that's worth. It looks grayer than my blue stones, though.

Is the backing stone have a solid color, or does it appear to have a cool texture to it, almost like a graphite golf club or fishing rod?

I would think if this were a blue/yellow combo, they would have made the sides approximately the same thickness. But the Belgians don't believe in wasting any of this stone, so I could see them doing a lopsided one...

I'm still leaning toward slate, but I'm not positive...

Josh