Another mystery hone thread

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05-12-2009, 02:04 AM
joke1176

4 Attachment(s)

Another mystery hone thread

I know, I know...

Anyhow, this one really has me stumped. It came in a pretty neat carved wood box, is about 7/16" x 8" x2".

At first I thought it was the usual arkansas stone until I cleaned and lapped it (I bought it for the box it came in). Now I'm not so sure.

It is grey-ish, olive-ish in color, has a very light cream/olive slurry, and cuts fast (faster than BBW), cuts at approx 6k (as compared to BBW, coticule and DMT 1200 or 8k plates). It also starts to release a trace of slurry with approx 5-10 moderate pressure passes of a razor.

It has sparkly bits as you can see in this pic of it dry.
Attachment 24670

It kinda striped, veined, whatever you would call it as seen in these dry pics.
Attachment 24668
Attachment 24669

However, when I when I get it wet it looks speckled/mottled instead of striped.
Attachment 24671

Any ideas dudes? I am kinda stuck.
05-12-2009, 04:14 AM
hi_bud_gl

hone

interesting .Joe please scratch it? and put up picture. i assume you got good stuff in here.
05-12-2009, 05:22 AM
gratewhitehuntr

junk

since mine is also junk I see no harm in trading :D

I'll throw in $10? :hmmm:

good luck with your pimpin new hone !!!!!!!!!!!
05-12-2009, 10:31 AM
joke1176

Quote:

Originally Posted by hi_bud_gl

interesting .Joe please scratch it? and put up picture. i assume you got good stuff in here.

Are you looking for me to scratch with thumbnail, steel or other?
05-12-2009, 01:38 PM
hi_bud_gl

hone

Please scratch with steel. a little bid.Do remember i had hone which was looking similar to glass? surface?
05-12-2009, 01:46 PM
JimmyHAD

Quote:

Originally Posted by joke1176

It is grey-ish, olive-ish in color, has a very light cream/olive slurry, and cuts fast (faster than BBW), cuts at approx 6k (as compared to BBW, coticule and DMT 1200 or 8k plates). It also starts to release a trace of slurry with approx 5-10 moderate pressure passes of a razor.

No idea what it is on this end but from the way it performs sounds like you've got a real winner there. :rock:
05-12-2009, 04:45 PM
Oldengaerde

Quote:

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

No idea what it is on this end but from the way it performs sounds like you've got a real winner there. :rock:

+1

In two of the pics it looks lighter than in the other two. Is this just lighting and wet/dry difference, or do the two surfaces differ? Was it used with oil or water?
05-12-2009, 10:01 PM
joke1176

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oldengaerde

+1

In two of the pics it looks lighter than in the other two. Is this just lighting and wet/dry difference, or do the two surfaces differ? Was it used with oil or water?

The lighter ones are dry, and the darker pics are damp and full wet, water only no oil.
05-12-2009, 11:24 PM
joke1176

7 Attachment(s)

Updates

here are some further pics of my mystery friend.

Here's the nifty little box it came in, I'm no wood expert, but it's a heavy sum-bitch.
Attachment 24699

Here's a pic in natural light only, you can see the stripes/veins in it still.
Attachment 24700

Pic of hone with junker W&B "Anglo Saxon" used for scratching purposes, and what the surface of stone and razor shoulder looks like for approx grit comparative purposes.
Attachment 24701
Attachment 24702

These 3 pics show what kind of material it is after a serious scratching/digging with nose of razor into the backside of the hone. It has a really fine, light olive, talcum powder feeling after getting trenched out. The last 2 pics show the relative streak of the stone.
Attachment 24703
Attachment 24704
Attachment 24705
05-12-2009, 11:33 PM
0livia

I've kissed a similar frog today and I'm not sure whether its a natural hone.
Its quite thirsty, cuts fast, but glazes fast as well.
Dark grey like yours, not overly hard, white slurry.
05-13-2009, 12:05 AM
joke1176

mine is a little thirsty too.

I had tossed around the idea that mine was synthetic as well, but the veins/stripes, and the texture of the gouged out material seem like natural stone.

I dunno, that's why I posted this thread. I am stuck.

Either way, it's coming to the mid-MO get together, so I can get more opinions after folks can see it in person.
05-13-2009, 12:27 AM
hi_bud_gl

seems like natural and finer. lets see on mo meeting we will figure it out. nice find Joe
05-13-2009, 12:35 AM
0livia

Well it would be great to have more information about these hones.
I have three of them by now. All in wooden boxes, quite big and actually quite nice.
Keep us posted!
05-13-2009, 12:45 AM
nun2sharp

This ought to be good!
05-13-2009, 02:38 AM
Oldengaerde

FWIW: It looks like a Turkey stone (see eg this description), but it is my understanding that large specimens are rather rare, that they were often heavily fissured/cracked, and that they were almost invariably used with oil.

As a side note on Turkey stones:
There seems some confusion about whence they came. Some cite central Turkey as site of origin, whereas other sources originate the hone in South-West Crete (for an extended period of time part of the Turkish (Ottoman) empire).

To complicate further: North central Crete is where Candia is, which lent its name to a hone too. Some days ago 0livia posted a link with a picture of this stone. This hone may or may not be the same as an anonymous 'vulcanic Greek razor hone'.

:shrug:
05-13-2009, 10:21 AM
joke1176

Well, Sham has/will have a Turkey oil stone to compare with mine at the get together, so we shall see!

Outside of Olivia's thread, and your comment, I have never heard anything about Greek stones, add another idea to the pile! :gaah:;)
05-13-2009, 08:49 PM
Carioca

Quote:

Originally Posted by joke1176

Outside of Olivia's thread, and your comment, I have never heard anything about Greek stones

But they once might have been one of the most famous stones in Europe ;)
In old books a " pierre du Levan t" / " levantinischer Wetzstein " is frequently mentioned:

Quote:

La pierre du Levant d'un vert très obscur, très sale, et tirant en quelques endroits sur le blanchâtre, est une variété de schiste couticule, qui vient d'Allemagne et du Levant [sic!]; ...

(Dictionaire technologique ou nouveau dictionnaire universel des arts et métiers, p. 185)

Dictionaire technologique ou nouveau ... - Google Buchsuche
05-13-2009, 08:56 PM
Carioca

In English " Turkey oil rubber ":

http://books.google.it/books?id=rZU5...PRA1-PA2400,M1

Page 2400
05-25-2009, 05:26 PM
Oldengaerde

An interesting Google Book with reverence to Cretan whetstone (quarries): Travels and Researches in Crete by Thomas Abel Brimage Spratt
06-05-2011, 07:09 PM
Ozgun

Hello guys, My name is Özgün and I just registered from Turkey to answer this tread. This is a turkey oilstone, comes from Crete so also known as Crete stone too. This is because Crete was belonged to Ottomans back those years. Its also a novaculite form of stone pretty similar to arkansas but in a lower ratio. (about %75)

There are two kinds of it. Grey ones, so common, and black ones old and very rare. Grey ones are pretty rough, there is not a certain size but lower than 1000 jis mostly. I dont think they are suitable for razor honing or sharpening. I never liked their sharpening properties, even for knife sharpening.

But the black ones are just awesome. Awesomer than black arkansas. There are some lucky guys here have these black ones from their grandfathers, I'm not that lucky. :( they are very fine and cuts very fast. Perfect for razor sharpening and honing. They are in much higher grit ( I think 6000< )than the grey ones. One of the fastest fine grit oilstones I've ever seen.

For the grey ones its suggested to boil them in tallow long time for best performance, otherwise they will drink oil very fast and become clogged easily. Black ones can be used with water or oil since they are very closely grained not much clogging problems.

I still see grey ones dispensable while there are so many other like coticule.

Here you can see a black one, pretty similar to an arkansas.

http://desmond.yfrog.com/Himg706/sca...=640&ysize=640