A gift rather old and oddly shaped

[Freedom]

Well I got given this one by a friend who's been a chef by trade, he got given this 55 years ago and said it was old when he got it.

He mentioned it was for cut throats but I know he would have used it on his carving knives. It was oval shaped but as you can see it's a shape of it's own now.

I would be certain it's unusable given it's size and shape (the paper is 5mm squares), unless anyone thinks different; but if anyone knows what material it is, it would be nice to tell him what he had.

 

[Thebigspendur]

I don't know what it is but by it's size and shape I doubt it was for straights.

 

[bradyarz]

it's for making cannolis!

 

[Gafer]

My mother has one almost like that and the claim is that it her grandfather used it to sharpen his straight razor. I'm not believing her on this one. Looks more like a kitchen knife sharpener to me.

 

[wdwrx]

It is a scythe hone.

http://www.scythesupply.com/articles/stones_and_sharpening.htm

 

[SliceOfLife]

Yes, Scythstone, sometimes called a "Cigar-shaped hone" despite not really looking like a cigar. I've never seen or heard of one of a fine enough grit for razors. I have seen a few setups where people kept them in their kitchen (for common household tasks a 220 grit stone will get your knife sharp enough, hell you can sharpen a kitchen knife on a cement porch if you want. It won't be great, but I doubt many 19th century housewives were too concerned about making delicate, clean cuts).

 

[LaughingAtFate]

If that stone is a finishing stone (like a coti or thuri) then that's gotta be one hell of a sharp scythe...

most Scythe stones seem to fall in the range of 100-500

I wouldn't attempt honing a razor on one of these myself

 

[Freedom]

Yeah it's defiantly not anywhere in the low range of stones, it feels very smooth and I tried rubbing a cracked blade against it and it didn't generate much slurry. It is a natural stone but it does have a lot of holes and changes in coloration.

Thanks for the info, like I said he was given it 55 years ago to hone his own razor and back then it was old.

 

[Utopian]

Even if it feels smooth, it's unlikely that it's all that fine. If it were, then it would be useless as a scythe hone and its shape clearly indicates that's what it is.