Coti without slate/bbw ?

[dakotaev]

Hey all,

I was recently at a flea market this weekend and I came across an interesting stone. Unfortunately I couldn't take a picture at the time but I'm trying to figure out if I should go back and buy it.

It's about 1.5 hour drive so I'm trying to find out as much as I can before I commit. The reason for the thread title is that everything about this stone screamed Yellow Coticule except it had no slate or bbw backing and I've never seen this before. Has anyone else? This particular specimine was about 15-20mm thick and all 1 stone. It looked very much like a natural stone and not synthetic.

It was the right colour and despite the large number of scratches, oil and swarf on the surface I was about 75% certain it was a coticule. A few things threw me off though. It was in a wooden box, when removed there was a loose sticker almost identical to this: Same logo, but I believe it said Finest Quality Turkey Stone.

I did some investigation best I could from my phone and this stone looked nothing like the Turkey Oilstones I found pictures of. I'm still undecided if I should go back and buy this. If it does turn out to be a coticule the price is right but the seller is asking a bit more than I'm comfortable paying if it turns out to be a dud.

What do you think?

 

[smalltank]

Got pics?

 

[dakotaev]

Unfortunately not. I know that probably makes it difficult for anyone to help lol.

I think I'm just looking for some motivation to take the plunge so that if it turns out to be a crappy deal I can place the blame somewhere other than myself. Lol.

 

[life2short1971]

i have seen coticules without slate backing though rarely. It is possible.

 

[Disburden]

It can be in a turkish oil stone box and not be a Turkish stone...almost impossible to know without any pics, sorry!

 

[dakotaev]

It can be in a turkish oil stone box and not be a Turkish stone...almost impossible to know without any pics, sorry!

I think this is exactly the situation. I may head back next weekend and take a gamble.

 

[life2short1971]

Good luck Evan I hope it works out for you. I have been wanting one myself for a long time. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if both sides were very different performers.

 

[Disburden]

Was there chips and cracks in the stone as if it were crumbled in places?

 

[dakotaev]

Good luck Evan I hope it works out for you. I have been wanting one myself for a long time. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if both sides were very different performers.

Thanks, hopefully it's still there when I do.

Was there chips and cracks in the stone as if it were crumbled in places?

There were a few chips and some deep scratches (like someone took a harder tool to it) but I did not see any crumbled areas.

 

[SliceOfLife]

What were the dimensions other than depth?

 

[dakotaev]

What were the dimensions other than depth?

About 6x2 or 7x2 inches.

 

[linguist]

if you are 75% sure it is probably a coticule. there are some coticules without back. on the other hand if it is a turkish stone(actually cretan stone) vintage ones are light grey and very quality and rare(grit estimation is about 7k). you can not find that size cretan hone less than 30 maybe 50 $ even new ones.

 

[grump]

Hard to tell without pics but stones grab my curiosity so much that I have to gamble. If you do decide to get it, be sure to post some pics once it is cleaned. Good luck!

 

[davew]

One about 7x2 just sold on ebay last night. Had a groove diagonally across it like someone was using it on fishhooks or something.

$70 it went for, I didn't follow it because I figured it would go for nutty dolllars. If I was bidding, it obviously would've gone for more, but I'd have given $70 for it and glued it to purple slate.

 

[Disburden]

Old turkish oil stones are very fragile. Usually they have pieces broken off and big cracks when found in the wild.

 

[davew]

Like Disb said, the real turkish oil stones are very distinct. I wouldn't rely on any person or brand's name of a turkey stone, especially since there are a lot of old washita arkansas stones that were referred to as turkey stones, vs calling something a turkish oil stone. There's a real one on peebay now that's a short stub of a thing, it'll give you an idea what a turkish oilstone looks like. Real ones were frangible and popular with woodworkers because they were relatively fine but frangibility made them relatively fast for their fineness. Based on the text in volume III of Holzapffel, even back then someone using one would flatten it often, sometimes several times a session. Sort of an uncommon thing given that most of the other hones mentioned in the book were sandstone or harder stones like charnley, and novaculite hones of various flavors, etc.

Anyway, if it looks 75% like coticule, it's probably coticule unless it's a novaculite stone.