Help me identify this hone...

[kopio]

Ok....so this hone has been sitting in my old kitchen junk drawer for years (like probably 20+.) After the big move to Texas I dug it out of the drawer and thought....hmmm. It is a very smooth hone. It appears to be natural rock. I want to say it is some kind of Arkansaw natural stone, but I really have no idea. I think it used to be my dad's, but like so many things....it ended up being mine. It definitely would need to be lapped, I have used it to put a very fine edge on knives for many years. It seems to be a very slow cutter.

So....I'm looking for opinions....what do you think it is? FWIW it measures 1.5 inches by 5 inches. Any input is greatly appreciated.

 

[SliceOfLife]

Looks somewhat like a soft to med Arkansas to me.

http://www.realmcollections.com/med..._Care_Products_Soft__Arkansa_JY15053_8055.jpg

http://www.oldschooltools.co.uk/web_images/pict0035.jpg

 

[kopio]

It does sort of look like the second stone there. It feels very very fine though. What grit do you think it is?

 

[SliceOfLife]

Well, it varies a bit, but soft arkansas tend to be in the 1-2k range typically. Really your best bet would be to rub some flat metal on it and look at the scratch pattern under magnification.

 

[kopio]

Well, it varies a bit, but soft arkansas tend to be in the 1-2k range typically. Really your best bet would be to rub some flat metal on it and look at the scratch pattern under magnification.

Ok....for the sake of argument here....let's assume that I'm exceptionally dense....what would I be looking for in the scratch pattern, and what would that tell me?

 

[LaughingAtFate]

i'll have to say I'd concur with your guess that it's an arkansaw stone of sorts, Dunno what the grit would be, Probably about 1000, anything under 3000 you should be able to see the grit on the surface without magnification, above that, it's a little more tricky to see the roughness. (bear in mind this is my limited experience with hones apart from eyeballing them and touching them at stores)

is it as smooth as glass? as smooth as unglazed pottery? as smooth as terracotta? as smooth as 1000 grit sandpaper?

Other then that, there's always Hone-and-Compare, but that might need a bit of understandiing of a range of hones

 

[SliceOfLife]

I typically take a scratch pattern from a known stone, then look at them in sequence under the scope. With good enough light the size of the scratches (width and depth) can be relatively compared. It's not an exact science, but in the low end of things it can usually put you within +- 1000 grit or so. For instance, My 220 DMT looks a lot rougher than my 600DMT "" than my 1200DMT "" than my 3k stone

You get the idea.

If you're finishing knives on it, and they're cutting anything more than butter, I'd say that puts it in the 800+ range at least. Get a sheet of 1600 wet dry to compare it against. I'd guess it's gonna fall pretty close to that.