Hindostan Info/Photos/ID Thread

[ErieSurfer]

Found this one at a flea market and I'm pretty sure it is Hindostan.

The stone measures 10" x 1 7/8". It hasn't been dipped because I'm not sure that I want to sacrifice the base.

I cannot work out why a prior owner screwed the hollowed-out piece of wood to the base. My first thought was that there may have been a piece of leather integrated for stropping, but there is nothing to support the idea.

 

[Empire straights]

Found this one at a flea market and I'm pretty sure it is Hindostan.

The stone measures 10" x 1 7/8". It hasn't been dipped because I'm not sure that I want to sacrifice the base.

I cannot work out why a prior owner screwed the hollowed-out piece of wood to the base. My first thought was that there may have been a piece of leather integrated for stropping, but there is nothing to support the idea.

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Maybe the stronge students at the base and the smaller side(top working surface) is narrower to fit through the wooden face but not fall out. You MAY be able to carefully remove the screws if it's not glued and lift the stone from the face. I have ZERO evidence or experience of this type of base but ive considered it before as a way to firmly mount a stronger without any type of adhesives.

 

[Empire straights]

I just ordered these, the one on left was called an arkansas, but i haven't seen any arks that look like that and i have some with crazy patterns. I read this thread the other day because id never even heard of a hindostan stone, but im kinda leaning towards that because the markings make it look like a piece of wood as many in this thread also have. It was cheap so i rolled the dice, if nothing else a kitchen knife sharper. Beautiful stone either way. Itd look good on a coffee table. Anything is better than the stupid v rods in the block..

 

[ErieSurfer]

Maybe the stronge students at the base and the smaller side(top working surface) is narrower to fit through the wooden face but not fall out. You MAY be able to carefully remove the screws if it's not glued and lift the stone from the face. I have ZERO evidence or experience of this type of base but ive considered it before as a way to firmly mount a stronger without any type of adhesives.

I appreciate your reply, but I am having some trouble working out your words. I am guessing that voice-to-text has molested the spoken version of "stronge students"?

In general, I do understand that you are saying that the screwed base is functional in the sense that it secures the stone in the upper wooden portion by way of mechanical tension. Thank you for that. I had not previously considered it.

I'll pull the screws and see what happens!

 

[Empire straights]

I appreciate your reply, but I am having some trouble working out your words. I am guessing that voice-to-text has molested the spoken version of "stronge students"?

In general, I do understand that you are saying that the screwed base is functional in the sense that it secures the stone in the upper wooden portion by way of mechanical tension. Thank you for that. I had not previously considered it.

I'll pull the screws and see what happens!

Maybe the stone widens at the base and the smaller side(top working surface) is narrower to fit through the wooden face but not fall out. You MAY be able to carefully remove the screws if it's not glued and lift the stone from the face. I have ZERO evidence or experience of this type of base but ive considered it before as a way to firmly mount a stone without any type of adhesives.**

Post edited, and that friends is why i should proof read! Keep us posted!

 

[ErieSurfer]

Empire, I think you nailed it. This is a big piece of stone.

There was nothing fixing the stone to the hollowed-out lower base. It was fixed from the perimeter of the stone.

I'm thinking that I will free the stone from its wooden packaging and make use of it for its purpose.

By the way, all of the photos in here are with the stone dry.

 

[ErieSurfer]

Maybe the stronge students at the base and the smaller side(top working surface) is narrower to fit through the wooden face but not fall out. You MAY be able to carefully remove the screws if it's not glued and lift the stone from the face. I have ZERO evidence or experience of this type of base but ive considered it before as a way to firmly mount a stronger without any type of adhesives.

So, the sides of the rock were not tapered, but the upper wooden perimeter frame was tapered. The dried out white/yellow material (that reminds me of old window caulk) closed the gap between the stone and wood.

 

[Empire straights]

So, the sides of the rock were not tapered, but the upper wooden perimeter frame was tapered. The dried out white/yellow material (that reminds me of old window caulk) closed the gap between the stone and wood.

Isn't it whitting that's usually used to adhere those old stones? Like a mixture of chalk and paste or something i think.

 

[ErieSurfer]

Isn't it whitting that's usually used to adhere those old stones? Like a mixture of chalk and paste or something i think.

I think you are correct about that, but this material wasn't particular white. Maybe what I saw is simply old whiting.

Also, I was wrong when I wrote that the stone was not tapered. The stone AND the intermediate wooden frame were tapered.

 

[ErieSurfer]

I had some misgivings previously, but now that the stone is cleaned, I am happy to have bought it. I've lapped the original work surface and one additional side flat.

Here's the original work surface:

This is the extra side that I lapped:

 

[Empire straights]

I think you are correct about that, but this material wasn't particular white. Maybe what I saw is simply old whiting.

Also, I was wrong when I wrote that the stone was not tapered. The stone AND the intermediate wooden frame were tapered.

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Very cool. I just got a coticule kinda shaped that way in going to make a box for soon and i considered this design.

 

[ErieSurfer]

I just ordered these, the one on left was called an arkansas, but i haven't seen any arks that look like that and i have some with crazy patterns. I read this thread the other day because id never even heard of a hindostan stone, but im kinda leaning towards that because the markings make it look like a piece of wood as many in this thread also have. It was cheap so i rolled the dice, if nothing else a kitchen knife sharper. Beautiful stone either way. Itd look good on a coffee table. Anything is better than the stupid v rods in the block..View attachment 1304723View attachment 1304724View attachment 1304725View attachment 1304726

Were you able to identify the other stones in the lot?

 

[Empire straights]

Were you able to identify the other stones in the lot?

It was a soft ark(pink and white looked nothing like the picture) and a SiC combo stone.

 

[ErieSurfer]

This is from Pike's Sharpening Stones and Development from 1915:

 

[Tanuki]

@Legion and @cotedupy gave me the lead, and this catalog image, to convince me this 3"x2"x5/8" stone from a Spokane junk store is a Hindostan Fastcut Axe Stone. A premium stone at 15¢ each, wholesale.

Before lapping, it had dished wear typical of an axe stone. As a former logger, I can testify. Or I can present my dished round carborundum axe hone as evidence.

A portrait in Hoosier pride!

Hopefully it is not one of those cheap 10¢ Queer Creek items.

 

[Empire straights]

@Legion and @cotedupy gave me the lead, and this catalog image, to convince me this 3"x2"x5/8" stone from a Spokane junk store is a Hindostan Fastcut Axe Stone. A premium stone at 15¢ each, wholesale.

Before lapping, it had dished wear typical of an axe stone. As a former logger, I can testify. Or I can present my dished round carborundum axe hone as evidence.

A portrait in Hoosier pride!
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Hopefully it is not one of those cheap 10¢ Queer Creek items.
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Def not a queer creek.

 

[Tanuki]

Def not a queer creek.

Thanks! I have not had time yet to read up on QC. I got sidetracked on Hoosier whetstone gravestones from the same rock formation as Hindostan hones. Incredible decorative carving and lettering that is still sharp after nearly two centuries, impervious to acid rain.

 

[ErieSurfer]

I don't recall having seen photos like these for a hindostan. I don't own the stone but I thought others might like to see this label. The stone is sitting somewhere in Lower Saxonia, Germany.

 

[Tanuki]

@ErieSurfer , thanks for the great images. The equivalent Hindostan in the domestic market would be a great find!

 

[David]

That’s awesome. I’ve only seen one or two of those in the last decade. Those labels don’t seem to hold up very well but that one is in pretty good shape considering how old it is.