Hone Gamble with me

[SliceOfLife]

So a real hone gamble showed up on eBay this morning.
After some thought, I decided to waste $45 on it.

Vintage Knife Sharpening Stone On Hand Crafted Wooden Base-Very Good | eBay

Vintage Knife Sharpening Stone On Hand Crafted Wooden Base-Very Good. Condition is Used. Shipped with USPS Ground Advantage.

www.ebay.com

My thought process.

From CT... doesn't tell you much honestly... not a lot of eBay stone sellers from CT, so I don't have a good impression of what stones will be there. CT in general feels Old-town woodworky to me... so I assume we'll see more Washita's, maybe imported from UK Charns/turks, etc type stones than expected... Also nearish Vermont... so slates as well?

It's pretty coated... basically no stone visible under the residue. The few stone characteristics that can be seen are dimensions and some tiny chips that are also covered in residue, limiting their usefulness for ID.

Dimensions: 8 1/2" x 2 5/8" or about 215x65mm... doesn't really fit any standard dimension... says to me it's likely natural. Cut is fairly perfectly rectangle though... so probably not super old (pre19th century) or foundstone.

Chips... Kind of say Novaculite to my eyes... but really hard to tell.

Box... I don't have a good sense for boxes... but I'm guessing it's early 20th century. Leather hinges (possibly newer) that I doubt could be a century old or more. Box looks hand chiseled, possibly resized at least once. Blind guess at the wood, maybe walnut? Heavily stained/tarred.


All in all, I'm guessing an oversized Washita... but we'll find out when it gets here. Booby prize would I guess be a slate or Hindo/sandstone type... neither of which I'd likely use.

 

[LJS]

The gambler! You seem to win quite a few Too swarfed and square for me guess if a natural is hidden under there or not - but you have good experience at that. My guess on the box is pine though for what it’s worth Hope it’s a stunner on the way to you.

 

[Ravenonrock]

Good luck!

 

[SliceOfLife]

Thanks... I've seen some oversized and offsized Indias and crystos... but they're really rare... so I'll be shocked if this turns out to be a synth. But other than that, it's a total gamble... the Simple green will be revealing.

 

[kcb5150]

I saw that and thought it was worth doing what you are but didn't feel like dealing with the lapping. You can get some really interesting stuff from New England.

 

[Saloogie]

I can't tell for sure by the pics, but it sort of looks green. If so it might be a Vermont Slate. I have an 8x3-3/4" Vermont, so it's very close to the size of yours.

In any case, it looks pretty interesting. Good luck.

 

[SliceOfLife]

Could be... My experience says that coated with oil residue and swarf can look green under some light, so I wouldn't presume I can get any color indicators from anything... If I pretend I can... I suspect it'll be one of those Turkey Skin Washita's with patches of translucence... those are what I typically find crusted fully in oil like this.

 

[LJS]

I suspect it'll be one of those Turkey Skin Washita's with patches of translucence

Just another reason to get more tools to sharpen

 

[Legion]

Natural. Based on the limited info to be had from the pics, I'm going to bet.... Hindostan!

 

[David]

Natural. Based on the limited info to be had from the pics, I'm going to bet.... Hindostan!

Same because that’s a fairly normal size for a Hindo. I’ll be surprised if it’s a Washita.

 

[captaincaed]

Y'all need girlfriends. Or a hobby.

 

[Legion]

Y'all need girlfriends. Or a hobby.

I'd get a girlfriend, but then my wife would take all my hobby money.

 

[captaincaed]

Touche

 

[SliceOfLife]

Same because that’s a fairly normal size for a Hindo. I’ll be surprised if it’s a Washita.

Yeah, that's my concern... but I'm hopeful that's wrong this time.

I mean I'd probably get my money back or close on a Hindo... that size should bring in almost what I paid plus fees/etc... if I have the time to list/pack/ship it. Got a stack of random stones piling up already I haven't bothered to sell.

 

[Bowmaker]

I actually had that stone on my watch list but got busy with other things, so I'm looking forward to see what I missed on.

I suspect a slate.

 

[SliceOfLife]

So it falls under the "Disappointment/booby prize" category.
Not Novaculite... but also...
Not slate. Not Synth.

I've had these stones before.

My impression is they are a little finer and much harder than a queer creek, but similar type of stone. Maybe good for honing to the 2-4k range or thereabouts. Possibly a good knife hone... but I've never really done much with em, cause most I've had were 4-5" max... so not a size I'd use for anything but razors.


I've always assumed these are the "Chocolate" hones mentioned in some 19th century books.

Since this is by far the biggest I've owned... I'll lap the dish out of it and give it a shot with my knives... cursory test is telling me it's never gonna displace a washita... but who knows.

The unslurried pics are under a shop floodlight which washes the color out. It's darker, as well as a little more brown and less gray than it appears.

Slurry pic is proper lighting. Got that caramel/milk chocolate colored slurry.

Pried it out and it's in the Simple Green now.

 

[Saloogie]

Well, at least the shipping was quick.

 

[kcb5150]

Aren't these more along the lines of those deerlick stones?

 

[Legion]

Aren't these more along the lines of those deerlick stones?

The Deerlick are like Ohio blue.

 

[Bowmaker]

So it falls under the "Disappointment/booby prize" category.
Not Novaculite... but also...
Not slate. Not Synth.

I've had these stones before.

My impression is they are a little finer and much harder than a queer creek, but similar type of stone. Maybe good for honing to the 2-4k range or thereabouts. Possibly a good knife hone... but I've never really done much with em, cause most I've had were 4-5" max... so not a size I'd use for anything but razors.


I've always assumed these are the "Chocolate" hones mentioned in some 19th century books.

Since this is by far the biggest I've owned... I'll lap the dish out of it and give it a shot with my knives... cursory test is telling me it's never gonna displace a washita... but who knows.

The unslurried pics are under a shop floodlight which washes the color out. It's darker, as well as a little more brown and less gray than it appears.

Slurry pic is proper lighting. Got that caramel/milk chocolate colored slurry.

Pried it out and it's in the Simple Green now.

I was actually watching that stone because I thought it might be a Chocolate, a picture in sun light would be better.
The color of the dry spots more closely matches the Chocolate than does the wet.

I think the Chocolate is a much better knife stone than the Washita.