Hone id... novaculite?

[str8six]

Noticed this stone up for sale and it has me intrigued. Is this some kind of hard or medium ark? Those have a sorta similar pattern... but different coloration, could just be dirty... Or is it something more interesting? Although, even if it is, those cracks look pretty worrisome so I think I'd pass on this particular specimen but curious if it's a new-to-me type of hone that I should add to my HAD list...

 

[SliceOfLife]

I'm watching that myself. Looks very much like a Turkey stone. Which is Novaculite. It's also CRAZY brittle and almost always found with fractures like that. They were often set deep in very tight paddles before use to make sure that when they inevitably cracked under use they'd be held together tight and still work fine. Quite nice stones... but historically thought to be very much inferior to Washita (and I agree)... still they're rare and look cool and they work fine.

Not seen swirling like that before, but no reason why the patterns on those couldn't swirl.

 

[str8six]

Interesting, thanks for the insight. I'm not going to bid, I'm not set up for the SiC lapping I'd need to tame all that crunchiness. But out of curiosity, you don't think the cracks necessarily rule it out for razor use? And hm, so it'd probably be approximately similar to other fine novaculite like the finer black and translucent?

 

[SliceOfLife]

Cracks rarely impact the surface in my experience unless they start to spread. If there's a gap, yes.

I wouldn't use them for razors myself, not because of the cracks though... they're an aggressive cutter with good pressure and do very little without it. Not easy to use with razors. Nice for knives and woodworking tools.

I've never found one that's as fine as a trans or SB ark. My finest one is a little 3" stone with no cracks or flaws. It makes an acceptable shaving edge, but not exceptional.

Turkeys are much more in line with Washita than with Hard arks.