India hone

[Legion]

Does anyone here regularly us a Norton/ Pike India stone, either for razors or anything else?

I bought a hone online, gambling that it was some sort of oil covered natural stone, based on its shape. After getting it out of the box and giving it a bit of a clean it turned out to be an India, mounted in the box on its side, for some reason.

It cleaned up ok, and is in good shape. I'm just trying to decide where it fits with my honing, and what I am going to do with it.

 

[Legion]

Researching lead me to this nice, old school tool sharpening tutorial.

 

[Bowmaker]

Researching lead me to this nice, old school tool sharpening tutorial.

I don’t think there is a better chisel sharpening vid on the net.

I use fine India’s in the IM 313 tri-hones. They are much nicer in feel to the crystolon stones. I don’t think I have ever put a razor on one, but I can’t think of any reason not to.

 

[jj_sharp]

I have 2 Norton India Fine stones.

The 8 inch one is combination with Crystalon, made in Mexico, and still feels course after a year or 2 of home us. I use it on knives. I would not use it like it is, on a razor unless I had big chips to remove.

I have a Norton fine pocket stone that seems much finer than the bench stone. I might use it on a damaged razor.

The internet says the India stones fine up with use, I am still waiting...

 

[Bowmaker]

I have 2 Norton India Fine stones.

The 8 inch one is combination with Crystalon, made in Mexico, and still feels course after a year or 2 of home us. I use it on knives. I would not use it like it is, on a razor unless I had big chips to remove.

I have a Norton fine pocket stone that seems much finer than the bench stone. I might use it on a damaged razor.

The internet says the India stones fine up with use, I am still waiting...

Getting finer doesn't sound right to me but mine are pretty old USA made. I don't bother to flatten them but I did flip a set over last year. I didn't notice a difference at that time.

 

[jj_sharp]

Getting finer doesn't sound right to me but mine are pretty old USA made. I don't bother to flatten them but I did flip a set over last year. I didn't notice a difference at that time.

My current experience is that a fair amount of use has not glazed the stone. I am watching for it...

 

[Bowmaker]

I can get mine to glaze and not on purpose. Less pressure and a wide surface should do it.
Not at all sure it will produce the results you are after though..

 

[Gamma]

one of my early sharpening stones was a Norton India/Crystolon combo. Never liked the Crystolon, the India was ok. Mostly used for kitchen cutlery. Can't think of a reason to want to use an India with razors unless no other stones were available. i think the fine was sub 400x, it cut smoothly though. I think it came 'pre-filled' with oil... I never really got along with it but it was functional.

 

[Empire straights]

I don’t think there is a better chisel sharpening vid on the net.

I use fine India’s in the IM 313 tri-hones. They are much nicer in feel to the crystolon stones. I don’t think I have ever put a razor on one, but I can’t think of any reason not to.

Ive put a junk razor on my fine India just to see what it did. A fine one can set a bevel pretty quick and the scratch pattern was very even. I use mine on knives and tools probably once a week but i use mine to refresh/flatten the surface of natural hones pretty regularly. When i used synthetic waterstones i used it to flatten them too. Ive yet to ever end up with a stone that wasn't great for sharpening something, except maybe my 8 year old smiths soft ark. It's got weak spots and kick grit bad but only in certain places, go vintage. Ive yet to get an oil soaked one (one i had to dip just to look at it) that i didn't have a perfect use for. Ive got some nice surprises of fairly valuable stones and nothing. I just got a 6x2 lyn idwal for less than $20 recently and my hard/fine white washita.Even a pocket sized soft ark makes a good file..

 

[Bowmaker]

Ive put a junk razor on my fine India just to see what it did. A fine one can set a bevel pretty quick and the scratch pattern was very even. I use mine on knives and tools probably once a week but i use mine to refresh/flatten the surface of natural hones pretty regularly. When i used synthetic waterstones i used it to flatten them too. Ive yet to ever end up with a stone that wasn't great for sharpening something, except maybe my 8 year old smiths soft ark. It's got weak spots and kick grit bad but only in certain places, go vintage. Ive yet to get an oil soaked one (one i had to dip just to look at it) that i didn't have a perfect use for. Ive got some nice surprises of fairly valuable stones and nothing. I just got a 6x2 lyn idwal for less than $20 recently and my hard/fine white washita.Even a pocket sized soft ark makes a good file..

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Good softs are few and far between. Plenty of bad ones, a few I have are just alright and good ones are really hard to come by but they do exist.
It seems to me that arks from the same place and time seem to be pretty consistent, same manufacturer, same era, same look and you can get pretty much the same stone.

The one with the pink swirls is the soft in this set. It's off a wood Smith's tri-hone, maybe from the 70's? It's 7 3/4" x 1 1/2" x 3/8". It's a very soft ark, remarkably uniform and it's no slouch for speed either. The white one is the hard and it's a nice uniform stone too. I have arks labeled soft that are harder than this sets hard.

 

[Empire straights]

Good softs are few and far between. Plenty of bad ones, a few I have are just alright and good ones are really hard to come by but they do exist.
It seems to me that arks from the same place and time seem to be pretty consistent, same manufacturer, same era, same look and you can get pretty much the same stone.

The one with the pink swirls is the soft in this set. It's off a wood Smith's tri-hone, maybe from the 70's? It's 7 3/4" x 1 1/2" x 3/8". It's a very soft ark, remarkably uniform and it's no slouch for speed either. The white one is the hard and it's a nice uniform stone too. I have arks labeled soft that are harder than this sets hard.

Ive got one of those pink swirly soft arks too! Id never seen one like that before i got it.

Edit: mine is actually pretty hard and the white side feels finer but it's still pretty fast and the side of it makes and amazing file because it doesnt break down.

 

[Legion]

I think I will probably use mine for chisels, like in video above, except I will substitute finishing on an arc for a bbw which I have no other use for.

 

[SliceOfLife]

They're good for tools. I don't use them much, but they're nice and fast.

I prefer diamonds for razors, but actually will reach for India for anything else that I don't want to waste washita on.

 

[Legion]

I’m also starting to appreciate these wooden boxes people made for their hones back in the day, I’ve gotten a few lately. I especially like the ones for natural hones that are not properly rectangular. Your average handyman could probably not make one with hand tools today, but it seems like every old oilstone from the 40’s and earlier had one. I was reading a carpentry book from back in those days, and it actually said the first thing you needed to do with your new hone was make a box for it.

 

[Legion]

I used it yesterday to hone a completely dull vintage, carbon pocket knife yesterday, and was able to get it to shave arm hair.

The ah-ha moment came when I started to put pressure on the blade. I’m so used to razors, it does not come naturally to push down on a blade, but it cut much better when I did.

 

[Empire straights]

They're good for tools. I don't use them much, but they're nice and fast.

I prefer diamonds for razors, but actually will reach for India for anything else that I don't want to waste washita on.

My diamond plates are cheap but I feel like they put too deep of scratches. Thats on my 1k and it's really worn. Probably because I use arks and coticules most on the low- mid range and they polish so the scratches aren't as visible to my failing eyes as bad I guess.

 

[Empire straights]

I used it yesterday to hone a completely dull vintage, carbon pocket knife yesterday, and was able to get it to shave arm hair.

The ah-ha moment came when I started to put pressure on the blade. I’m so used to razors, it does not come naturally to push down on a blade, but it cut much better when I did.

I use them with comparable pressure to arks and yeah they will eat steel if you get a little heavier hand than most razors guys are comfortable with. With a knife or chisels don't be scared to pin it down, you won't hurt anything. Fine India stones are great for polishing the surface of stone just using lighter and lighter pressure like with a razor. I polished every single scratch(tons) of the surface of my lyn idwal after lapping it. It did a better job than my work 1k diamond plate by light-years. It looks like glass now.

 

[Wid]

Got this one in a bundle deal. Looks like it might be good for knives. Any idea of age?

 

[Legion]

Got this one in a bundle deal. Looks like it might be good for knives. Any idea of age?

As a very rough guess i would say 60's or 70's? From the style of box and being a Behr-Manning. Could be older, though.

My one is one of the older ones, being Pike/Norton.

Edit: It probably is older. Researching I've found stones with Pike, Norton, and B-M all on the boxes. I need to research the companies better.

They are good for knives and tools. I've been using mine a fair bit.

 

[Empire straights]

The old US one are great, they don't slough off grit unless you completely degrease them and don't re-oil them, a mistake I had to rectify recently but a little mineral oil and it was good. I've been trying to find an old, small combo norton med/fine US made India.