Yep. Lack of pressure is what make some people hate arks because it makes them so slow but to get the cheese grater action working good it takes pressure. When I figured how much harder steel is than cheese the process really ironed out lol.
India hone
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- #22
Mine is a UK made version. I have no idea how they compare.
I've found they do great for smoothing the surface of other stones and polishing them a little bit.
I have one that is a little lighter color that looks kinda like yours too, it's just a little softer. I haven't used it much but I remember it being almost identical in action, maybe faster because it was softer. The lighter on the left has kind of a peach tint to it. The box it came in looks like an old pike box the other one come in a box that had hinges on the side but it's in the lid of the one on the left
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- #25
I picked up another vintage one in a nice old box yesterday. This one is a combo with SIC on the other side, which might come in handy for the garden tools, or whatever.
The justification is I can leave the other one in its box, mounted on the side for chisels, and use this one for plane irons and other things. It didn't cost too much.
The justification is I can leave the other one in its box, mounted on the side for chisels, and use this one for plane irons and other things. It didn't cost too much.
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- #26
I’ll be honest, I kind of enjoy the boxes more than the hones. Some dude in the 30’s or the 40’s spent so much effort into making a nice box for something Norton just spat out. I think it needs a thread.
I've read they're great. Equal to the US ones, but their newer ones made in Mexico shed grit a whole lot more. If imagine it would make them faster but much harder for a razor finish on a chisel, for me at least. On the old hard ones I can get a crazy keen edge on tools and knives that rival several of my slates.
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- #28
Technically not an India, since this one looks like it was made by Australian Abrasives before they got gobbled up by Norton.
But in almost new condition, none the less. I got this in a lot because I wanted a stone it came with, but it’s still a bit of local honing history.
But in almost new condition, none the less. I got this in a lot because I wanted a stone it came with, but it’s still a bit of local honing history.
That AUS India looks like a very well made India stone, especially if it's older(probably why norton bought them) it doesn't seem to have any chips or worn edges or gouges. The cheap ones are pretty fast because they're soft, some almost to the point where they function like synth water stones but geard toward oil. These will auto-slurry and it gouges pretty easily with pressure. Did the UK made India stones have stamps? I have one with a tigers head stamp, but I can't make out and name on it. If I'm not mistaken, I think they were pike stones. Any ideas? Recently I've considered using an india stone with water and slurrying anywhere from a 1k-5k Chinese synth water stone on top to get it really moving but still being smooth for machete I have from Mexico. I've put crazy work into it with a washita because it's chipped like crazy(it was my dad's or I wouldn't bother). If I do the madness above I'll probably come back for a quick buff while in c- clamps with my Pike no.1 washita to put teeth back on it.
I often give this kind of stone away, because I get get a lot of them in job lots, and they're excellent knife and tool stones that people don't think to buy. But here are a few I've got atm.
Pike Coarse n Fine, and little Fine pocket stone type affair:
Norton Medium, and Coarse n Fine:
And a slightly more unusual one... This kind of thing I believe was often given away as samples for retailers, or as corporate gift type things. With the heavily embossed Norton logo, so you wouldn't forget where to go for more! This feels to me like a Coarse n Medium combi, which I'm not 100% certain was actually ever sold:
Pike Coarse n Fine, and little Fine pocket stone type affair:
Norton Medium, and Coarse n Fine:
And a slightly more unusual one... This kind of thing I believe was often given away as samples for retailers, or as corporate gift type things. With the heavily embossed Norton logo, so you wouldn't forget where to go for more! This feels to me like a Coarse n Medium combi, which I'm not 100% certain was actually ever sold:
I have one off those small, fine India pocket stones, but mine is a norton so not quite as old and it's amazing for resurfacing stones, peeping a surface, or bringing up a slurry on a really hard stone. They're good for every thing but finishing a razor.
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- #33
Sure did!
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- #34
Do you have any idea about who put the tigers head stamps on their stones? How about you @cotedupy? That one is probably the finest of the fine ones I've got.
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- #36
No, but I vaguely recall seeing one before.
Certainly Norton stones had it, but I believe I've seen some Pike ones too.
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Something to note... is that India stones were invented and always manufactured by Norton. But back in the day Norton didn't sell whetstones, they sold abrasives, and grinding wheels n stuff. Pike sold whetstones. And old 'Pike' India stones were produced by Norton, but sold under licence by Pike:
Also interesting is that the original India grit was produced from a natural stone, imported from India (obviously!). As whetstones they came to market in the 1890s, after Norton figured out a way to replicate corundum - Aluminium Oxide - artificially. Which they called 'Alundum':
[All of those screenshots are from Pike's 1915 pamphlet The History of Sharpening Stones.]
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- #38
Aye... It’s a Pike-Norton logo that they stamped on the ends of stones mostly. A few of mine have had it, you can see here if you zoom in on the end of the Medium India I posted above:
timwcic
"Look what I found"
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