Mystery hones... Let's see what you have

[timwcic]

Lets me play again. I got the ancient boxed stone thinking it was a gunk covered orange Washita. I few days swimming in a green bath and out popped a Hindustan looking layered stone. But this is different than any other I have found. It measures 1.25 on the working surface, the rest is 1.5 x 8.5. It has the typical horizontal layers but also curved, diagonal layers running perpendicular, top to bottom. They are colored orange, red, and green to my old man eyes. Has a lot of spots and freckles on all sides. It also seems to be a finer grit than my other Hindustan stones. It acts like a secondary stone than a primary. It is a interesting stone with a lot going on for a old bugger

 

[kcb5150]

I have an uncommonly fine hindo with that form factor stripping in sg right now.

 

[SliceOfLife]

New one that just got here. Very soft. That fault looking thing is in fact a fault, I can feel it with my finger. Can’t comment yet to how it hones. Bought it in a folding strop/stone holder paddle.

 

[SliceOfLife]

Yep. hindostan. That cut is rare (but not unheard of) in washita's and common in Hindos. With the banding, almost certainly a hindo. The freckles are just oil stains, be very surprised if they don't go away with a resurfacing on a moderately coarse plate or paper. Hindo's are very, very, VERY inconsistent in grit. I've seen as low as 1-2k JIS equivalent ones and up into the 6k+ range. The very finest I've got has that form factor, and yes you can shave off it... but it's not an especially good shave. I'd liken it to the Mueller stone, or a decent (but not great) turkey stone, or a very fine washita or very coarse Charnley level of refinement.

Here it is fresh out of a soak in degreaser. The banding is almost invisible when dry, but it's there. I should also note, that while this Simple Power stuff is crap for soaking washita's... it cleaned this thing up in like 10 minutes better than days in simple green had done. I suspect it has to do with the washita material soaking up less of it, but this stone sucked it up like a sponge.

 

[kcb5150]

Hindos tend to fight you when it comes to releasing everything. Most arks wave the white flag quickly.

 

[SliceOfLife]

Well that may be where this purple stuff shines. It's supposed to be really harsh and aggressive... like make sure you're wearing gloves sort of stuff. Apparently it can't be stored in glass. etc. It felt really weak vs the embedded steel and oxidized oil in my old washita's though.

 

[SliceOfLife]

New one that just got here. Very soft. That fault looking thing is in fact a fault, I can feel it with my finger. Can’t comment yet to how it hones. Bought it in a folding strop/stone holder paddle.

So I wasn't expecting much from this. It's soft, has that flaw, slurry feels muddy and is a purplish brown, and these wafer thin black slates have been mediocre at best in the past for me. Was expecting your standard junky slate shave, and was pleasantly surprised. It shaved quite close (not top notch, but close), cut easy with no struggling or irritation. The weird thing was the edge felt almost like a wire the whole way through, like it was flexing more than it should; but it cut equally well on both sides, never failed, and showed no damage or evidence of a wire under the scope after the shave... it was just a disconcerting feel during the shave. I suspect that may be a trait of the razor (it's my first shave with it) than the edge, but time will tell. The first edge doesn't look quite as clean as off a Thuri, but it's not bad. Again, we'll see if it looks better or worse on future razors.
Anyway, definitely a stone that will get another couple trials, and if they give similar results will go into the pile of "mysteriously good unknown stones"

If I had to describe this stone, I'd say it acts like I think a soft La Lune would act and shaves like I think a La Lune should according to the guys who like La Lunes (I've never been impressed by them, personally).

 

[timwcic]

Yep. hindostan. That cut is rare (but not unheard of) in washita's and common in Hindos.

That’s interesting. All the Hindos i have are large bricks. This is the first long, narrow, cased one I rescued. I do have several I considered Washita’s in the same style. Thus one is 1 x 1.5 x 8 and SG of 2.20. I use on setting wide smiles. Does a nice, slow job for being also a ancient rock. I will dig the other stones out and give them a bath this summer

 

[timwcic]

Well that may be where this purple stuff shines. It's supposed to be really harsh and aggressive

Purple cleaner is harsh and aggressive due to it containing sodium hydroxide, bad stuff. I use it all the time on greesey steel and such. Was cautious using on stones. Did not know if it would do damage while soaking. I have to give it a try on some junkers

 

[kcb5150]

First video edition of mystery hone. When I first stripped this, I thought queer creek once I got a window through the caked oil but it has all this twinkling and subtle banding on the sides. I need to repurge it in sg. It still reeks.. gray blue. I think some pf those ripple features you see on the honing surfaces are entrenched oil thay migrated once the stone dried after the initial strip.

 

[SliceOfLife]

Had very similar stones to these before. Not 100% convinced it's not a Queer creek with some imperfection making it sparkly (Or a similar "bluestone" from some other region). But I've also never ruled out synthetic, as their performance isn't unlike the higher grit carborundums. I've also considered maybe relatives of the Dalmore b/c they sometimes have that very faint swirling you mention (not always though)... but I've not got enough experience with Dalmores to say.

They were maybe a bit harder than a typical QC and I've had them in both 6-7x1.5-2x1/4-1/2" size range and 8x2x1" size. They feel quite hard and cool to touch, but gouge relatively easily at corners and sides (just like queer creeks) and wear exactly like queer creeks. Broken area's are kind of powdery and white. Under the razor they feel midrange, but under the scope edge is quite coarse. 1-2k... but feels like 4-8k during honing. They don't cut a razor much without pressure, so I suspect they're an oilstone.

Probably the biggest whammy you can get looking for a Thuri in the smaller size... though if they're clean they're not super hard to tell apart. 8x2" size on the Bay they just look like QC's or carbos... so hell, probably a score/successful bid in that size.

 

[kcb5150]

It came in a huge lot. The banding on the sides has me badly thrown. That and the twinkling. It's interesting to encounter another coarse natural that was seemingly exploited. It doesn't feel like a dalmore to me. I know north america had other sandstones besides the hindo that were quarried for hones so maybe it is one of those.

 

[SliceOfLife]

I think this guy may be selling one of what you posted in #7.

BIG BELGIAN COTICULE SINGE PIECE! SHARPENING STONE RAZOR HONE | eBay
I think it's the same rock and/or the same vein if it's a coticule.

here's a couple pics from the listing (not my hone, just saw it on eBay)

 

[kcb5150]

I'm not sure what that hexagon is. He waffles in his description as well despite dropping coticule in the description.

 

[SliceOfLife]

Not really a mystery, but sort of... since the only label ever found is 100% illegible. But I've been told the nickname for these are "Pierre Du Sud Ouest" and they are found mostly (and thus likely were originally from) South East France. 99.9% of people confuse them for coticules (almost all I've bought were sold as coticules), and sometimes they can look a little like a Les Latneuses, and they work and feel a great deal like Y/G Thuringians (I've actually got one stone that I'm not sure whether it's a rough-cut Y/G thuri or a really plain looking one of these).

They're like Thuringians, but in my opinion, a notch better on average. Better feedback, better refinement, better looking, etc. The only other collector I've met of these stones (an Italian fellow who buys them locally) has said he finds them to give edges on par with high quality Jnats. I'm not much of a Jnat guy myself, but I like these.

Here's most of my collection (I've got two displayed on another shelf), as well as a closer look at the latest one, and an ~2000x scope shot of the edge it leaves (pre-stropping).

 

[kcb5150]

I wish I still had the link to the italian website but there is some sort of museum specializing in minerals/rock and had a big hunk of a yellow italian stone that was used for razor edges many years ago and it looked a lot like those.

 

[rideon66]

I saw that one the other day and was thinking the same thing.

 

[kcb5150]

Between the gbp/usd, the shipping, and the fact ny is making ebay charge sales tax regardless of purchase origin and putting sales tax on shipping as well uk/other overseas purchases couldn't be any less enticing for me right now.

 

[timwcic]

Here are three from last weekends market. The first is a primitive hindustan looking stone in a true 2x4 base. Stone is about 1.5 x 6 x 2 inches deep. Mostly white with some orange color and feel about average in grit for a hindustan. This looks to be a old timer, could be two centuries old from the pit

 

[timwcic]

The second is a black slate. 2.5 x 5.5 x 1 inch thick. It is typically slate soft but above average finisher. It seem to be home made or cut. The edge with the heavy bevel looks original. The other three edges are freshly cut with the same diameter blade and clean with no dings or scratches. Strange for being a flea market stone.