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

The speckled one in the middle is probably a Tam O’Shanter.

I thought it could be, which would be nice, but then decided maybe more likely a Grecian / Llyn Idwal (a greenish colour is maybe more noticeable in a couple of the other pics). And certainly thought the broken one looked like a Trans Ark as @rideon66 said.

And then after posting this I noticed that the seller had a number of other old stones listed, where he had identified the type of stone. So I asked him what he thought... Probably Translucent Ark, Grecian Stone, Welsh Purple Slate (I assume this is the one on the right), and an unknown stone (I assume the small, dark one that also looks like a slate).

I'm quite happy with those, £35 for the lot. You'd be welcome to have one of the Ark halves if you want (?) but it sounds from what you said above that you might have a similarly small sized translucent already.
 

Legion

Staff member
I thought it could be, which would be nice, but then decided maybe more likely a Grecian / Llyn Idwal (a greenish colour is maybe more noticeable in a couple of the other pics). And certainly thought the broken one looked like a Trans Ark as @rideon66 said.

And then after posting this I noticed that the seller had a number of other old stones listed, where he had identified the type of stone. So I asked him what he thought... Probably Translucent Ark, Grecian Stone, Welsh Purple Slate (I assume this is the one on the right), and an unknown stone (I assume the small, dark one that also looks like a slate).

I'm quite happy with those, £35 for the lot. You'd be welcome to have one of the Ark halves if you want (?) but it sounds from what you said above that you might have a similarly small sized translucent already.

thankyou, but yes, I’m pretty good. I’ve kind of narrowed down my honing preferences for now. Unless I find something interesting in the wild for a price I can’t resist, of course. Then it is going on the pile.
 
thankyou, but yes, I’m pretty good. I’ve kind of narrowed down my honing preferences for now. Unless I find something interesting in the wild for a price I can’t resist, of course. Then it is going on the pile.

Nay worries! It's never too tricky to give stones away so that's made another guy, in VIC, very happy :)

Ever used any natural Australian stones btw...?
 

Legion

Staff member
Nay worries! It's never too tricky to give stones away so that's made another guy, in VIC, very happy :)

Ever used any natural Australian stones btw...?
Nope, can’t say that I have. Never really heard of any, now that I think about it.
 
Nope, can’t say that I have. Never really heard of any, now that I think about it.

Yes, there isn't much recent history of it tbh. I've found and used a number of Willunga slates as whetstones to good effect (they'd probably actually be very good for razors), but apart from myself and and a handful of others I don't believe there are any commercial stones here any more.

There was at the end of the 19th century a quarry at Mudgee NSW, and I've heard from someone that remembered seeing an advert in an old Adelaide newspaper for stones from Mt Osmond. My wife's grandfather was a butcher and they still apparently have his favourite old stone, which he called a 'Bluestone', and I imagine may be a Mount Osmond stone as the quarry there was for 'Glen Osmond Bluestone'. I haven't seen or used it yet, but looking forward to soon.

I wrote about the history a bit here if you're interested: A brief history of sharpening stones in Australia - https://www.kitchenknifeforums.com/threads/a-brief-history-of-sharpening-stones-in-australia.53563/
 

Legion

Staff member
Yes, there isn't much recent history of it tbh. I've found and used a number of Willunga slates as whetstones to good effect (they'd probably actually be very good for razors), but apart from myself and and a handful of others I don't believe there are any commercial stones here any more.

There was at the end of the 19th century a quarry at Mudgee NSW, and I've heard from someone that remembered seeing an advert in an old Adelaide newspaper for stones from Mt Osmond. My wife's grandfather was a butcher and they still apparently have his favourite old stone, which he called a 'Bluestone', and I imagine may be a Mount Osmond stone as the quarry there was for 'Glen Osmond Bluestone'. I haven't seen or used it yet, but looking forward to soon.

I wrote about the history a bit here if you're interested: A brief history of sharpening stones in Australia - https://www.kitchenknifeforums.com/threads/a-brief-history-of-sharpening-stones-in-australia.53563/
Thanks for the link. I'll check it out.
 
What can I expect from this
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It may be an am hone company tonsorial gem rebranded for some store in indiana going by the looks of it. It's a touch up stone. Give a razor that is fading 5 to 8 laps on the fine side and strop it a lot and see how it is for you. The tonsorial gem is one of the better barber hones. Similar to the frictionite, less harsh
 
New unknown stone, similar looks to a few stones posted at beginning of this thread. I thought it looked thuringian like online, but as soon as I felt it I could tell it was different. A real dense waxy hydrophobic feel. It was pretty beat up but flat. Lapping smelled of horrible pungent metal to start but the smell disappeared quickly thankfully. Brown slurry when lapping was odd to me.
Before:
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After:
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Cleaned up nicely and It has a bit of glint. Barber hone sized of about 5.4"x2.4"x3/4" and ~ 3.0g/cm3 density. I brought it to 800 w/d, sharpened a steak knife then worked a well known torrey razor. It has a drastically different feel when honing compared to my vermont slate or thuringians. With water it is surprisingly noisy to start, almost harsh? But the bevel scratches/polish are darn close to my 12k. After ~50 passes I felt smoother drag and stopped. Tiniest wire was forming to my surprise under the loop, way faster than I expected.

The shave was almost too sharp, alot of exfoliation! Reminded me of synth 12k followed by CrOx on balsa? Post shave was great actually and Im really impressed by this rock, I cant believe how fast/abrasive it is. Need to do another razor and try glycerin or oil next.
 
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Just bought this with a couple old razors off FB market place. Not 100% sure but sure am hoping it’s what I think. I’ll report back when I get it.
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I got my mystery hone. By look and feel maybe thuringian.
If anybody can help to identify it.
 

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I got my mystery hone. By look and feel maybe thuringian.
If anybody can help to identify it.

I'm not a Thuri expert, but there are aspects of that stone that don't look typically slate-like. Though they can look like all sorts of things, so wouldn't rule it out either.

How's that for a useless, non-committal answer! ;)
 

Legion

Staff member
What the heck is this? From the box it seems old, and was held in by some sort of hard clay.

the stone is thin, and has a green tinge, with some reds.

weird.

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