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

I have a similar stone which I thought might be a Thuri. But until recently I had never used one, and side by side they were certainly different.

Smelt similar, lapped similarly (the Thuri slurry* was a bit darker), but the stone below was harder and coarser.

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* There's a good tongue-twister in here... She sells slurried Thuris on the sea shore.
The second pictures shows some small flake like cracks that is more novaculite like than thuri.
 
No clue here. Sandstone. Two tone. Zero banding. Lapping it was like lapping nothing.
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The second pictures shows some small flake like cracks that is more novaculite like than thuri.

Ah that picture does make it look like that doesn't it. Sorry! They're not normally there, dunno what it was (something from the lapping perhaps), it's very definitely a slate though, and not a Thuri.
 
I bought this stone because I thought it was a washita(may still be) but the stone
Is a fine(to the touch and effect on my pocket knife) as my vintage norton hard arkansas slip stone. Between the fineness and the care that was taken to make the box with the strop in willing to wager its a razor stone but what it is I do not know. I'm glad I bought it though, honing a razor on it will be fun. It kinda feels like it grips the blade the way slate does but it's got a high pitched ring like dense novaculite.
 

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I bought this stone because I thought it was a washita(may still be) but the stone
Is a fine(to the touch and effect on my pocket knife) as my vintage norton hard arkansas slip stone. Between the fineness and the care that was taken to make the box with the strop in willing to wager its a razor stone but what it is I do not know. I'm glad I bought it though, honing a razor on it will be fun. It kinda feels like it grips the blade the way slate does but it's got a high pitched ring like dense novaculite.

Well if it isn’t a Washita it’s certainly come to the party dressed as one! (It is a Washita :))

As KCB said above they can vary quite a lot in terms of SG and feel.
 
No clue here. Sandstone. Two tone. Zero banding. Lapping it was like lapping nothing.

Looks super uniform. That is unique looking. Any chance it is a synth or degrading synth?

If you don’t know what is is KCB…….can’t be many who do :)
 
Well if it isn’t a Washita it’s certainly come to the party dressed as one! (It is a Washita :))

As KCB said above they can vary quite a lot in terms of SG and feel.
I may need to reassess my thought on my "hard/ fine washita" because it's nowhere nearly as dense or fine as the new one even though it'll put at least an 8k edge on any blade. I think in going to be very happy I bought it, I already am and I haven't gotten to the fun part yet... THE HONING!
 
6 13/16x1 13/16x1 3/16. I mean I will strip it to see if the coloring equalizes but I doubt it. I have a lot of indias around from lots and it isn't that. It isn't queer creek. I put a knife to it this morning that needed a touch up. Even straight off the rock it shaved the back of my hand. It feels more like a very fine hindo under the blade than a queer creek or something of that ilk. But in hand the stone feels more "together" than a hindostan. Just has very silky feedback under a knife and doesn't autoslurry or cut super aggressively. Problem is it came from that general zone of new england where a lot of stones were quarried for a minute and then faded into obscurity forever. I mean I will give it a strip to see if the coloring becomes more homogeneous but it is accepting water with no complaint.
 
washitas can go over 2.40 and high sg washitas behave differently to ones in the 2.15 zone


If I remember right I had one that was nearly 2.5 (Up near Translucent Ark). I'd have to check to be sure (posted the SG results for a dozen or more washita's somewhere around here).

Found it: 2.46 was my labeled Med Hard, and my unlabeled translucent Red Washita was 2.48. My "softest" translucent Hard Ark was 2.58. I'm going to have to test a "Hard" lily white.

 
6 13/16x1 13/16x1 3/16. I mean I will strip it to see if the coloring equalizes but I doubt it. I have a lot of indias around from lots and it isn't that. It isn't queer creek. I put a knife to it this morning that needed a touch up. Even straight off the rock it shaved the back of my hand. It feels more like a very fine hindo under the blade than a queer creek or something of that ilk. But in hand the stone feels more "together" than a hindostan. Just has very silky feedback under a knife and doesn't autoslurry or cut super aggressively. Problem is it came from that general zone of new england where a lot of stones were quarried for a minute and then faded into obscurity forever. I mean I will give it a strip to see if the coloring becomes more homogeneous but it is accepting water with no complaint.

Maybe the "Chocolate" stone that we see in old catalogs/books from late 19th century?
 
The lisbon chocolate I have seen sort of looks like the special stone only for good razors only coarser.
 
No, I have seen a box of lisbon chocolate finger stones before but I don't have the photo. I lost a lot of images in a hard drive head crash years ago. I would need to ask the person I know who collects pike/norton. He pretty much has one of everything they ever made and put on the pricelist.
 
If I remember right I had one that was nearly 2.5 (Up near Translucent Ark). I'd have to check to be sure (posted the SG results for a dozen or more washita's somewhere around here).

Found it: 2.46 was my labeled Med Hard, and my unlabeled translucent Red Washita was 2.48. My "softest" translucent Hard Ark was 2.58. I'm going to have to test a "Hard" lily white.

I'm excited to see it clean, it's much finer than my fine white one, I really liked the edge it put on my knife. It would pop hair but it wasn't far from there anyway but I did like 10 strokes on it. I'll try to get the sg on it tonight it's much heavier than my hard white one too though approx the same dimensions.
 
Problem is it came from that general zone of new england where a lot of stones were quarried for a minute and then faded into obscurity forever.

Yes indeed. Much lost to time. There were quite a few sandstone quarries in the SE for sharpening stones pre-twentieth century that were well documented……yet completely unknown now and virtually never show up anywhere. Many were industrial but many were for home use too I understand. I guess being so soft and consumable along with later being replaced by more effective synthetics seem to bury their existence.
 
Some of the oil deeply ingrained in the fine pores are starting to come out slowly after 24 hours. Getting a better idea of what she's going to look like. What do you guys think? I'm probably going to have to soak it for a year to get all the oil out but she looks like in the end she'll be white as the driven snow. Pretty interesting stuff. You can kind of see the reflection in the picture, pretty fine stone and it's real old or real loved because that's burnishing from TONS of use.

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I don't know if you can see it in the picture, the polish on the bevel looks very different than I've seen out of novaculite but it polished better than most of my rocks. It's like the striations follow the length of the blade instead of lines in the direction I was honing. Weird stuff, cool rock. The very high quality, hand made box with the strop hidden in the lid is almost worth what I paid for the stone and all. I'm happy with it for sure.

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