Wish I knew. Both my grandmothers had a ton. If it didn’t have real gems we just donated it.
Post your local/flea market stone scores. (There's none left. Tim found them all.)
- Thread starter eKretz
- Start date
timwcic
"Look what I found"
I scored this back in May among others. A 8x2 Ohio Blue?? glued into a antique cast iron stone holder. Been trying ever since by putting in the sun to get the stone to pop out. Today was the day and victory is mine. No casting or makers marks on the cast. Going to clean to virgin iron, either electrolysis or vinegar, give a renaissance wax job, and fit with something exciting
Someone should try to cast new ones of those out of brass or aluminum.
My grandmother didn't have much costume because she just gave it away. But I wish I had the dozens of pounds of gems and gold she sold(they had a jewelry store, married a jeweler). I dispare at the amount of very old ivory and scrimshaw that's been destroyed or lost. It's not coming back and ivory is amazing. I grew up around a bunch of ivory statues and dressings, scrimshaw as well and it's incredibly beautiful to me. I've only ever had one ivory razor and I cherish it. I don't use it often because I touch up a razor just about every time I use one and I don't want to wear the blade down. It's been a while I should bust it out tonight and hone it some. I want my great great
Most of my daily driver razors are ivory, since my RAD is mostly gone, but if I spot any with ivory scales I have to “save” them and give them a home. Even if the blade is shot I’ll grab them for the scales, and reuse them.
Wish I had the casting skills, seems like a basic shape to produce.
Or maybe heavy duty plastic via 3D printer?
timwcic
"Look what I found"
Put me down for a few
This one cleaned up nicely for being around 100 years old
That will work. New school vs old school
Here is a link to an STL file for 3d printing a whetstone "Holder" / "box"
Whetstone Suction Cup Mount/Box by Jbrow532
This is a whetstone box that holds a standard 150x50x25mm whetstone and has holes for suction cups to hold it down to a table. Just print the model and insert any 4 suction cups into the holes. The suction cups can have a stem diameter of up to approximately .5" and a cup diameter of up to 2"...
www.thingiverse.com
And here is another.....
Printables
All that would need to be done is to size it up or size it down for each stones size....
Add some draft angles and you could use the prints as a form for the casting. Done some sandcasting in the past. More time consuming the difficult if you have the space that is.Here is a link to an STL file for 3d printing a whetstone "Holder" / "box"
Whetstone Suction Cup Mount/Box by Jbrow532
This is a whetstone box that holds a standard 150x50x25mm whetstone and has holes for suction cups to hold it down to a table. Just print the model and insert any 4 suction cups into the holes. The suction cups can have a stem diameter of up to approximately .5" and a cup diameter of up to 2"...
And here is another.....
Printables
www.printables.com
All that would need to be done is to size it up or size it down for each stones size....
The war eagle stones come with a (similar-ish) aluminum base. I think you have a few of those don’t you Tim?
timwcic
"Look what I found"
Yes, a few 6 and 8” holders. They are similar to the point they both hold stones. They both do the job holding and elevating the hone with minimal movement. The aluminum base is closed so it will contain any honing liquids. A nice feature. The cast is more dainty but heavier. Being a old Griswold hunter, the cast is my favorite
timwcic
"Look what I found"
Well, well well, what do we have here hiding under all the funk. Farm fresh find. I was thinking it is a Hohenzollern, but my small one is 5x1 1/2 but this is a true 6x2. Unfortunately missing the box top, rub stone, and label. It has been years since I found a Thuri this size in the wild. See what’s there after a bath
Goldfisch used to pop up quite a bit and then it was like they fell off the face of the earth.
It is good to be FFF (far from Florida).
And it never hurts to ask...
"Any other sharpening stones?" Today, the proprietor searched a little, pulled this out of a box, and challenged my poker face with his modest pricing. I had passed on $24 for a 5 1/2" Smith's Washita in a leather sheath, this was kinda beat up, so he gave me a price he thought I would pay. He was right.
If anyone can contribute a subtype name for this coticule, chime in. I am a coti noob (Clearly Of Tremendous Ignorance, Not Opinionated On Belgium).
455.1g per my $15 Ohaus triple beam.
Roughly 7" x 1 5/8" x 9/16"
And it never hurts to ask...
"Any other sharpening stones?" Today, the proprietor searched a little, pulled this out of a box, and challenged my poker face with his modest pricing. I had passed on $24 for a 5 1/2" Smith's Washita in a leather sheath, this was kinda beat up, so he gave me a price he thought I would pay. He was right.
If anyone can contribute a subtype name for this coticule, chime in. I am a coti noob (Clearly Of Tremendous Ignorance, Not Opinionated On Belgium).
Roughly 7" x 1 5/8" x 9/16"
timwcic
"Look what I found"
The further from Florida you get, the better the chances get
The poker face can be tough at times
Nice Score
I spent years in Eastern PA and Jersey... hitting up every antique store, flea market, thrift, etc... wasted countless hours and days of my life. Never found anything* better than a single unlabeled 8" washita... and a bunch of broken garbage...
Then this guy in the middle of PA, maybe 2 hrs from me, pops up on eBay and has "lots" of old stones with treasures in them every other week... and he's been going strong for years. He owns some kind of a cabinetry/tool store, guess he buys old timers collections when they get out of it or pass and sells a TON of old tools; and throws lots of stones up now and then to get rid of them. The guy is the PA version of Tim, except he does it as a business... and doesn't even care about the stones; he's a tool guy.
It's VERY region specific. Best I can tell; you want to be rural... and not amish-rural (They evidently never get rid of their tools).
*Anything being the stones I was looking for. I did get ONE razor score. A NOS 1" GeoWost full hollow "chopper"... for $35 like 15 years ago.
Every other razor I've come across is missing a massive chunk, ground down to a nub, with broken scales, and at the low low price of $50+... people are dumb about this stuff. And stones are a joke. India's for $75, Broken, dished washita for $50. And even those are rare. I think most people just throw stones in the garbage; figuring them worthless. And the ones that keep them are like "It's old... must be worth thousands!" Razors are a dime a dozen; but finding one that isn't garbage is rare.
@Tanuki I've had a few like that one. No clue on vein; but behaved like a handful of good old "Kosher" stones I've had... despite the patterns disqualifying them; presumably. My best guess is they're from some vein that they would cut those fatty nat combo kind of 4x2-5x2.5" koshers we see from time to time from; and then cut stones like yours from the areas that weren't "Kosher"-looking. I find that material in a lot of barber-hone cuts like that. Tend to be like a very good prototypical coti... quite fast and fine for how fast they are; but can autoslurry a bit and not an ultra-fine type.
Then this guy in the middle of PA, maybe 2 hrs from me, pops up on eBay and has "lots" of old stones with treasures in them every other week... and he's been going strong for years. He owns some kind of a cabinetry/tool store, guess he buys old timers collections when they get out of it or pass and sells a TON of old tools; and throws lots of stones up now and then to get rid of them. The guy is the PA version of Tim, except he does it as a business... and doesn't even care about the stones; he's a tool guy.
It's VERY region specific. Best I can tell; you want to be rural... and not amish-rural (They evidently never get rid of their tools).
*Anything being the stones I was looking for. I did get ONE razor score. A NOS 1" GeoWost full hollow "chopper"... for $35 like 15 years ago.
Every other razor I've come across is missing a massive chunk, ground down to a nub, with broken scales, and at the low low price of $50+... people are dumb about this stuff. And stones are a joke. India's for $75, Broken, dished washita for $50. And even those are rare. I think most people just throw stones in the garbage; figuring them worthless. And the ones that keep them are like "It's old... must be worth thousands!" Razors are a dime a dozen; but finding one that isn't garbage is rare.
@Tanuki I've had a few like that one. No clue on vein; but behaved like a handful of good old "Kosher" stones I've had... despite the patterns disqualifying them; presumably. My best guess is they're from some vein that they would cut those fatty nat combo kind of 4x2-5x2.5" koshers we see from time to time from; and then cut stones like yours from the areas that weren't "Kosher"-looking. I find that material in a lot of barber-hone cuts like that. Tend to be like a very good prototypical coti... quite fast and fine for how fast they are; but can autoslurry a bit and not an ultra-fine type.
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You've prefectly described all the antique stores in the town I grew up in. I saw completely trashed razors from the 20s going for $200 and 1 single razor stone in the whole town...
Yeah, that's a good summary of how it is here. I started collecting cast iron just so I would OCCASSIONALLY find something when I went. I'll still pop in a store now and then to browse... but it's dry here. And the Antique stores are gradually all shifting to "vintage-looking craft" stores and pushing actual antiques out.
A plague! I may get tricked into parking, but one step inside and I'm back outside.
Vintage SR pricing around here (and throughout my "van life" travels) is wildly erratic. I find enough decent razors (SR plus DE, Gem blade, and injectors) for $5 to $30 to keep my honing/restoration queue overfilled. Yesterday's little used SR was $17.50 plus tax. There was a case with about 10 SRs priced $40 to $80 that I did not even have unlocked. If the blades were in decent shape (doubtful), the scales were not and they all looked well used.
Almost all my vintage comes from the wild. The remaining 5% through BST or sellers with B&B cred. Rural and small town antique stores are best for great deals. Or urban stores with the owner at the counter. I bike locally for exercise, so hitting my favored stores for quick survey can be combined with a fresh air workout.
I just started looking at rocks in the last year. (Explains my vintage hone ignorance...) If I found something really outstanding in the hard ark category I might pay real money, but so far $20 is about my limit. Rocks seem fewer than razors, but lightning struck twice in the last week.
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