The nice old box thread
- Thread starter Legion
- Start date
I usually put my hand over the stone then bang one end on the hardwood floor and they'll usually pop out with 2 or 3 good whacks.
I should have never opened this thread…now I want a vintage boxed hone…or several.
Guess I’ll start by boxing my coticule.
Guess I’ll start by boxing my coticule.
This arrived yesterday, a recent eBay purchase. The labeling on the front (unfortunately a little hard to read in the photo below) is “Herter’s Washita”. I had not heard of Herter’s but a quick search revealed that they were a pretty big sporting goods mail order house from 1937-1981 based in Minnesota. Catalogue runs went as high as 500,000 copies per issue. Apparently they were quite entertaining as George Herter knew (or it least claimed to know) the very best way to do everything and offered all sorts of stories and advice throughout the catalogue. Of course all of the products that he offered were the finest to be had in all the land (according to George).
Another quick search of eBay under “Herter” turned up all sorts of hunting and camping gear, nearly all of which bore Herter’s name as well as the name of the actual manufacturer. This stone likely did as well, but the bottom of the box shows some water damage and a pale spot where a label once was. There is one clue remaining however - near the missing label on the bottom of the box are stamped the characters WB 6 - which as I understand it was/is Norton’s PN for a 6” Washita. So the hope is that this is really a relabeled Norton. The stone is currently in degreaser - initially thought is that it doesn’t really look like my other Norton Washita’s, but then they don’t necessarily look all the same either.
Another quick search of eBay under “Herter” turned up all sorts of hunting and camping gear, nearly all of which bore Herter’s name as well as the name of the actual manufacturer. This stone likely did as well, but the bottom of the box shows some water damage and a pale spot where a label once was. There is one clue remaining however - near the missing label on the bottom of the box are stamped the characters WB 6 - which as I understand it was/is Norton’s PN for a 6” Washita. So the hope is that this is really a relabeled Norton. The stone is currently in degreaser - initially thought is that it doesn’t really look like my other Norton Washita’s, but then they don’t necessarily look all the same either.
- Thread starter
- #105
Here is another mentalist who spent who knows how many hours making a nice box for his cheap, Japanese made India stone.
'The aim is not to correct the past, merely to make it a little bit less grubby.'
[To paraphrase someone somewhere, who I've forgotten.]
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Here are a couple of boxes I cleaned up a bit today - Dalmore Blue and Charnley.
[To paraphrase someone somewhere, who I've forgotten.]
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Here are a couple of boxes I cleaned up a bit today - Dalmore Blue and Charnley.
Very nice Oli.
A new one on me...
This Washita has a 'normal' wooden base, but the top of the box is made from very thick, hard leather. Possibly as some kind of strop? I've had boxes that incorporate a strip of leather on the top as a strop, but not something like this where the whole thing is leather.
Anyone got any tips for me re- leather restoration...?
This Washita has a 'normal' wooden base, but the top of the box is made from very thick, hard leather. Possibly as some kind of strop? I've had boxes that incorporate a strip of leather on the top as a strop, but not something like this where the whole thing is leather.
Anyone got any tips for me re- leather restoration...?
Saddle soap. Get it all lathered up and wiped off. You’ll notice a huge improvement after one round but keep going if need be. Rehydrate the leather when you’re done with ballistol or similar.
+1 with the saddle soap. After that's all worked in good get it fixed up with YOUR favorite leather moisturizer.... *lather*. After that you'd probably be able to use it as a decent strop.
Ah cheers @Sando @Empire straights - I shall grab myself some saddle soap! (I hadn't actually heard of it before).
- Thread starter
- #112
Saddle soap, then a little Dubbin. You should be able to pick up the saddle soap in a place that sells equestrian supplies (as the name would suggest). If you can’t get that, a good wipe over with a very slightly damp rag, don’t soak the leather, air dry, then Dubbin. Don’t use too much, you are just trying to hydrate the leather, not soften it.
Here we go. I gave it a little light sanding for some of the scuff marks too, and will now work pretty well for knife stropping I think 
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.Did you put any sale soap or anything on it? It near looks like a stitch off a Dr. Marten's. Care was put into that lid initially, restoring it would be the icing on the cake.Here we go. I gave it a little light sanding for some of the scuff marks too, and will now work pretty well for knife stropping I think
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Normally if a stone is glued firm into a box I will endeavour to get it out by hook or by crook. (Or by breaking the box up by smacking it with a hammer n chisel, and epoxy-ing back together after!). But these two/three I didn’t want to risk damaging cos they’re kinda rare, so the stones are still stuck solid, and I’ve spruced up the boxes around them.
Idwal - Washita twin set:
Escher Troutstone. This box was actually missing one half of the clasp bit on it, but luckily I had a spare Escher Troutstone box to hand (obvs) that had only the other half, so I took it off and put it on this one:
Idwal - Washita twin set:
Escher Troutstone. This box was actually missing one half of the clasp bit on it, but luckily I had a spare Escher Troutstone box to hand (obvs) that had only the other half, so I took it off and put it on this one:
Here's an interesting box... Containing, as you can probably see, an old Washita. With one of the lowest SGs I've had; fast-working, relatively coarse stone.
The label in the box is that of John and Edward Troughton, among London's foremost makers of Mathematical Instruments back in the day. Though unfortunately I don't believe they were also purveyors of whetstones, at least not this one. A little bit of googling and I found the exact label this is, and it dates to 1796 - somewhat earlier than the discovery of the Washita.
The label in the box is that of John and Edward Troughton, among London's foremost makers of Mathematical Instruments back in the day. Though unfortunately I don't believe they were also purveyors of whetstones, at least not this one. A little bit of googling and I found the exact label this is, and it dates to 1796 - somewhat earlier than the discovery of the Washita.
Neat old stone and box. I’ve never seen that label before. Pretty cool
Nice old labeled Turkey Stone Box
Ok couldn’t close the box before sealing the label. Now it is all done.
I picked up this 9x2 cos it was cheap, probably an Idwal or Charnley, and quite thin so I was going to break or saw it to make a combi or two. But it turned out to be something a bit more interesting - this is only the third Grecian stone I’ve had. Also largest, and probably the coarsest - I reckon it’s probably in the 5-6k range, and is just superb for knife edges.
So I decided to epoxy it back into the holder so it could live out its days in one piece. Not the fanciest ‘box’ in the world perhaps, but will keep an exceptional stone going for quite some time yet.
So I decided to epoxy it back into the holder so it could live out its days in one piece. Not the fanciest ‘box’ in the world perhaps, but will keep an exceptional stone going for quite some time yet.
