Was it worth the $5

[Farqual]

okay I went into an antique store and saw this for just 5 bucks. I thought it could have a little bit of promise. It is smiling it is in a wooden box and it has no identification that I can tell as to what grit it is. I plan on possibly taking a belt sander to it to make it smooth and flat. I am open to other ideas on things I should do with it, maybe it will just be a paperweight.

 

[Gamma]

Looks like a combo synthetic, most likely good for tools.
Needs lapping - serious lapping. I'd guess it's too coarse for razors but maybe for repairing damaged blades it could be ok.
If the box is sound - that was worth the 5 bucks. The stone - depends on how it plays out.

 

[Mike H]

Neat old box for sure, but I would not use that stone for razors. Grit like like 300/600.

 

[Farqual]

Well i got another some today for $2 this one might be better

 

[Slash McCoy]

Those will make good stones for pocketknives or kitchen knives. Sure, get them roughly flat with a belt sander but for final lapping take a sheet of 100 grit sandpaper and glue it with a light spray of Loctite or 3M spray adhesive to a nice flat surface. Work the stones face down on the sandpaper. When you nearly got it, draw a grid pattern on the stone and keep going until all of the grid is gone or very nearly gone. Then switch to a finer paper like maybe 150 or 220 grit and go until all of the grid is gone. Then your stones are flat and ready to use.

Looks like carborundum. These stones wear quickly and will get dished again in no time at all. But you paid a fair price for them and they are of some use. Yes, you can even do some rough repair on some razors with them, but I would only use stones that coarse when there is a lot of steel that needs to be removed because they scratch quite deeply into the steel. Normally you would not use such stones to hone a razor.

 

[Gamma]

Lapping Carborundum hones can be a LOT of work.
Depends on the stone but some are just awful to flatten.
Decent cutters, great for gen-purpose tools/knives.

 

[SliceOfLife]

Not really. Those stones have their uses, but I wouldn't bother with the lapping to use one for razors. Toss the stone in a drawer and save the box to stick a 6x2" eBay coticule in or something.

Those are both old pocket/tool stones. Most likely Med/Fine so like 80-120/220-300. The only time you'd ever go that coarse on a razor is to remove a massive chip... and I wouldn't recommend those stones even for that. Get a diamond plate or a modern synthetic waterstone.