Washita Thread. Show off, discuss, etc.

[MrCrispy]

Regarding cleaning: I have cleaned half a dozen Washitas that were covered with black oily grease and locked up deep in their old wooden cases.
a) 140F tap water with Simple Green added in the Ultrasonic for 20min (yes, the ultrasonic)
b) 140F distilled water with a drop of Dawn in the Ultrasonic for 60min (always stabilize PH after cleaning!)

Sure, if there is a crack the stone may break...but if it has a crack, I *want* it to break. I have no interest spending hours lapping a stone, to find a crack forms later. Good stones wont crack IMHO

I have a 2.62 sg Butterscotch found for $10 that looked like slate it was so oily. It's now my favorite finisher

 

[GeronimoWSB]

Opinions, this was advertised as a turkey washita . Measurements are 8.25" x2""x1" . Slightly dished both sides, tempted to use my digital calipers. Weight 606 grams, my Dan's soft ark is 2" longer and weighs 756 , I soaked.in lamp oil(kerosene) for a day and had it in the ultrasonic heated cleaner with simple green for 20 minutes then plain water

 

[kcb5150]

It looks really nice

 

[Gamma]

Was working on this one tonight, its the one I grab most often. I'm going back to work with it some more now actually. It's 40s No. 1. Soft enough to lap easily enough, hard enough to leave a good working edge that suits my needs.

 

[David]

Nice. Of all the Washitas I have here an old crusty number one sees the most use.

 

[Gamma]

Outside of the swarf sitting on the stone there, it's actually pretty clean. It tends to look grungy though. Here's another view after I rinsed it off last night.

 

[LJS]

Did you seal that washita with lacquer? Are they prone to water intrusion or cracking?

 

[SliceOfLife]

Did you seal that washita with lacquer? Are they prone to water intrusion or cracking?

They’re oil stones. Don’t seal them.

 

[LJS]

I never have. Haven’t seen one sealed either which is why I asked. Maybe it is just the light of the pic but Keith’s above looked lacquered on the sides.

Here is a pretty one that has all the qualities of the washitas of lore I heard about as a kid from woodworking family. They believed only one mine made real washitas - I don’t exactly get into that argument but do want a “washita” to remove steel fast with pressure and refine/polish with light pressure. This one can certainly do that.

 

[David]

Outside of the swarf sitting on the stone there, it's actually pretty clean. It tends to look grungy though. Here's another view after I rinsed it off last night.

That's a pretty piece of wood in the background. If I had to guess I'd say......Black Walnut? Middle Tennessee black walnut?

 

[Gamma]

That's a pretty piece of wood in the background. If I had to guess I'd say......Black Walnut? Middle Tennessee black walnut?

Lol, sealed in Cashew Lacquer no less. Same for the Washita. That block has become an integral part of my bench actually.

 

[GeronimoWSB]

We should start an online petition aimed at Norton to release another short run of washitas. I am sure between the woodworkers and a few other online groups we might get their attention.

 

[David]

Lol, sealed in Cashew Lacquer no less. Same for the Washita. That block has become an integral part of my bench actually.

Glad you’re getting some use out of it. I have a cutting board from the same tree in the basement kitchen.

 

[Alum of Potash]

We should start an online petition aimed at Norton to release another short run of washitas. I am sure between the woodworkers and a few other online groups we might get their attention.

Good idea. As I recall, the last Norton run was around 2005, involving lily whites. No. 1 Washita stones are good too.

 

[SliceOfLife]

Very pretty David. Murders me that it's not end grain though. A lot more work, but a much more durable cutting board. If you had the whole tree, was it big enough to claim a butcher block of it by cutting a log and hollowing it out leaving 3-4" walls and surface?

Always wanted to make something like that myself, but don't have the tools or expertise... but once I have a yard if I ever fell a nice tree, I'm gonna buy and learn what I need.

 

[David]

Very pretty David. Murders me that it's not end grain though. A lot more work, but a much more durable cutting board.

Yeah I know. I have a lot of that walnut left so one day I’ll make a good thick end grain board. Hell, I had one that I really wanted to use in the kitchen, but the wife turned it in to a coffee table.

 

[SliceOfLife]

Now that is a work of art.

 

[Gamma]

Glad you’re getting some use out of it. I have a cutting board from the same tree in the basement kitchen. View attachment 1011069

Nice - I have a similar black walnut cutting board. I prefer that grain style over end grain for all but chopping. I've had mine over 12 yr now, only had to surface it once. It's such a pretty wood, yours is gorgeous too.

 

[Scarry Knight]

Found this on the lawn under a tree resting on a root at my last mowing....I’ve either overlooked it for nineteen years or it just fall from space . With a Norton, I’ve flattened it on three sides, and see as many as seven more possibles. It has been used to handily sharpen a pocket knife and to hone a razor.

Does it look like a Washita to you? Might have a very sight iron content...will be checking with a smaller magnet as I keep flattening more areas. The blackening - is it burnishing into that, or is it from inclusions? My hand flattenng is presenting a slight convex on one of these faces (the smaller of the broader ones) in my estimation due to the seemingly harder to slurry darker area, whci I gather is growing the harder I work to form slurry, and man, its some hard rock. This stuff is hard, dense, and heavy (the heft, what made me hesitate in tossing to the rock balancing pile), and there is a somewhat more porous or pocked surfaced after leveling, than I am used to seeing with the other Washitas I have.

 

[Bowmaker]

Looks like a mano stone. The groove looks like it might have been intentional to sharpen awls. See any traces of red ochre?