Washita Thread. Show off, discuss, etc.

[timwcic]

A pair a Washita stones, one being a labeled 5” Pike Lily White. Both are nice thick 1” stones. The 50’s stone has exceptionally fine and tight grain. A very clean, white stone with no vein or personality. Nice high pitch ring with no translucency. Has the glue spot on side from sticker. Priced at $1.90 in February 1957, not too pricey for that time. Love the old Pike labels

 

[duke762]

Belated thanks to Gamma for answering my question on lapping. Nothing is simple with Arks. I've developed a pretty good mastery of my Black/Trans hones, again, thanks to Gamma's advice on lapping.

 

[SliceOfLife]

eBay BIN score last week.

6x2" 100+ yr old LWW

The extremely old label got scraped of (about 75% of it was salvagable), placed in a ziplock for safe keeping and the stone's soaking. Revealing what the stone looks like under the end label and back label...

This is a:

FINE (I've seen Coarse (or "Fast Cutting") and Fine, and assume those are the two grades)

MEDIUM HARD (I've seen Soft, Medium Soft, Medium, Medium Hard, and Hard, and assume those are the five grades).

Labels also seem to have flipped the placement of "Medium" over the years. Sometimes it's "Soft Medium Coarse" and sometimes it's "Coarse Medium Soft", or "Hard Medium Fine" vs "Fine Medium Hard"... possibly this indicates as many as 20 or 25 total types... but I've never seen a "Medium Soft Medium Coarse" or a "Medium Hard Medium Fine", or "Medium Medium" so I doubt it.


Fine Hard
Fine Medium Hard
Fine Medium
Coarse Medium (maybe?)
Coarse Medium Soft
Coarse Soft


What seems logical is that the Higher you are on that list, the more common that grade is found today. Softer Washita wear much faster. You could go through a dozen soft washita in the time it takes to go through a hard one.

The most common I've found are "Fine Medium Hard", followed by "Fine Hard" (suggesting Medium hard stones were more common back in the day perhaps).

I have not seen a Course or Fast "Medium", so if anyone has, please let us know.

Rosy Reds are equal to Soft Fast Cutting LWW, or (according to some reports) even softer and faster.

Herein lies the primary difference between the Lily Whites and #1 stones:

Lily Whites were separated into these 6? grades. #1 were not. Buy a #1 through a catalog and you could get any of the 6 grades... also, they weren't perfectly white, and weren't as highly Quality Checked. In theory, buying a Used/Dirty #1 and buying a Used/Unlabeled LWW these days are basically equal. If you can't see the pure white surface and the end labels designating the grade of a LWW... it's basically a #1.

#2's were #1's except with pure quartz streaks, sand pockets, faults, or other defects. Possible to get one that had a face that could pass for #1, but both faces wouldn't.


This particular stone is soaking now.

 

[Bowmaker]

I jumped on this BIN the other day because I like the edges these really soft Smith's put on knifes and it being not to wild with different colors would avoid the hard and soft spots that irritate me with some of those stones. It was priced to move.

 

[Bowmaker]

This one apparently was sold through a slicing machine company in the fifty's and some of the wear was consistent with it being put to a round slicing wheel. It was badly loaded being used dry and no mention of oil in the instructions either.

I need a new diamond lapping plate really bad.

 

[SliceOfLife]

Measuring the SG (Specific Gravity) of my Washitas:




Boxed RR: 1.96
Unlabeled looks like a RR: 1.97
Labeled RR: 2.00
Labeled LW: 2.04 (Missing end label, presumably soft)
Boxed WWD (Looks RR): 2.07
Unlabeled: (Prob #1): 2.17
Labeled LW: 2.19 (Medium end label)
Unlabeled: (Prob #1) 2.20
Boxed WWD (looks LW): 2.26
Boxed Mystery (looks LW): 2.26
Unlabeled (Prob #1): 2.27
Boxed WWD (looks LW): 2.28
Unlabeled (looks LW): 2.28
Labeled LW: 2.46 (Medium Hard end label)
Unlabeled odd cut (~9x1.75x1.75") Very red/translucent/hard: 2.48

 

[SliceOfLife]

A lil 3x1" penknife piece that's pretty obviously LWW just arrived:


Unlabeled LW: 2.17

 

[Clays Guy]

The oldest LWW I have has this for the end label.

 

[SliceOfLife]

Have you got a kitchen or shipping scale? Can you weigh it in grams and measure it in mm in all dimensions?

 

[Clays Guy]

It has a very small chip on one corner. That aside, the SG from measurements is 2.06. I think that's what you were wanting. It appears that lines up pretty well with your numbers stated previously.
My other Washita's come out as such:

Norton LWW 2.15 It is finer than my soft, newer too.
Norton #1 Washita 2.02
Norton Washita (No number grade) 2.09
Dan's "Washita" 2.00

I have some others but I can't locate the numbers on them right at the moment.

Chris

 

[kcb5150]

2.22, it is a bit dirty though so I should recheck it once I strip it more thoroughly.

 

[kcb5150]

The old pike opaque white hard I have used to finish a lot of razors on for years is 2.57 by comparison

 

[kcb5150]

This came out at 2.43. More of a softer hard. Probably why it leaves a final knife edge in such a nice place....

 

[SliceOfLife]

I’ll measure a couple of my hard arks tomorrow if I remember. Think I did a few in the past for the Arkansas thread. Mostly around 2.6-2.7 if memory serves.

 

[SliceOfLife]

Found two more little washita
Both are clean enough to pass for lily white, but unlabeled.
2.36
2.29

And my arks:


Vintage trans black 2.58
Trans black 2.62
Vintage butterscotch trans 2.67
Woodcraft surg black 2.69
Halls surg black 2.70
Vintage trans white 2.72

Have a little translucent that looks like a second I forgot to measure. I’ll do it in the morning.

Intriguing that the Medium hard lily white is closer in density to my least dense trans hard than that stone is to my densest trans hard.

 

[kcb5150]

I should correct myself so new ppl don't get confused. Less dense hard, as opposed to softer. Just moving the pin acrossthe scale in my mind when I typed that before and it may confuse someone.

 

[kcb5150]

This is the one I really regret selling. It was peachy colored and had some strange, pinny non-toxic inclusions and a big fissure but the final edge it left behind was just amazing...

 

[SliceOfLife]

Never seen those speckles before. The grain looks like a hard Lily White. Whoever bought that as a #1 or maybe even #2 originally was probably a happy camper.

My own regrets? Years ago I sold two silly soft ones covered with orange freckles, that now that I own RR's, I strongly suspect were RR's. This was back when a Washita was lucky to bring $20-30.

 

[SliceOfLife]

Got a little pink translucent with a lot of visual flaws (it'd be a second today, was probably sold over the counter as a pocketknife stone for less than a buck originally):

SG: 2.49

 

[kcb5150]

It was a stupid thing to sell... It was during a coticule binge and it was one of those waves of eastern europeans overpaying for arks.