Yellow Lake Oilstones

[cotedupy]

The Yellow Lake Oilstone was produced and marketed in various guises by AB Salmen in the UK for the best part of 100 years. The name derives from their original quarry at Llyn Melynlyn, which probably produced the classic purple variety of slate associated with that name. However this was sold in the early c.20th century and a number of other types of stone were marketed under the Yellow Lake brand subsequently. Here I'm going to look at a few types and examine the differences between them.

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This is the purple type of Yellow Lake, with a big green splodge down the bottom. It is a fine stone, hard for a slate, not as slow as you might think, and a very competent razor finisher:

A novaculite whetstone was also marketed under the YL brand, of the type we would call Llyn Idwal, though it is perfectly possible the stone came from the area around Melynlyn too. Llyns Idwal and Melynllyn are reasonably close to each other and there are a number of quarries around both that produced this kind of stone.

Unlike other varieties of YL this type appears to have a multicoloured rather than monochrome label, and it was attached to the stone. My example here is on the coarser end of medium, a fast and fine knife or tool stone, or a prefinisher for a razor:

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Those two examples above are more unusual, or less common to come across. In the next post I'll look at the types of dark slate most commonly associated with the Yellow Lake Oilstone brand for most of its life...

 

[Wid]

The Yellow Lake I have it, yellow box, it quite fine. That is the one i call my UK thuri It is a really good finisher

 

[cotedupy]

By far the most common types of Yellow Lake Oilstone then are those that were sold in either Yellow or Red cardboard boxes. Apart from the colour the label design is effectively identical, and the same as that of the stone label on the Idwal Yellow lake. These stones are a fine Aberfelleni slate that was quarried for some time by Inigo Jones Slate Works and sold to AB Salmen for packaging and distribution. The same type of stone is currently sold by Inigo Jones under the Dragon's Tongue label, though I do not know if this is the same as AJ's Dragon's Tongue.

The Yellow Box version of the stone is twice the height of the Red Box, as well as being marginally wider and longer. The examples below have SGs of 2.75 and 2.76 respectively.

A similar, but not identical, stone was also sold by AB Salmen in wooden boxes, with a small label on the top of the box. Though some examples of the same have this replaced by the label of specific retailer or wholesaler. I have three of these stones with SGs in the range of 2.79 - 2.88. This may be the stone described by the late Neil Miller as such:

'Most of the hones appear greyish in colour, the actual purple ones being in the minority, and the grit equivalent of these varies between 6k and somewhere below 10k for the most part. However there is one other type that differs in colour and composition - it is almost black (or a very, very dark grey) and instead of being a siliceous slate it is a calcareous siltstone and gives results much like a Silkstone, superior to the rest of the Yellow Lake family of honing slates. The grit equivalent of one of these would be in the region of 11k or so.'

Let's have a closer look then...

I am fairly certain that the two cardboard boxed types of stone are the same but in different sizes; they are dark blue-grey Aberfelleni slate, and they look, act and slurry identically.

The wooden boxed Salmen stone is different; it is grey-black with a darker slurry, some patterns on the surface, and a slight (micaceous? calcareous?) twinkle in the sunlight.

L to R; Salmen stone, Yellow Box, Red Box:

In use the cardboard boxed YLs feel extremely nice, they are slow and raising a burr is near impossible, though if used with slurry can be used for very fine knife edges still with some bite. They are better as razor stones, and will finish one happily as @Wid mentioned above. These are certainly a little finer than my modern Inigo Jones Dragon's Tongue stone, though perhaps not quite at the level of a Thuringian.

The wooden boxed Salmen stone feels a little less smooth under the blade, which I think is probably to do with the size of the micas, rather than the silica. The grit level and finish is very broadly comparable to the cardboard boxed stones; if it appears to finish finer for a razor I think that would be because the stone is even slightly slower than they are, and the edge more polished, rather than the particles size being smaller.

Both types produce a very clean and straight drop through kitchen towel, indicating a highly refined edge. Maybe the Salmen Stone on the left was marginally more effortless, but really these are very much in the same ball park. I actually like these edges quite a lot, if you don't overwork it - there is still just enough grip on them for kitchen knife use.

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All in all these types of stones are very good razor finishers, though more difficult to freehand knives on, and certainly for those who like very sharp and quite refined edges. For straights I would be tempted to use them with oil, especially the Salmen stone, for knives water and a raised mud is essential.

I'm still undecided as whether the Salmen stone is the same as Neil M's 'calcareous siltstone... much like a silkstone'. I suspect it probably is, as there are a good few parts of his description that it matches closely. Though I wouldn't call it really noticeably finer than the Aberfelleni Yellow Lake Oilstones personally.

 

[cotedupy]

And obviously - would be good to hear others' thoughts about, and pictures of the various Yellow Lakes, I know they have a few fans here. Unsurprisingly I think, because these stones can still be had extremely cheaply, and are a great bargain for anyone looking for a very good finishing stone at a fraction of the price of many others.

 

[Legion]

And obviously - would be good to hear others' thoughts about, and pictures of the various Yellow Lakes, I know they have a few fans here. Unsurprisingly I think, because these stones can still be had extremely cheaply, and are a great bargain for anyone looking for a very good finishing stone at a fraction of the price of many others.

I only have an example of the wood box “silkstone”. But having tested it with razors only, I much prefer the edge off oil, rather than water. But that holds true for most slatey stones for me. Oil leaves a more skin friendly edge.

With oil I really rate this hone as a finisher.

 

[David]

Excellent write up. I enjoyed reading that.

 

[Wid]

I like oil with mine too, with all slates. I’m surprised they aren’t more popular seeing how well they do.

 

[cotedupy]

Excellent write up. I enjoyed reading that.

Ta! It was quite fun having a proper in-depth, side by side look at them.

Has your Snow Mountain arrived home to the US yet? I imagine that'll be a pretty decent stone, I don't think ABS put out anything that wasn't really rather good...

 

[David]

I like oil with mine too, with all slates. I’m surprised they aren’t more popular seeing how well

It came in around the same time that a bunch of other stuff came in and I forgot about it! I'll get some pics up later. Haven't done anything with it, but it looks like a really nice stone.

 

[cotedupy]

I like oil with mine too, with all slates. I’m surprised they aren’t more popular seeing how well they do.

Indeed! They probably suffer a bit in popularity simply because they're quite cheap, not uncommon, and slightly boring to look at. But in terms of QPR they've got to be one of the best razor stones out there I think. Certainly what I'd advise someone looking to get a very good finishing stone on a budget.

 

[Loner16]

Oli, My Llyn Melynllyn is more purplish than gray...

 

[cotedupy]

My Llyn Melynllyn is more purplish than gray...

Ah it may be the colour is a little off in my pic, but the first stone at the top is noticeably purple in real life.

(Again - I don't know if it's exactly the same type of stone as AJ's LM. Probably not tbh, there's a lot of purple slate in Wales!)

 

[SliceOfLife]

I've had a ton of these... 1", 1/2", everkeen (which are another British label for the same stone in 1/2"), and the idwal/Grecian version too.

All can finish razors, but can be picky about the razor. Every 10 razors or so, I find one that shaves like a Thuri edge off the yellow lake, but the other 90% of razors are definitely worse off the YL than off a Thuri.


Always keep one nice boxed one on my shelf for collection/comparisons.

Good stones considering you can usually snag them under $50 (8*2").

 

[LJS]

A good deal of variation with these for sure. Good example of a brand, not a stone or quarry.

 

[cotedupy]

A good deal of variation with these for sure. Good example of a brand, not a stone or quarry.

Though for a very decent proportion of their production they were from the Inigo Jones Aberfelleni quarry, for the dark blue-grey type in the cardboard boxes. I was talking to Roger at IJ and apparently Salmens (in Caernafon) used to order them by the thousand.

Though obviously there can be variations within stone from a particular place too. And my impression (from a sample size of one) is that the current DT's stone is a little coarser and faster than these old Yellow Lakes.

 

[Empire straights]

Though for a very decent proportion of their production they were from the Inigo Jones Aberfelleni quarry, for the dark blue-grey type in the cardboard boxes. I was talking to Roger at IJ and apparently Salmens (in Caernafon) used to order them by the thousand.

Though obviously there can be variations within stone from a particular place too. And my impression (from a sample size of one) is that the current DT's stone is a little coarser and faster than these old Yellow Lakes.

I've been very tempted to order one of those from IJ. What do you think? You think id like them?? Slates are not always my favorite but a good slate can be magic on everything and I've yet to see a coarse one. I can only imagine slate that leaves teeth, though I felt that way about bbws too until I worked on that wine colored one.

 

[LJS]

Though for a very decent proportion of their production they were from the Inigo Jones Aberfelleni quarry, for the dark blue-grey type

Yes, the dark one I have seen the most. Most are ok stones but probably not going call them great either. I think one of my best LI’s is a Yellow Lake LOL

 

[taffy]

Bought one from the bay which arrived today, the red box type, have read about using oil for a better finish, would it be worth me buying a yellow box version as I have read they are slightly more coarse.

 

[cotedupy]

Bought one from the bay which arrived today, the red box type, have read about using oil for a better finish, would it be worth me buying a yellow box version as I have read they are slightly more coarse.

In a word - no. (Have a read of my original posts above... )

 

[taffy]

In a word - no. (Have a read of my original posts above... )

Cheers, I did sort of guess that but worth asking