?????????? 8 x 2 x 1/2 inches I picked this up, for a few dollars, with another hone that looks very well used. This one looks like it had 100 years of crud built up in it, and some goop spilled on it. It is of a very very fine grit stone, that reminds me of some Japanese stones. I have it soaking in Palmolive, and warm water, to release some of the crud. I scrubbed some of it, and the stone releases some very fine particles of silt, that is a dark grey color. When it has soaked enough, I will then lap it, to see what comes up, once dried. I dont think I want to soak it too long. Any guess what it could possibly be??
Cleaned up, some. The color of the stone seems to be a medium grey color. When a slurry is made, it is light grey. Looking at the sides of the stone, many layers can be seen. I know some of the patterns are staining, but I am not sure if some are natural. Some seem to go through the entire stone. The stone is of medium density, compared to JNATS I have handled. I took a blade with a polished edge already on it, and did about 50 strokes. The scratch pattern shows about a 12K grit. Give or take a little. So, any opinions??
What an odd looking stone. I'm not sure I would have looked twice at it, but 12K aint bad. With a bit of refinement, you could have a good stone there.
I am working on the Lapping, on and off, when I have the spare time. It is sure feeling like a JNAT type of stone. But, it is definitely a layered stone, with 8 or so layers. I am using, at this time, The Norton 320 lapping stone. The areas that are flat feel smooth as silk. The edges are Chippy, so it will never look like it is new. Both sides are only slightly concave. I think I will concentrate on one side only, so that I can retain as much thickness as possible.
Sounds like a capital plan! I might add that I'm in the middle of my second voyage through the Aubrey-Maturin series right now, and I always end up picking up the vernacular a bit...
I've been lapping, like a "Son of a Gun", on this rock. I've used 180 wet/dry paper, and 600 silica carbide powder. At first, I thought it to be of a medium hardness, but the more I lap, I find it to a very hard stone. It is definitely harder than my Welsh Slate Stones, so it seems. It is polishing up nicely, but isnt 100% flat, yet. There is a strip, about 1/3 of the way, along one of the long sides, that is worn, deeper into the stone, and only 1/8 inch wide, or less. I'm not sure if I want to blow out both arms, try to lap it out. I will work on it some more, to make the rock as flat as possible. i would like to see if a Natural Stone Guru could look at it, and see what they think.
It might be a couple of weeks. I temporarily gave up on the Lapping. I refuse to let it be dished in the slightest. The normal lapping Silicon Carbide powder I had, for the hard work, has come missing. So, I ordered some more. I bought a variety of Siliconj Carbide powder. https://www.ebay.com/itm/3lb-Rock-T...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649 I did look at it, under the 60x lighted Jewelers Loupe, and can see the grain of the stone. It is very fine grained, with speckles of what appears to be very fine quartz dust mixed in it, lightly. I am curious too.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/3lb-Rock-T...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649 I did look at it, under the 60x lighted Jewelers Loupe, and can see the grain of the stone. It is very fine grained, with speckles of what appears to be very fine quartz dust mixed in it, lightly. I am curious too.[/QUOTE] Under glass did it appear to contain a fair amount of silica and garnet? The high level of quartz is a interesting touch Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Without a clear photo of the side, I will give a guess it is a Hindostan Whetstone. 1/2 inch is thin for a Hindo but could be well worn. They ran all over in colors, textures and grits. As a rule, the closer the layers on a Hindo, the finer they are. Interesting history on these American hones from the early 1800’s, until they were made into tombstones. Some pictures on one I rescued a few weeks ago, and this is clean
The layers look exactly like that, except the layers are on the thin edge. So, the hone was cut the opposite direction.
I looked up some pictures of Hindostan Whetsones, ant they look similar to what I have, with the goofy looking staining and all. I plan to send it to @Timwcic Thanks @Timwcic , for figuring this out.
Copied from another article. Hindostan Stones were sold from nearly all the bigger Stone Quarrying Companies, Tool Makers and Trading Companies. The offered mostly two different qualities. To name some of the companies: - Pike Mfg. & Co. (US) - William F. Osborn ...have the list somewhere, need to seach for it.... As far as i remember all the historical sources named that the variances are quite big, the stones show tidal layers which were also used to research historical tidal movements. Those layers do appear in different amounts (they can reach from 9 to 32 layers). The space between those layers can reach from a few mm to some inches or less then 3inches. Also the coloration seems not be constant and ranges from a yellow, brown towards a reddish or even white coloration. The stones were also used as a Tombstone on the graveyards. see that reference here: Whetstone Gravestones » American Scientist More about the research on tides can be found here, i posted this earlier: https://igs.indiana.edu/FossilsAndTime/Tidal.cfm A short quote from that source: "If you understand the semi daily tidal cycles and the tidal cycles related to the phase of the moon, you can see how tides have affected the thicknesses of the layers in the delicately layered Hindostan whetstone beds. At this point, you are beginning to understand how rocks can record time. You may also be beginning to understand how geologists are able to determine how rocks were originally deposited. We know the whetstone beds were deposited by tides because we know of no other process that would produce such regular thickness changes in the layers of the rock." Special selected stones and trademarks: Those stones also appeared in special cut sizes called "Glassmaker Stones", Pike Mfg. also offered different qualities of the Hindostan stones sold as "Hindostan Hackers" or "Hacker Stone". "The extra Hindostan Hackers are choice, selected white stones, all full size, polished, each stone wrapped in tissue paper and packed in 2 or 3 dozen boxes, and 6 or 4 of these boxes in a case. No. 1 are all good, full sized stones, packed 1 gross in a case. No. 2 are taken out of the extra and and No. 1 as not good enough for those grades." Taken from - Pike Mfg. Catalog (1889) "Hindostan stones are soft and fine gritted and are extremely useful for general sharpening purposes. Best results are obtained by using water. They are supplied in three grades: hard, medium and soft, respectively." Taken from - Pike Mfg. Catalog 14 (1926) "Fastcut - These Stones are made from selected Hindostan stock, neatly finished and packed in attractive individual pasteboard boxes. They cut rapidly and impart a medium coarse edge." Taken from - Pike Mfg. Catalog 14 (1926)
They are not my first choice when removing metal but they are fun stones to use. I have around a dozen Hindo’s laying around. Most I did not what they were until I cleaned the, up, they were rescued black, funk and gunk covered stones. This in a orange Hindo I use on kitchen knives. I lifted the pike picture somewhere over the years
Well, it is done. I used the new lapping/polishing compounds, and quickly lapped the Hone flat. I wasn't thrilled with the 500/600 grit stuff, because it had a few larger size grains contaminating it. Luckily I have some 600 grit compound from a reliable source. I then finished it off with some 1000 grit compound I have used before. All of this turned up a new looking stone, I think. I looked under a 60x loupe, and compared it to a very hard, and high finishing JNAT. The JNAT has finer grains. But, this mystery stone is pretty smooth. If you enlarge the image you can see the large amount of quartz that is in the stone. You can also see the iron inclusions that contribute to the staining. So, comments are welcome.
I tested this stone out, on a razor today. It polishes between a 8-12K. Not bad. But, the sad part is that every once in a while, it will toss out a grain of sand, that scratches up the bevel. That is just unacceptable, for a razor hone. It would be excellent for any sort of knife work.
