History of Whetstone Use

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that might get a bit cheesy.

Haha! Yes indeed.


I think the Cretans are more porous than Washita but would have to slice mine down the middle to see how far the oil treatment has penetrated.

Yep I think Cretans probably are more pororus than Washitas in terms of how much they take on and how quickly. But for both stones it doesn't actually go very deep no matter how long you leave them. They reach a kinda pressure equilibrium. You can see it if ever you get broken old Washitas and Turkish, and it's slightly surprising that the oil doesn't go in very far. If you wanted to completely soak one you'd probably have to use a pressure chamber or something, like stabilizing wood.

I've done various tests with this looking at the specific gravity difference between a stone before and after soaking / degreasing. SGs tend to read a little high when the stone has a lot of oil in it, because it's heavier. Varies from stone to stone obviously, but the average difference being about 0.04 ish.
 
Copied below is another well known English language description of various types of sharpening stone. This is a letter of 1836 from a Mr. Richard Knight, to the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufacture, and Commerce.

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Sir, Foster Lane.
In compliance with your request, I have sent, for the Society’s acceptance, a collection of all the principal stones used in the mechanical arts, and of which the following is the catalogue. I have arranged them under two heads, viz. arenaceous and schistose: the few that do not come under either of these heads are separately described, and I shall be happy to give you any further information I am able on the subject.

I am, &c. &c.
Richard Knight.

1. Grit or Sandstone.— Of this variety the universally known and justly celebrated Newcastle grind-stones are formed. It abounds in the coal-districts of Northumberland, Durham, Yorkshire, and Derbyshire; and is selected of different degrees of density and coarseness, best suited to the various manufactures of Sheffield and Birmingham, for grinding and giving a smooth and polished surface to their different wares.

2. Is a similar description of stone, of great excellence. It is of a lighter colour, much finer, and of a very sharp nature, and at the same time not too hard. It is confined to a very small spot, of limited extent and thickness, in the immediate vicinity of Bilston, in Staffordshire, where is lies above the coal, and is now quarried entirely for the purpose of grind-stones.

3. Is a hard close variety, known by the name of carpenters’ rub-stone; being used as a portable stone for sharpening tools by rubbing them on the flat stone instead of grinding. It is also much employed for the purpose of giving a smooth and uniform surface to copperplates for the engraver.

4. Is a much softer variety of sand-stone, usually cut into a square form, from eight to twelve inches long, in which state they are used dry by shoe-makers, corkcutters, and others, for giving a sort of coarse edge to their bladed knives, and instruments of a similar description.

5. A stone of similar properties, but of a more compact and harder description, and therefore better adapted for sharpening agricultural instruments, and may be used with or without water.

6. A porous fine-grained sand-stone, in considerable repute, from the quarries of Black Down Cliffs, near Collumpton, and well known by the name of Devonshire Batts.

7. Is a variety called Yorkshire Grit. It is not at all applied as a whet-stone, but is in considerable use as a polisher of marble, and of copper-plates for engravers.

8. Is a very similar stone, of a softer nature, and made use of by the same description of workmen, and is called Congleton Grit.

9. Norway rag-stone. This is the coarsest variety of the hone slates. It is imported in very considerable quantity from Norway in the form of square prisms, from nine to twelve inches long, and one to two inches diameter, gives a finer edge than the sand-stones, and is in very general use.

10. Charley Forest-stone is one of the best substitutes for the Turkey oil-stone, and much in request by joiners and others, for giving a fine edge. It has hitherto been found only on Charnwood Forest, near Mount Sorrel, in Leicestershire.

11. Ayr-stone, Scotch-stone, or snake-stone, is most in request as a polishing stone for marble and copperplates; but the harder varieties have of late been employed as whet-stones.

12. Idwall, or Welsh oil-stone, is generally harder, but in other respects differs but little as a whet-stone from the Charley Forest; but in consequence of its being more expensive, is in less general use. It is obtained from the vicinity of Llyn Idwall, in the Snowdon district of North Wales.

13. Devonshire oil-stone is an excellent variety for sharpening all kind of thin-edged broad instruments, as plane-irons, chisels, &c., and deserves to be better known. This stone was first brought into notice by Mr. John Taylor, who met with it in the neighbourhood of Tavistock, and sent a small parcel to London for distribution; but for want of a constant and regular supply, it is entirely out’of use here.

14. Cutler’s green hone is of so hard and close a nature, that it is only applicable to the purposes of cutlers and instrument-makers, for giving the last edge to the lancet, and other delicate surgical instruments. It has hitherto been only found in the Snowdon mountains of North Wales.

15. German razor-hone. This is universally known throughout Europe, and generally esteemed as the best whet-stone for all kinds of the finer description of cutlery. It is obtained from the slate mountains in the neighbourhood of Ratisbon, where it occurs in the form of a yellow vein running virtually into the blue slate, sometimes not more than an inch in thickness, and varying to twelve and sometimes eighteen inches, from whence it is quarried, and then sawed into thin slabs, which are usually cemented into a similar slab of the slate, to serve as a support, and in that state sold for use. That which is obtained from the lowest part of the vein is esteemed the best, and termed old rock.

16. The same, with the hone in natural contact with the slate.

17. Is a dark slate of very uniform character; in appearance not at all laminated; is in considerable use among jewellers, clock-makers, and other workers in silver and metal, for polishing off their work, and for whose greater convenience it is cut into lengths of about six inches, and from a quarter of an inch to an inch or more wide, and packed up in small bundles of from six to sixteen in each, and secured by means of withes of osier, and in that state imported for use, and called blue polishing stones.

18. Is a stone of very similar properties, but of a somewhat coarser texture and paler colours, and thence termed grey polishing-stone. Its uses are the same, and they are manufactured near Ratisbon.

19. Is a soft variety of hone-slate, the use of which is confined to curriers, and by them employed to give a fine smooth edge to their broad and straight-edged knives for dressing leather. They are always cut of a circular form, and are called Welsh clearing-stone.

20. Turkey oil-stone. This stone can hardly be considered a hone-slate, having nothing of a lamellar or schistose appearance. As a whet-stone, it surpasses every other known substance, and possesses, in an eminent degree, the property of abrading the hardest steel, and is at the same time of so compact and close a nature, as to resist the pressure necessary for sharpening a graver, or other small instruments of that description. Little more is known of its natural history than that it is found in the interior of Asia Minor, and brought down to Smyrna for sale.

21. The French Burr mill-stone, so justly esteemed as the best material for forming mill-stones for grinding bread-corn, having the property of separating a larger proportion of flour from the bran than can be effected by stones formed from any other material.

22. Conway mill-stone very much resembles the French in appearance. A quarry of this was opened near Conway, about twenty years since, which at first appeared very promising; but it was soon discovered that it was the upper stratum only that possessed the porous property so essential, the lower stratum being found too close and compact to answer the purpose.

23. Cologne mill-stone. This substance is an exceedingly tenacious porous lava. Mill-stones are made of this material in great quantity near Cologne, and transported by the Rhine to most parts of Europe. Smaller stones, from eighteen inches to thirty, are much used for hand mills in the West Indies for grinding Indian corn, for which purpose they are well adapted.

24. Emery-stone. No substance is better known, or has been subservient to the arts for a longer period, than this. The gigantic columns, statues, and obelisks of Egypt owe their carved and polished forms and surfaces to the agency of emery. It is obtained almost entirely from the island of Naxos, where it occurs in considerable abundance, in detached irregular masses. It is reduced to the state of powder by means of rolling or stampingmills, and afterwards by sieves and levigation.

25. Pumice-stone is a volcanic product, and is obtained principally from the Campo Bianco, one of the Lipari islands, which is entirely composed of this substance. It is extensively employed in various branches of the arts, and particularly in the state of powder, for polishing the various articles of cut glass; it is also extensively used in dressing leather, and in grinding and polishing the surface of metallic plates, &c.

26. Rotten-stone is a variety of Tripoli almost peculiar to England, and proves a most valuable material for giving polish and lustre to a great variety of articles, as silver, the metals, glass, and even, in the hands of the lapidary, to the hardest stones. It is found in considerable quantities both in Derbyshire and South Wales.

27. Yellow Tripoli, or French Tripoli, although of a less soft and smooth nature, is better adapted to particular purposes, as that of polishing the lighter description of hard woods, such as holly, box, &c.

28. Touch-stone is a compact black basalt or Lydianstone, of a smooth and uniform nature, and is used principally by goldsmiths and jewellers as a ready means of determining the value of gold and silver by the touch, as it is termed—that is, by first rubbing the article under examination upon the stone, its appearance forms some criterion; and, as a further test, a drop of acid, of known strength, is let fall upon it, and its effect upon the metal denotes its value.

29. Blood-stone is a very hard, compact variety of hematite iron ore, which, when reduced to a suitable form, fixed into a handle, and well polished, forms the best description of burnisher for producing a high lustre on gilt coat-buttons, which is performed in the turning-lathe by the Birmingham manufacturers. The gold on china ware is burnished by its means. Burnishers are likewise formed of agate and flint; the former substance is preferred by bookbinders, and the latter for gilding on wood, as picture-frames, &c.
 
We can now recognise the majority of whetstones he describes, with a couple of notable exceptions - the Cutler's Green and Devonshire Oilstone are still subject to some debate and speculation.

Though Mr. Knight also perhaps can't be considered the most reliable of narrators. He appears to mix up the German Thuringian stone and Belgian Coticule, and his assertion that the Turkish oilstone comes from 'the interior of Asia Minor' was repeated by many others later, leading to considerable ongoing confusion.
 
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We can now recognise the majority of whetstones he describes, with a couple of notable exceptions - the Cutler's Green and Devonshire Oilstone are still subject to some debate and speculation.

Though Mr. Knight also perhaps can't be considered the most reliable of narrators. He appears to mix up the German Thuringian stone and Belgian Coticule, and his assertion that the Turkish oilstone comes from 'the interior of Asia Minor' was repeated by many others later, leading to considerable ongoing confusion.

I think the origin of the Turkish stone can now be safely stated as Crete. The better hones sourced in the UK were probably worn wafer thin a century or more ago, Charley Forest hones do not have to be thin, and with the arrival of the various US stones in quantity it was no longer financially viable to mine more. The numbers and variations of so called Lynn Idwall hones available makes me a bit suspicious of where they actually came from. Plenty of mines scattered all over Wales if you can find an old OS map and I don't doubt stones are still being cut today. I may well have a Cutler's Green sitting in my cupboard and not even know it.
Good book on the subject if you can get one.

Natural 19th & Early 20th Century Sharpening Stones and Hones​

 
I think the origin of the Turkish stone can now be safely stated as Crete


Absolutely. I spent quite a decent chunk of time trying to find a contemporary c.19th or early c.20th source that explicitly mentioned production of whetstones in Crete, or linked them to the Turkey/Turkish Oilstone. But the 'interior of Asia minor' idea seems to have been repeated as gospel quite extensively after that letter.

Eventually though when looking through an book about the island of Candia from the 1850s I came across a section detailing their most important exports, notice that these went 'principally to Turkey'.

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And then shortly after I found this section in a 1902 edition of Pike's 'Oilstones How to Select and Use Them'. Which gives Crete as a definitive source of the Turkish stone. Curiously that particular sentence is omitted in the 1905 edition of the same pamphlet.

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Charley Forest hones do not have to be thin, and with the arrival of the various US stones in quantity it was no longer financially viable to mine more. The numbers and variations of so called Lynn Idwall hones available makes me a bit suspicious of where they actually came from. Plenty of mines scattered all over Wales if you can find an old OS map and I don't doubt stones are still being cut today. I may well have a Cutler's Green sitting in my cupboard and not even know it.
Good book on the subject if you can get one.

Natural 19th & Early 20th Century Sharpening Stones and Hones​



Yeah I've had a number of Charnleys which have been pretty decent thickness, a couple of which have combined that with being 2"+ wide, which seems less common.

I suspect you're almost certainly correct about the Idwal stone. There's at least one quarry near Llyn Melynllyn where the same type of stone is found, and the 'Penrhiw Hone' appears to be the same material too. Llyn Idwal appears to be something of an umbrella term.

I think I've heard of that book before, but don't have it. Any ideas on how I might track down a copy...?
 
Yeah I've had a number of Charnleys which have been pretty decent thickness, a couple of which have combined that with being 2"+ wide, which seems less common.

I suspect you're almost certainly correct about the Idwal stone. There's at least one quarry near Llyn Melynllyn where the same type of stone is found, and the 'Penrhiw Hone' appears to be the same material too. Llyn Idwal appears to be something of an umbrella term.

I think I've heard of that book before, but don't have it. Any ideas on how I might track down a copy...?
I got my copy from here Books but they no longer list it.
You can view it or get a copy from here Natural 19th & early 20th century sharpening stones and hones / Brian Read and Doug Morgan | National Library of Australia
Llyn Melynllyn or Yellow Lake was primarily a slate quarry but there was a vein of hone quality stone there, lots of pieces laying around the works.
A box with Yellow Lake written on it could contain just about anything as Salmen seemed to stick all sorts of stones in their packaging.
The Grecian Hone may or may not have been from Idwall but some of the Welsh stones I have are very good indeed. Getting too old to tramp around the Welsh mountains now looking for the fabled Cutler's Green.
 
I got my copy from here Books but they no longer list it.
You can view it or get a copy from here Natural 19th & early 20th century sharpening stones and hones / Brian Read and Doug Morgan | National Library of Australia
Llyn Melynllyn or Yellow Lake was primarily a slate quarry but there was a vein of hone quality stone there, lots of pieces laying around the works.
A box with Yellow Lake written on it could contain just about anything as Salmen seemed to stick all sorts of stones in their packaging.
The Grecian Hone may or may not have been from Idwall but some of the Welsh stones I have are very good indeed. Getting too old to tramp around the Welsh mountains now looking for the fabled Cutler's Green.


Ah cheers!

I understand there are few smaller quarries around LM, and not all of them are for the slate hones. There is at least one that apparently has green Idwal-like rock there too.

I have a few various different YL Oilstones, including an Idwal Yellow lake, and one of the older purple ones. The two of mine in the cardboard box are the same stone just different sizes, which is the blue-grey Abefelleni slate supplied to AB Salmen by Inigo Jones, and is sold today as 'Dragon's Tongue'. The Salmen stone in the wooden box is a different type of grey-black slate or possibly siltstone, it's slightly finer than the others.


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As you say - quite the spectrum!
 
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...the fabled Cutler's Green.

The description reminds me of a plain colored biggs jasper in the US. Not that they're related, but a jasper that's been lapped smooth pretty much fits that description. I vaguely recall endless discussion about this list, which is the same as what's written in holtzappfel on the razor boards and folks were off to the races trying to find or sell things.

I would imagine what eliminated the charnley is the fact that it's really slow but not as resistant to scratching or gouging from something like gravers or small gouges.
 
@essexalan - Speaking of Welsh slates, here's an interesting one, which perhaps you may have come across in your travels...?

I now have three of these stones, one of which I found in Australia in fact. I've seen a few other examples too, most often being mis-identified or mis-sold as Charnleys.

It's a very hard, fine blue-green slate which no one seemed to know anything about, and I wasn't turning up much at all when trying to research it until I asked Roger at Inigo Jones if he had any idea. He immediately id-ed them as coming from the Nantlle Valley, possibly the Dorothea quarry, so I now refer to it as the 'Nantlle Valley Stone', though perhaps there's another name that I don't know.

Extremely pretty, and excellent for razors, but not so much for anything else imo.

Nantlle Valley Stone.jpg


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Didn't know stones were such a complex thing and had always thought of my dads stone (still lying about somewhere in his garage or somewhere I'm sure) as a bit of an older days gimmick. But now I want one as I've always just sharpened the kitchen knives with the quick-sharpener thingy which has now worn out.

So, for a newbie to stones and not wanting to spend too much... and with probably poor technique. Which should we go for pls... Something cost effective I suppose... I've been reading that something with 1000 grit should be fine!?
 
Didn't know stones were such a complex thing and had always thought of my dads stone (still lying about somewhere in his garage or somewhere I'm sure) as a bit of an older days gimmick. But now I want one as I've always just sharpened the kitchen knives with the quick-sharpener thingy which has now worn out.

So, for a newbie to stones and not wanting to spend too much... and with probably poor technique. Which should we go for pls... Something cost effective I suppose... I've been reading that something with 1000 grit should be fine!?


Yep - for kitchen knives something around 1k is a very good catch-all grit level to go for. For a synthetic stone - the King Deluxe range come at 800, 1k and 1.2k, and are excellent for the price.

Though being in the UK you can also find old Washitas fairly cheaply if you look around. One of the very best whetstones ever pulled up out of the ground anywhere, and a single stone will have a large range depending on how much pressure you apply. They'll act a good bit coarser than a 1k synthetic with heavier pressure, but also finish significantly finer with a light touch. I probably have a 100+ stones of various different flavours, but for my 'work' sharpening I think I use Washitas more than everything else combined. In the words of Tony the Tiger... they're grrrreat!
 
The description reminds me of a plain colored biggs jasper in the US. Not that they're related, but a jasper that's been lapped smooth pretty much fits that description. I vaguely recall endless discussion about this list, which is the same as what's written in holtzappfel on the razor boards and folks were off to the races trying to find or sell things.

I would imagine what eliminated the charnley is the fact that it's really slow but not as resistant to scratching or gouging from something like gravers or small gouges.
A cutler would have had to take whatever he was sharpening straight off the sandstone grinder to his finishing stone. So I would guess a overly slow cutting stone would not have made him very productive. Then again high quality finishes for razors, knives, swords etc would have been in big demand from those who could afford them. Quite sure somebody knows where they came from and what they are like but sometimes it is better not to know.

The book I mentioned above listed three stones as essentially pure quartz or silicon dioxide and they were all Arkansas or Washita stones. They used SEM and XRD examination methods. It's all in a consistent particle size and the bonding I suppose.
 
A cutler would have had to take whatever he was sharpening straight off the sandstone grinder to his finishing stone. So I would guess a overly slow cutting stone would not have made him very productive. Then again high quality finishes for razors, knives, swords etc would have been in big demand from those who could afford them. Quite sure somebody knows where they came from and what they are like but sometimes it is better not to know.

The book I mentioned above listed three stones as essentially pure quartz or silicon dioxide and they were all Arkansas or Washita stones. They used SEM and XRD examination methods. It's all in a consistent particle size and the bonding I suppose.

The discussion of what was used a lot, characteristics and then how that affected what was used (I think tools increased in typical hardness in the mid to late 1800s due to the improvement in faster cutting stones being available. )

Razors are an OK target market, but they would be honed every several hundred shaves by a knowledgeable shaver, which would leave barbers as the customers for a stone who might want to completely hone off a damaged edge (since barbers would hone razors for the public for a moderate fee). But barbers and cutlers wouldn't have tolerated a slow stone.

That leaves the market as being maybe dentists, engravers, etc, for a really hard slow stone. The person who mentioned jasper to me was someone using them for engraving tools. I think jasper is super awesome for no reason other than that it's almost like glass and a 1/4th inch slab in the US can be had in hone size for about $10. But then you realize that for all of its fineness, it fits into a category of stones where to use it to sharpen, an edge has to be sharp.

Gravers make sense just because they're hard on stones.

it's pretty easy if someone decides they'll use a grinding wheel and one stone - to see why the turkish and cretan stones would've been so well loved, and then why the washita stones also sold like crazy. Iron oxide on some kind of backing would've probably been more practical for the edge tool sharpeners - more practical than "cutlers green" or jasper or something.

I've been somewhat unimpressed with early 1800s razors, but I suspect I know why - but didn't really come to understand it until starting to heat treat various steels. That's even aside from the inability to grind a double hollow in a razor. until the late 1800s, which is about when razor making was "perfected".

I don't read history on much - this included, but would guess all of the wedges had to be taken to a cutler to be refreshed from time to time, and they also suffer tying up a user's time honing if the stone is slow and they have appreciable wear.
 
I just found a term for arkansas and washita stones. They refer to the silica as "thermally altered".

Whatever the case is, I've come across scientists and geological enthusiasts who don't believe there is a cutting difference between a fine silica stone and arkansas "because it can be scientifically proven that the components are the same".

Except, when you sit down with a tool to compare stones, you find other than the turkish, most of the pre-arkansas stones start to struggle against steel at a hardness of about 60, and arkansas stones struggle when it's around 62.

japanese stones are a mixed bag (but their binding and the addition of aluminum oxide makes no reason to believe they can't be faster - it doesn't solve why some of them don't seem any faster or more capable than arkansas stones).
 
I just found a term for arkansas and washita stones. They refer to the silica as "thermally altered".

Whatever the case is, I've come across scientists and geological enthusiasts who don't believe there is a cutting difference between a fine silica stone and arkansas "because it can be scientifically proven that the components are the same".

Except, when you sit down with a tool to compare stones, you find other than the turkish, most of the pre-arkansas stones start to struggle against steel at a hardness of about 60, and arkansas stones struggle when it's around 62.

japanese stones are a mixed bag (but their binding and the addition of aluminum oxide makes no reason to believe they can't be faster - it doesn't solve why some of them don't seem any faster or more capable than arkansas stones).


Novaculites are effectively metamorphosed (thermally) forms of Chert, altering the structure of the silica more toward 'cryptocrystalline'. They cut depending on how rough the surface is, which is impacted by a few different things including friability and porosity.

Washitas and Arkansas stones would be the purest in terms of chemical makeup. Charnleys are quite close behind - if you look at them under a scope they can bear striking similarity to hard arks. Idwals and Turkish are generally a little less pure, and are probably both on the borders of what would be considered 'novaculite'. Turkish have some quartzite characteristics to them, and Idwals have a very slate-y fissility.

The latter in particular has an interesting consequence... the specific gravity of Idwal stones (and Charnleys actually) is above that of pure silica. CFs are generally around 2.70 - 2.72, and Idwals 2.73-2.75, though there are exceptions that overlap. In general I've found that for these two - the finer stones have lower specific gravities, closer to that of pure silica, or a black/translucent ark.
 
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Another little bit of history...

The term 'novaculite' was coined by Richard Kirwan in the late 18th century in his Mineralogy. And the greenish-grey stone he describes is clearly what we know now as Llyn Idwal, even down to its flaty and fplintery fracutre.

The black and white stone mentioned at the end when talking about razor hones is quite easily identifiable too as a Coticule. Which have SGs around 3.00+ because garnet is quite a lot heavier than silica. (Silica is actually quite light in the grand scheme of things, which is why arks &c. aren't that heavy).

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Novaculites are effectively metamorphosed (thermally) forms of Chert, altering the structure of the silica more toward 'cryptocrystalline'. They cut depending on how rough the surface is, which is impacted by a few different things including friability and porosity.

Washitas and Arkansas stones would be the purest in terms of chemical makeup. Charnleys are quite close behind - if you look at them under a scope they can bear striking similarity to hard arks. Idwals and Turkish are generally a little less pure, and are probably both on the borders of what would be considered 'novaculite'. Turkish have some quartzite characteristics to them, and Idwals have a very slate-y fissility.*

The latter in particular has an interesting consequence... the specific gravity of Idwal stones (and Charnleys actually) is above that of pure silica. CFs are generally around 2.70 - 2.72, and Idwals 2.73-2.75, though there are exceptions that overlap. In general I've found that for these two - the finer stones have lower specific gravities, closer to that of pure silica, or a black/translucent ark.

I just haven't had enough idwalls to compare, but my two - and now I have one, i sold the smaller and finer one that I have to a shaver.....give the impression that they're cutting more finely than a trans ark. But it could be, if i infer from your mention of impurities, they just aren't cutting as fast for reasons that have nothing to do with relative fineness.

I always considered a charn "an arkansas with a soft temper", poor way to put it, but you can feel novaculite vs. slates, especially under oil. There is more slurry dulling and less of a filing feel if you scuff a novaculite stone. The first time scratched a charnley, i was surprised by it. I was also surprised by the variability.

I thought they were wonderful looking stones, though, and sometimes that's misleading.

One of the best cutting japanese stones I ever had was a plain green "narutaki tomae" stone coming from a hardware store in japan. I can't remember why I bought it, but to my surprise, it was an aggressive cutter, better than the ubiquitous imanishi ohira tomae, that are both a little coarse for what they should be *and* a little slow relative to a better stone.

The second green stone that I had was probably either mauroyama or narutaki or nakayama, but it was too old to be labeled anything other than "original stone" with a very old stamp. I found it on buyee for $32 and it was the most aggressive fine stone (as in, not by feel fine, but proven fine under the microscope) I've ever had. I figured it looked old and I would use it for razors because it was picked by a barbershop antique picker who listed it as unlabeled. I cracked off a layer of glue or something that was along one side and it had a faint label underneath.

I rarely marked up stones, but I did mark that one at $275 and listed it on ebay years later (should've kept it, but razor comment above applies - I hone a razor once a year and any fine stone is good for that) as "the best fine stone anyone will ever find, mine uncertain, but likely an original mine". the buyer was astounded by it - so good enough. I lost that much gain on more than one other stones. It would've been $1000-1500 from any other seller. It, too was kind of boring looking (aside from not being the common lighter atagoyama green, and a deeper more intense green that you see in some of the better earlier stones).

I had a lot of other very interesting looking stones that were average or slightly below average users and got suckered into buying a large number of coticules trying to find one that was both pretty and worked as well as it looked.

That aside, I wish I'd have weighed the cretan that I have before introducing it to oil. Mine has done so much tool sharpening that it looks jet black, so I didn't bother taking a picture of it to compare to others shown above.

(in keeping with your link - there must be novaculite of good quality all over the world.

when I mentioned to a pair of folks into a combination of geology and chemistry that novaculite is a better cutter than most cherts, they said "there's no way, they're both cryptocrystalline quartz".

things like that have taught me the value of outcomes rather than substituting perceived outcomes based on characteristics).
 

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