Oil Stone Identification help?

[Tony Shea]

248072 I have had this stone kicking around for a while now and finally decided to try and flatten it and clean it up a bit. It was purchased from The Tool Barn in Hulls Cove here in Maine. I am now cleaning it up as I need to get set up with some oil stones to sharpen some carving tools that need attention but just don't use enough to give them any attention. The stone was completely black so I assumed it was black, until I some of its color started to come through while flattening. As you can see I didn't get all the way flat as it was taking forever with the diamond stone I have to do this with. I didn't want to use the stone I flatten my water stone with so all I had was the coarse side of the stone I use on water stones. And this coarse side is sometimes used on tools so it is def not as coarse as it used to be. This oilstone feels Very fine therefore believe it to be a finishing stone. But I have yet to hone anything with it yet so am not real sure. Just am curious if anyone can tell me anything about it by looking at it. I know it may not be possible just by looking at it but thought I'd try. I am completely clueless when it comes to oil stones so bear with me.

[Jim Koepke]

Tony,

My expertise at stones is nonexistent to nil.

When looking at the small picture my thoughts were it looks like an India stone. Looking at the picture when it is expanded, it looks almost exactly like one of my stones that was bought at a hardware store as an Arkansas stone.

What it is called is not as important as how it performs with the items on which you use it.

jtk

[David Weaver]

It's either a soft or hard arkansas. Where it lies in that range depends on the density of the stone.

[Tony Shea]

The stone seems extremely hard to me. Like I said though I am not very familiar with oil stones so am not sure how hard a soft Arkansas is compared to a hard. I will say that I cannot gouge the surface at all with a knife or any other hard metal. How obvious are the density differences?

[David Weaver]

By hand, you won't be able to tell - you'd have to calculate the volume of the stone and weigh it. I don't know how much oil impregnation can lead to density increase in porous stones, probably not too much. For practical purposes, you can use it and see what other stones the edge improves on and what stones it doesn't.

You shouldn't be able to gouge the surface of oilstones unless you take a corner of something and dig in (you don't want to do that, because you don't want to have to lap it out). Now you see why carvers like oilstones and other hard stones.

Dan's whetstone has a density chart on their page.

[Archie England]

You stone "looks" exactly like my Lily Washita. Mine is very old and works wonderously. I can achieve faster than normal cutting and better than expected honing on this stone. Mine's a beauty to use.