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Thread: Estate sale Oil Stone find... help identify .. inc a Washita?

  1. #1

    Estate sale Oil Stone find... help identify .. inc a Washita?

    Hey All.

    Up to this point I have been using either a granite surface plate with 60/100/150/220 sand paper. Or a King 1000/6000 waterstone followed by a strop with some green rouge for my sharpening needs. But I stumbled on to this stash of stones at an estate sale for $10 bucks. They've been sitting in the box they came in since I got them. But today I finally set out out clean them up. I broke out my camp stove and set out to boil them. I put em on wood chopsticks to keep em off the bottom of the pot. Initially I added some simple green . Not much happened. Then I added a packet of the dishwasher soap. That instantly brought the oil up. After that I set out to flatten them up. Was a bit like christmas as they were all so dark I couldn't see much of what they were.


    Hoping someone might help ID some of these. But Mostly the one I believe could be a Washita Though its not quite like most I've seen.. Mine seems a bit more blotchy than most i've seen online. So maybe its not Washita. I have begun flattening it and its almost there. It seems very soft compared to the other stones. Though I believe the others to be all man made.

    IMG_2287.jpgIMG_2286.jpgIMG_2285.jpg

    Here are the others All appear to be exceedingly harder than the one above. It( the possible Washita )flattened nicely on a granite plate and some 60grit sand paper. The others all blow out the paper before much of them get flattened. the one at top is 1/2 coarse one side and finer on the other. Both dark grey. the middle is pink orange through out( seems similar to the pink/orange part on gthenorton thats at bottom). .. fine and hard as noted . Lastly the norton 1/2 pink orange fine, 1/2 grey and coarse.

    IMG_2296.jpg

    Finally here is a mess of smaller stones some of which I'll shape into slips or use for pocket knife etc.

    IMG_2295.jpg


    Don't know how I'll used these. the Washita will be fun to try out. The large man made ones seem daunting to try and flatten. and I don't know where they'd fit in to my current regime.

    Thanks for any help in sorting through these, in advance.

    Joel.
    Last edited by joel cervera; 08-16-2018 at 11:21 PM.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2016
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    Looks like it could certainly be a washita. Mine is rather blotchy on one side; white with brown blotches. The texture looks similar too. The real test is sharpening; it should be noticeably softer than an Ark, and noticeably faster (I'd say nearly twice as fast, but it depends on the particular stone and its condition). It should feel lighter than an Ark of equal size, too -- I was a little surprised how light mine was when I got it.

    I'd recommend putting it suspended with a towel or something in a pot of water, and slowly bringing the water to a simmer and boiling all of the old oil out. Alternatively / additionally, soak it in Mean Green. This will remove any dried up oil and restore the original color of the stone.

    The orange / grey stone is probably a Norton India stone: a good coarse / medium man-made stone. Hit it with a 300 grit diamond plate and it should cut like new. Don't boil the oil (petroleum jelly) out of it, or you'll be left with a stone that is too porous to hold oil (and will just make a mess as the oil soaks through to the bottom).
    Last edited by Luke Dupont; 08-17-2018 at 3:13 AM.

  3. #3
    I have used Washita stones for more than four decades. The natural stone you show may be a Washita, but the quality is so poor it is not worth carting home. Get yourself a quality stone (Washita or soft Arkansas). The traditional size: 1X2X8,

    In the second picture you have a Carborundum stone (Silicon carbide), an India and a combination India which is probably medium/fine. The Carborundum can be flattened with SiC grit or coarse sandpaper.

    In the last picture are a few scythe stones, but the one with a logo is a razor hone, popular a century ago. It was probably designed to be used with lather or water.

  4. #4
    Join Date
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    DuBois, PA
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    Looks like a Washita, but as mentioned by Warren, the surface looks very rough, indicative of a poor quality stone to begin with. I don't know if anyone is selling good Washita's today, but good soft Arkansas stones are available from Dan's, Norton, just to name two sources. A Norton medium India was introduced years ago as a man-made alternative to a Washita, though I don't have experience with one (I am fortunate enough to have the real McCoy). I also have a number of stones I've purchased through the years that have not been used (some boxed and with original labels on), including some Washita's. If you look on Ebay for a used Washita, try to snag a Lily-White, which was Norton's best grade of that stone series. Stay away from modern. cedar boxed Washita's (I do not want to name suppliers), as these are mostly just a poor, soft Arkansas, so go for a better grade of soft, if you want new.

    Bit of a suggestion, if you learn to sharpen without a jig, you can use smaller stones, very well. If you have a larger stone, then you are also able to use the entire stone surface. Also, don't become to anal about flattening of stone surfaces to a ten-thousandth of an inch.
    If the thunder don't get you, the lightning will.

  5. #5
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    Mar 2016
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    885
    > Warren

    I'm curious how you can tell the quality. My stone is a bit splotchy in color and definitely not a Lilly White -- probably a No. #1, yet is still an evenly gritted, fast, and fine stone. My impression of the OP's stone is that it may just be rough and dirty from years of abuse, making it look worse than it is. My stone looked absolutely terrible when I got it, but after cleaning and flattening it, turned out to be quite nice. All that said, you sound a lot more experienced than me in this area, so I'm curious as to what you look for visually when buying a vintage Washita. I had David W. give me some advice on which ebay listings to bid on -- not sure if I could have found a good unlabeled stone myself.

    > OP: Go ahead and give it a try and tell us how the stone performs. I'm curious to know!

  6. #6
    There is a lot of pitting in this stone and it is associated with the darker areas. A mottled stone is fine as long as the texture is uniform. It appears that on this stone the softer coarser areas show pitting; other areas seem denser and more uniform. You can flatten the stone with abrasion, but these soft areas tend to reappear and then small chisels or gouges or the like tend to get caught on the pits.

    Lower grade stones were manufactured in the past and are alright when the tool is large or the user isn't so fussy. Roubo complained about Turkey oil stones were starting to arrive with too may flaws back in 1769.

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