Help Identifying this old hone

[Zannkimaru]

Hi guys, I've just been given this by my Grandfather. However he cannot remember anything about it (he thinks he "may" have used it for his straights, he isn't 100% sure) so I was wondering maybe someone on here can tell me what kind of stone it is and as such whether it could be useful for my razors. Now the only hones I've had experience in are ones meant for tools so I don't really know what I have here as it feels a lot smoother than anything I've seen in the past. If you have any questions that may help identify this thing then ask away and I'll try to answer. Thanks in advance.

 

[Neil Miller]

Hi guys, I've just been given this by my Grandfather. However he cannot remember anything about it (he thinks he "may" have used it for his straights, he isn't 100% sure) so I was wondering maybe someone on here can tell me what kind of stone it is and as such whether it could be useful for my razors. Now the only hones I've had experience in are ones meant for tools so I don't really know what I have here as it feels a lot smoother than anything I've seen in the past. If you have any questions that may help identify this thing then ask away and I'll try to answer. Thanks in advance.

The first thing to do is to try and decide whether it is natural or synthetic. With that colouration, hopefully it is natural. Clues can be had from the sides, edges and chips. If you can see strata along the edges that would indicate a natural stone. If, on an edge say, you have a chip and you can see the smooth skin giving way to lots of little granular bits that would indicate man-made.

Another thing that might help is saw-marks along the edges - they used to saw naturals and cast man-made hones. Not a 100% thing as the edges may have been smoothed and the saw marks gone.

What does it smell of? If it hasn't been used with oil, you might notice a distinctive smell.

Does it produce a slurry? If so, what colour is the slurry?

Do you have a hone of known grit that you can compare the scratch pattern with that it leaves on the bevel of the razor?

It looks to me that there are a few possibilities, but I wouldn't like to influence your analysis by mentioning them!

Regards,
Neil

 

[Zannkimaru]

Well looking at the stone it just looks like a solid lump of stone, there's no markings in it at all. Apart from one side of it being rounded the edges are perfectly flat as if it had come from a cast. Not sure if it helps but if I tap it it sounds like a tile (kinda ceramic) looking at one of the chips it does look like how you described a man-made stone would look. Unfortunately I don't have any other hones here to compare it too. It looks like it's had some varnish get onto it at one point (some on the side of it) so that's the only smell I can get. The thing does seem to almost suck up any water that is put on it though, if that helps.

 

[Arrowhead]

At first glance it looked like a grubby coticule; on closer examination and bearing in mind what you said about the way it sucks up water my guess is a Japanese synthetic. The colour's right for a King 6000, though they usually come bonded to a plastic base.