You do find yourself saying things like: "I bet I can work those 10mm dished sections out and still have 3/8" of flat stone to use"
The Washita Thread
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In some circles (that in refuse to travel in), this is called “a problem”.
Desert Rat
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Odd one here and off size. My initial thoughts are a slow fine stone, perhaps it was just the harder knives I tried it with not sure. It didn't feel at all friable though, the stone feels hard. SPG @ 2.16 and I checked it on two different scales because I would have never thought that.
Sellers pics and after a simple green soak. There is still some old oil on the stamped side giving the surface a little yellow tint.
Sellers pics and after a simple green soak. There is still some old oil on the stamped side giving the surface a little yellow tint.
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What are your experiences with restoring a good grinding surface on a used Washita?
After I finally got my hands on an old NOS Pike Washita, I realized something: It's much scratchier, and much more effective, than the used ones I've worked with. I have rejuvenated surfaces with 60 or 80 grit SiC, and it seemed to work quite well, until I compared the results with the NOS stone, and realized that my restored surfaces are much less effective than they should be.
What's the answer? Just keep at it with the SiC powder? Is there any approach that works better?
After I finally got my hands on an old NOS Pike Washita, I realized something: It's much scratchier, and much more effective, than the used ones I've worked with. I have rejuvenated surfaces with 60 or 80 grit SiC, and it seemed to work quite well, until I compared the results with the NOS stone, and realized that my restored surfaces are much less effective than they should be.
What's the answer? Just keep at it with the SiC powder? Is there any approach that works better?
I call it a decent start
Desert Rat
Senior Member
If you were asking me, I just let them settle in and be what they want to be. I know some guys dress arks different on each side ect.
Desert Rat
Senior Member
I have been getting to know this stone a little better in the last few days. The strange coloring pattern that appears to be brown streaks on one corner of the stone are actually orange under magnification and its not part of the stone but rather paint or something that has gotten on the stones surface and down in the pores.Odd one here and off size. My initial thoughts are a slow fine stone, perhaps it was just the harder knives I tried it with not sure. It didn't feel at all friable though, the stone feels hard. SPG @ 2.16 and I checked it on two different scales because I would have never thought that.
Sellers pics and after a simple green soak. There is still some old oil on the stamped side giving the surface a little yellow tint.
Odd one here and off size. My initial thoughts are a slow fine stone, perhaps it was just the harder knives I tried it with not sure. It didn't feel at all friable though, the stone feels hard. SPG @ 2.16 and I checked it on two different scales because I would have never thought that.
Sellers pics and after a simple green soak. There is still some old oil on the stamped side giving the surface a little yellow tint.
Is that an 8x3 washita?
I’m very interested in buying a quality 8x3 if have or if you see one for sale.
Desert Rat
Senior Member
It's close at 7 3/4" x 2 7/8". It's the only one I have over 2" and the only reason I jumped on it when I seen it on the bay as a buy it now. It's cut a little out of square and both surfaces are finished low on two opposing corners. The side with the medium stamp has never been used but I don't know if that stamp came from the factory.
Desert Rat
Senior Member
I thought this was interesting. A current listing for a Norton Manning soft or maybe a Washita stone in the original box. I can see soft grit written. Is this a Lilly White or a soft ark? The other side of the stone has the blue Norton stamp.
Note the "oil or water as lubricant".
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Note the "oil or water as lubricant".
I took a flier on something promising and this is what showed up:
It looks like whomever was using it liked used motor oil as the lubricant, this is far and away the most oil grime caked stone I've come across. This is what it looked like after scraping all the gunk off:
It's been in simple green about two weeks, and I'm letting it go a little bit longer before I move it over to a water soak. I'll get it glued up and in a base after that, and I'll probably take on working out the dishing once it warms up again. It's very promising from just handling it: it basically put a bevel on the bench scraper I used to clean of the final oil grime after it had been in SG for a day, and it "feels" grippy on my finger tips when I'm scrubbing it.
It looks like whomever was using it liked used motor oil as the lubricant, this is far and away the most oil grime caked stone I've come across. This is what it looked like after scraping all the gunk off:
It's been in simple green about two weeks, and I'm letting it go a little bit longer before I move it over to a water soak. I'll get it glued up and in a base after that, and I'll probably take on working out the dishing once it warms up again. It's very promising from just handling it: it basically put a bevel on the bench scraper I used to clean of the final oil grime after it had been in SG for a day, and it "feels" grippy on my finger tips when I'm scrubbing it.
I thought this was interesting. A current listing for a Norton Manning soft or maybe a Washita stone in the original box. I can see soft grit written. Is this a Lilly White or a soft ark? The other side of the stone has the blue Norton stamp.
Note the "oil or water as lubricant".
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I assume you know this already B, but that's a US military issue stone, and they included different information / description on them vs the standard Norton boxes. You can see a less tatty version of the label here:
https://www.kitchenknifeforums.com/threads/the-washita-thread.53968/post-881640
I've most often seen them as hard arks, in fact the one in your pics is the only soft I can remember. Did you pick it up...?
Desert Rat
Senior Member
I didn't know or remember. I don't think it sold and has been relisted.
I did let a Lilly white and nice old black go by the other day because I got busy. Hope someone here spotted them..
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I grabbed my first Washita late last year after asking an eBay tip off from @cotedupy to hook me up with something fast and coarse, but life was pretty busy at the time and I didn’t really have time to play with it until yesterday.
…and now I don't think I’ll ever use a synth between 500-1k grit for sharpening again. I can’t believe these aren’t more popular.
I trialled it out by establishing a microbevel on my Brook Turner for its first full sharpening, and used some of the tips here about maximising range of the stone through pressure. I could not believe how fast this stone is!
Here’s the edge I was able to pull off it - not clean cuts, but a totally serviceable aggressive edge for kitchen use.
I noticed the stone was pretty thirsty, but it had been soaked in degreaser before I bought it. Will that mellow out with use as it soaks up the oil from sharpening? I am sure I can refine the edge further if the oil doesn’t get soaked up as quickly.
I also picked up a Cretan stone last year which I did a few passes with to test the comparison in feel. The Cretan feels much slicker, finer, and less friable, with the oil not really absorbing into the stone. The polish on the microbevel is much brighter, and the edge doesn’t really want to bite into my thumb nail, however I haven’t tested it fully yet so we will see.
…and now I don't think I’ll ever use a synth between 500-1k grit for sharpening again. I can’t believe these aren’t more popular.
I trialled it out by establishing a microbevel on my Brook Turner for its first full sharpening, and used some of the tips here about maximising range of the stone through pressure. I could not believe how fast this stone is!
Here’s the edge I was able to pull off it - not clean cuts, but a totally serviceable aggressive edge for kitchen use.
I noticed the stone was pretty thirsty, but it had been soaked in degreaser before I bought it. Will that mellow out with use as it soaks up the oil from sharpening? I am sure I can refine the edge further if the oil doesn’t get soaked up as quickly.
I also picked up a Cretan stone last year which I did a few passes with to test the comparison in feel. The Cretan feels much slicker, finer, and less friable, with the oil not really absorbing into the stone. The polish on the microbevel is much brighter, and the edge doesn’t really want to bite into my thumb nail, however I haven’t tested it fully yet so we will see.
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Desert Rat
Senior Member
Looks like a nice stone but not with out a flaw. You can beat the price though.
Looks like it's got a fracture to me. I would pass.
Nice knife. I have one with a similar blade but different scales.
I don't think the fracture is going to effect much, but yeah, a little pricey.
Thank you.
I actually looked at its bigger brother a couple days ago and couldn't believe the new prices of these knives, years ago I got my one for 120ish pounds.
I don't remember what I paid for mine, it was over ten years ago, but it wasn't cheap. I've not looked at them recently.
This is after 6+ weeks being soaked in SG, water with dish soap, and citrus degreaser, it more or less stopped having oil pulled out of it. CA Glue to join the two pieces back together and I did lap the dished side flat (but not square) with loose SiC. While I'm sure I could probably get it very close to white by dropping it in kerosene and then several subsequent solutions to get rid of that kero smell/remove staining, I'm more than happy to use it like this because it's just too good.
(yes the darker section has strong translucency)
You can probably get 3 for this price if you look through grimy auction stone listings...
In good condition aswell. $1.50, bloody inflation.
That's $1.50 US dollars, so with the current Aussie dollar value, what I paid seems not totally unreasonable.
What an amazing transformation!
