I have recently come into possession of some seemingly random stones and need a bit of help. Since I'm new, I'll provide a bit of background for context - I have had good results with a Spyderco Sharpmaker for years, but now I am seeing the limitations of it and wanted to get into whetstone sharpening to obtain better results and to have more flexibility. I mentioned this to my uncle while cooking chili with him. He then shows up the next day with a Chef's Choice 110 and several stones that had belonged to my grandfather. My grandfather was a great home cook and had a full woodworking shop in the garage, so he did not believe in anything being dull. However, these stones have not seen the light of day in over 20 years and I have no information on them whatsoever. I do not know if he used them for knives, tools, or both. Only one stone has a faint marking on it and it appears to be a GE stamp; all of the others are unmarked. I assume they are okay to be used on kitchen knives (nothing above HRC 58, currently) so I was going to just use them but felt it best to ask a few questions first.
1) Is there a way to identify these stones, even if unmarked?
2) Is it possible to know if they are water stones or if oil should be used with them - or if oil has been used on them?
3) what are the little stones? The black one appears to have a black GE indentation.
I have attached a photo and can upload more for detail if requested. Any obvious recommendations are surely welcome. Thank you in advance.
1) Is there a way to identify these stones, even if unmarked?
2) Is it possible to know if they are water stones or if oil should be used with them - or if oil has been used on them?
3) what are the little stones? The black one appears to have a black GE indentation.
I have attached a photo and can upload more for detail if requested. Any obvious recommendations are surely welcome. Thank you in advance.