tostadas
Hobbyist / Craftsman
Picked these up cheap at an estate sale today. Seem not too used but smell like petroleum. No idea what they are but I'll simple green em and see what's underneath.
Random estate sale oilstones
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Hard to tell from this pic but the upper left looks like a soft Ark. The Smith's might be an India.
tostadas
Hobbyist / Craftsman
I've never tried arks so even if they end up being nothing special, still worth the few bucks to play
Oh if that one is indeed a soft Ark it is well worth it. One of my favorite stones of all time.
M1k3
Senior Member
I'm pretty sure the Smith's is an India also
Desert Rat
Senior Member
Give them a chance with a simple carbon steel. The bottom one may be a colored or modern Washita, if so probably the best of the two.
I see two Arks and an india, they should all be very nice indeed.
Nice rocks! And you may even have three soft arks there - the top left and the one on the bottom certainly are. The top right does look like an India type stone as others have said, however...
Earlier this year @Legion74 picked up a couple of NOS Smith's Arks in the same style box; a MAB-6 and a FAB-8, which came in at 2.21 and 2.31 SG respectively. Our conclusion was that the product codes were for Medium / Fine Arkansas Benchstone, plus the size.
It's perfectly possible that someone's wanged an India into the Smith's box - it really does look like an India in that pic. But if the stone matches the product code then it should be another soft ark.
Earlier this year @Legion74 picked up a couple of NOS Smith's Arks in the same style box; a MAB-6 and a FAB-8, which came in at 2.21 and 2.31 SG respectively. Our conclusion was that the product codes were for Medium / Fine Arkansas Benchstone, plus the size.
It's perfectly possible that someone's wanged an India into the Smith's box - it really does look like an India in that pic. But if the stone matches the product code then it should be another soft ark.
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Oh and... as @HumbleHomeCook said - soft arks are awesome. Really, really good stones. 
tostadas
Hobbyist / Craftsman
Yea it's quite possible that the boxes don't match, though the rocks do seem to fit quite well in each. I can calc the SG for each when they are dry.
They been soaking in undiluted simple green for like a little over a day now. Some of the old grime has come off after I scrubbed it with an old toothbrush, though doesn't seem like there was a lot to start with. Anyone know know how long I should continue soaking them for, or if there's any other recommended procedures I should follow to get em cleaned up?
I would soak them in plain water for a day or two as well, changing the water a couple times. This will help flush everything out a little better and get rid of any simple green smell. Then just let them dry out. You can use them with pretty much any kind of honing fluid. Water, oil, propylene glycol, wd-40, kerosene, dish soap, etc. Just anything to lift the swarf.
They looked pretty clean to begin with as you say. Soak 'em in water for half a day after the SG and you'll be good to go I reckon.
How are they looking now...?
tostadas
Hobbyist / Craftsman
The top right one is more orange, kinda somewhere in the color range of a king800/shapton 1k. The others are just a little lighter with some the the darker black areas removed from the surface.
Does sound like that one’s an India then.
Could possibly be that the top left stone was in the Smith’s box originally...
Desert Rat
Senior Member
Do you know what the letter number codes mean? I could speculate but not sure...
I think those are actually Dan's Whetstone's part numbers. Fine Arkansas Bench 8", Med...
Does Dan's supply Smith's or they just employ the same scheme?
tostadas
Hobbyist / Craftsman
Update: rinsed em off after a simple bath. Probably as clean as I care to get them but they still kinda smell like simple green tho after 24hr in fresh water. May soak em again in another thing of fresh water and see if I can get more of the smell out.
M1k3
Senior Member
I'm no expert, but the one on the left definitely looks like an India stone. The one on the right looks to me like a BBW. But again, I'm not an expert.
I think your middle stone here is probably the Smith’s MAB 8 and someone’s been moving boxes around.
Definitely an India and two soft Arks as David said above.
tostadas
Hobbyist / Craftsman
Yea it could also be that the lids got mixed up since all the stones have roughly the same footprint.
I really appreciate everyone's feedback in helping to ID the stones. When they're dried out I'll weigh em to check on the SGs
tostadas
Hobbyist / Craftsman
They haven't had much significant changes in weight over the past few days so this should be close enough. Based on approx water displacement measurements for volume, here's the SG I calculated for each one, going left to right
Tan: 2.48
Light Gray: 2.27
Brownish Gray: 2.35
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I use dawn dish soap with an old worn green tuffy, green scotch brite, to clean them. They are oil stones and were sold as such. Use a light machine oil. I liked ATF on stones. ATF is automatic transmission fluid. I have never used synthetic ATF. It may work fine; I just don't know. I used the cheap stuff. Wash knives with soap and water after sharpening.
