The Washita Thread

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That Santoku with the Scallops only a mm away from the edge is what I normally see from people who go to the Farmer's Market "belt sander guy" who takes off many years of metal every time he touches a blade.

I feel sorry for owners of fine blades by the "belt sander guys" as there definitely are truly better ways to get & KEEP your knife edges in fine shape. I have been teaching my customers who are interested in learning how to do light honing by hand with a hard and soft Washita at home to get back near or at razor sharp. It works.

In this case the premature wear is from a pull through sharpener. I promised to sharpen her knives every couple of months if she threw the damn thing away.
 
As much as I dislike the regrettable Mr. Zuckerberg and his 'Facebook', I do log on occasionally to have a look through its marketplace, which can turn up some gems.

Last year I nabbed a NOS 30s/40s Lily White, which is somewhere earlier in this thread, and then a couple of evenings ago this little bundle for $50 - Bengall Imperial and a 6x1.5 ish Escher, neither of which look to have been used much:

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Score! That's a different stone from the one that came alongside the first then...?

yes. The first two were about 5 or 6 inches long. This third one is ten inches long. The one is far sparklier (is that a word) than the other two. But they all seem to be the same general family of material. Quartz mica schist is another of those truly ancient whetstones. Been used for thousands of years.
 
yes. The first two were about 5 or 6 inches long. This third one is ten inches long. The one is far sparklier (is that a word) than the other two. But they all seem to be the same general family of material. Quartz mica schist is another of those truly ancient whetstones. Been used for thousands of years.

And pretty too!

Here's a Wastikivi, kindly given to me by another member here, which is a micaceous Phyllite (kinda like a slate on it way to becoming schist):

 
Still to go... No.1 Washita, Queer Creek, and the mysterious 'Fastcut' stone which I believe was a Hindustan, though I've only ever seen pictures of one in an old Norton Catalogue.
Hello, new to the forum, reading this thread I decided to register just so I could reply. I was looking into some stones trying to ID them and came across this thread and reading through besides the interesting stones, this caught my eye. And inspired me to pull out my box of some old oil stones... I haven't even used a lot of them... I tried lapping a nice 8x2x1 unknown ark, it was only dished 2mm so I figured I could just lap it flat... 3 hours later and an elbow replacement... Only made it about 1mm on the ends... (Pics 7, 8) The other side is lapped but has one corner chamfered which I didnt like...

Some I can decrease and use with water soluble glycerin/water mixture like on some CF's. Otherwise oils too much of a hassle for my uses. This thread is making me re-think some stone grades/types I have.

Maybe this is what you were referring to with the fastcut? (Pics 1-3) @cotedupy

I also have this unknown white stone that maybe a possible lily white? (Pics 4-6) I've been reading up about different arks/washitas but not 100% sure... The grey is from old swarf, otherwise porcelain white. I thought at one point it maybe ceramic but not with the weight it has, I don't think? One side near the end has slight peppering.

I also have a few more that need ID that I could post a few pics of. Or wait till I can properly SG test. I suppose I could get a rough estimate of the suspected lily white, only slightly off with the chip.

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P.s. hope I posted correctly, I almost loaded 3 or 4 sets of the same photo the first time... And I hope it's not too long... Sorry for bad photos, just snowed and not sunny out.
 
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Blimey... well there's a nice couple of stones!

That is indeed an old Pike Fastcut, the label would date it to at least earlier than 1933, when Norton bought Pike. I believe the stone was a type of Hindostan, and it certainly looks like one from your pictures. If you had a pic of the sides that would be great too...

The white one could well be a Washita, it's a bit difficult to say whether Lily White or No.1 if it doesn't have a label. But FWIW - I have an unused Lily White which looks pretty much identical. So I think very likely to be an old Washita.

Welcome! And do feel free to post pictures of your other stones and I or someone else should be able to help id-ing...
 
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Hello, new to the forum, reading this thread I decided to register just so I could reply. I was looking into some stones trying to ID them and came across this thread and reading through besides the interesting stones, this caught my eye. And inspired me to pull out my box of some old oil stones... I haven't even used a lot of them... I tried lapping a nice 8x2x1 unknown ark, it was only dished 2mm so I figured I could just lap it flat... 3 hours later and an elbow replacement... Only made it about 1mm on the ends... (Pics 7, 8) The other side is lapped but has one corner chamfered which I didnt like...

Some I can decrease and use with water soluble glycerin/water mixture like on some CF's. Otherwise oils too much of a hassle for my uses. This thread is making me re-think some stone grades/types I have.

Maybe this is what you were referring to with the fastcut? (Pics 1-3) @cotedupy

I also have this unknown white stone that maybe a possible lily white? (Pics 4-6) I've been reading up about different arks/washitas but not 100% sure... The grey is from old swarf, otherwise porcelain white. I thought at one point it maybe ceramic but not with the weight it has, I don't think? One side near the end has slight peppering.

I also have a few more that need ID that I could post a few pics of. Or wait till I can properly SG test. I suppose I could get a rough estimate of the suspected lily white, only slightly off with the chip.

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P.s. hope I posted correctly, I almost loaded 3 or 4 sets of the same photo the first time... And I hope it's not too long... Sorry for bad photos, just snowed and not sunny out.


For some reason your last three pics of the white stone didn't come up originally... yep it's 99% certain a Washita. Could be a No.1 or a LW, but either way a lovely stone in near-mint condition :). And yeah, when they haven't been used ever - the surface of old Washitas has a very 'ceramic' feel to it.
 
Hey, thanks nice indeed but no collector's, maybe the fastcut cut I haven't used that one much. While trying it though it did feel very fine gritty like sandstone so most likely a type of hindu. Haven't cleaned it yet so hard to tell in the picture but in hand I can see horizontal lines typical of Hindustan. Although that's just from what I've read, never actually had a stone I've know for sure is one...

The pictures 2-4 maybe one though, after lapping it looked very rough then after a run with a knife almost came to a mirror finish on the face. Very porous the water was soaking in parts before I got the picture off. And not very dense, wore away pretty quickly...

Next are a set of I think are 2 hard arks, either the company or someone made pretty identical boxes although the skinny stone is inset, larger glued, (ruined by me when needed re-glueing... Used gorilla glue and it foamed and pushed the stone offset...) the larger butterscotch one Dan's said maybe what they used to call rosey red trans. But now would be classified as hard or trans.

Then what I thought was a washita, and a hard ark, but now bot so sure haha... I love the light stone and the previous owner did as well seeing as it was under 5mm thick when I got it in a unknown set, so I made simple a base. And a fine green stone that maybe a green thuri? Or one of those Chinese stones...

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For some reason your last three pics of the white stone didn't come up originally... yep it's 99% certain a Washita. Could be a No.1 or a LW, but either way a lovely stone in near-mint condition :). And yeah, when they haven't been used ever - the surface of old Washitas has a very 'ceramic' feel to it.
So those are 2 different stones hah. I should of separated the pictures. The middle is a 6x2x1, (lily?) and the last 2 are an 8x2x1. (Lily/No.1?)
 
I'll break out the other ones later this week, maybe tomorrow. Then I have some that have definitely seen better days, others opinions would help decide what to do with them in terms of not worth saving, or cutting and refinishing.

Gonna finish practicing my honing. How I manage to shave without taking my face off is beyond me... And browse some other threads before going to bed. Thanks for the insights.

A bit off topic but incase anyone was curious on what I'm honing. Trusty gold dollar working on a CF. After 5m with a moderately thick coticule slurry. Working the dilute progression.
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So those are 2 different stones hah. I should of separated the pictures. The middle is a 6x2x1, (lily?) and the last 2 are an 8x2x1. (Lily/No.1?)

Ah gotcha! In which case - the last two pics of the 8x2 are pretty much undoubtedly a Washita. The previous three could be a Washita, but also looks like it could be a hard ark. Even if you've never used tried other versions you should be able to have a reasonable guess by how they feel to your fingernail.

The Fastcut is definitely a Hindostan from your next set of pics, which ties in with a description of it I found in an old Norton catalogue. Mostly they didn't mention what kind of stone it was, but I've seen one that calls it a type of high quality Hindo.

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Other stones are cool too... if you showed me just that picture of the butterscotch one with the surface cracks - I'd have said it looked like a coticule. But it's a hard ark is it? Very nice!

The one in the next picture with the pretty patterns and stripes is a soft ark. And the stone below that could be a soft ark, but more likely - a washita - it looks really washita-like.

The green stone almost certainly isn't a Thuri, but looks very interesting nonetheless. Snap some more pics of it when you have a moment, and I might be able to help more.

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Lovely stones you have there... congrats!
 
Ah gotcha! In which case - the last two pics of the 8x2 are pretty much undoubtedly a Washita. The previous three could be a Washita, but also looks like it could be a hard ark. Even if you've never used tried other versions you should be able to have a reasonable guess by how they feel to your fingernail.

The Fastcut is definitely a Hindostan from your next set of pics, which ties in with a description of it I found in an old Norton catalogue. Mostly they didn't mention what kind of stone it was, but I've seen one that calls it a type of high quality Hindo.

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Other stones are cool too... if you showed me just that picture of the butterscotch one with the surface cracks - I'd have said it looked like a coticule. But it's a hard ark is it? Very nice!

The one in the next picture with the pretty patterns and stripes is a soft ark. And the stone below that could be a soft ark, but more likely - a washita - it looks really washita-like.

The green stone almost certainly isn't a Thuri, but looks very interesting nonetheless. Snap some more pics of it when you have a moment, and I might be able to help more.

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Lovely stones you have there... congrats!
I guess I should of specified more. I'll put labels on the pics to not get them confused. As the stones look similar. Just the 6x is snow white throughout, the 8x is white but slightly molted. The middle stone in the first post feels ceramic, almost glass like the one I thought maybe lily, the bottom a bit less catches the nail a tad, feels like 10k grit sandpaper. But also is used.

Only the first pic in the 2nd post is the fastcut. The other sides were so gunked you wouldn't be able to see any detail. The next set is a unknown stone I bought that I thought was a Hindustan, then kind of forgot about it..

Yeah I emailed Dan's and they said, by today's standards either hard ark or trans, based on SG... But I glued the dang thing back hah...

See now I thought the swirled one in the 3 stone pic was a washita... With the common misconception of coloring. And I thought the white one was just a hard ark as it feels very smooth. It's small enough I probably can water SG test it.

Not that I doubt you, but what makes you say the green isn't a thuri? I know nothing about them seeing as 1 would usually run about the same cost as all my stones combined unless you get lucky like the find for $50! Or a dirty one for cheap. Only read they can vary quite a bit in looks. I thought it might be a thuri based on color, it looks darker in the pic. It looks a little darker green than the big green thrui posted earlier in the thread.

I can most definitely do that! May have to wait till I can get some better lighting or better weather for natural shots.

Thanks
 
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Amazing collection @Skylar303 . Thanks for joining our fun little novaculite thread!
Thanks for the welcome. And thanks, a lot I obviously don't know anything about... But that's why I'm here, to learn. 😉 I probably have 4 or 5 more arks of sorts, not as nice. I'll post pics later, as mentioned wanting advice on if they're doorstops or worth cutting and saving.

Then there's other region stones... Idk what I was thinking... Maybe build a house eventually out of whetstones... Idk...

You got quite a few nice stones as well from just the ones I've seen in this thread! I thought I got over the itch to buy random unknown stones, but it may come back... For the area I'm in I'm surprised I don't find more stones in antique stores, etc. Or I just got other stone hounds around the area!

I just picked up a few more coticules recently, been keen on those lately. Can't remember who found that 10x coti but that's a heck of a find! Especially that size!
 
I guess I should of specified more. I'll put labels on the pics to not get them confused. As the stones look similar. Just the 6x is snow white throughout, the 8x is white but slightly molted. The middle stone in the first post feels ceramic, almost glass like the one I thought maybe lily, the bottom a bit less catches the nail a tad, feels like 10k grit sandpaper. But also is used.

Only the first pic in the 2nd post is the fastcut. The other sides were so gunked you wouldn't be able to see any detail. The next set is a unknown stone I bought that I thought was a Hindustan, then kind of forgot about it..

Yeah I emailed Dan's and they said, by today's standards either hard ark or trans, based on SG... But I glued the dang thing back hah...

See now I thought the swirled one in the 3 stone pic was a washita... With the common misconception of coloring. And I thought the white one was just a hard ark as it feels very smooth. It's small enough I probably can water SG test it.

Not that I doubt you, but what makes you say the green isn't a thuri? I know nothing about them seeing as 1 would usually run about the same cost as all my stones combined unless you get lucky like the find for $50! Or a dirty one for cheap. Only read they can vary quite a bit in looks. I thought it might be a thuri based on color, it looks darker in the pic. It looks a little darker green than the big green thrui posted earlier in the thread.

I can most definitely do that! May have to wait till I can get some better lighting or better weather for natural shots.

Thanks
The swirled one very well could be a Washita and I think it is. Arks also come in colors so it's a constant source of confusion. Dans whetsone classifying there soft arks as washitas based on specific gravity just adds to the confusion, but they are indeed two different stones.

Some of the hard arks (translucent) will pass light. So check them by putting a flashlight close to the edge of the stone. Many of the Washita's will also pass some light to varying degrees.
 
As much as I dislike the regrettable Mr. Zuckerberg and his 'Facebook', I do log on occasionally to have a look through its marketplace, which can turn up some gems.

Last year I nabbed a NOS 30s/40s Lily White, which is somewhere earlier in this thread, and then a couple of evenings ago this little bundle for $50 - Bengall Imperial and a 6x1.5 ish Escher, neither of which look to have been used much:

View attachment 162564
Everyone loves them bigger thuri's but them small razor hones have their advantages too, I really like honing on them myself.
 
The swirled one very well could be a Washita and I think it is. Arks also come in colors so it's a constant source of confusion. Dans whetsone classifying there soft arks as washitas based on specific gravity just adds to the confusion, but they are indeed two different stones.

Some of the hard arks (translucent) will pass light. So check them by putting a flashlight close to the edge of the stone. Many of the Washita's will also pass some light to varying degrees.
Hah! I know the plethora of information out there is almost more harm than good... I suppose I'll SG test it, it's a small pocket hone. I just can't do the bigger 6x's or 8x's, yet.

This unknown brand, what I thought was a soft ark but who knows now ha... Similiar feel to the pocket hone on the nail, maybe slighty rougher. Unfortunately it's affixed to the base...

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So there are hard arks that are translucent but because of the SG they are considered hard because of SG? Despite looking more towards the latter?

Both white stones pass light. The 6x, a bit more and was told by Dan's probably just a hard ark, but was told SG test. And the 8x a bit less light. And both boxed ones pass light but were told by Dan's they were different than I thought. From an email with them about the 2 similar box style stones, obtained from different sources.

"My cutting supervisor did review the second photo you sent – the smaller stone on the left appears to be a Translucent Arkansas stone – the larger stone on the right that you said slipped a little appears to possibly be a very Hard – Hard Arkansas stone. He thought that it kind of looked like possibly some of what we would call the Pink Hard Arkansas stone. It a very dense Hard Arkansas stone...." then followed up with hard to tell from pictures alone, hands on is best.

Does anyone know if that was a certain company's standard or just the style at the time?

It's all very confusing, info sometimes contradictory at times... Seems SG test or labels are only way to really get a sense besides experience hands on.

Stones from last night, plus 2 others that are damaged needing advice... Cleaned these a few years ago with simple green, but since then have leeched out more oil so I have them in a bath now. Then I'll take more pics of the green stone. Which I'm sure now isn't a thuri... It has slight molting and seems more porous than what I assume a thuri would be. But like you said Cote, interesting none the less. Hah with my luck it's just a slice of one of those huge cheap Chinese stones... In hand it looks green but looks grey to me in pictures...

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Everyone loves them bigger thuri's but them small razor hones have their advantages too, I really like honing on them myself.
Hmm last I saw prices on those sized boxed with labels were way more than 50, but that was years ago... Hah if you find another let me know. 😉 Did you get it locally? Those were fleabay prices I saw... Or if you ever part with it dibs first go haha! Sorry hope that isn't against policy about trading/buy/sell. (If it is I'll edit)

Edit: Just re-read your post and seems like both were fb market?

Unfortunately I don't fb... Way to intrusive... Idk if it got any better. But for a while there I was getting ads related to things in my texts, nothing through fb. So they obviously were reading texts... I may use it if I can find deals like that though haha!

I actually leaned more to razors than knives over the years. (Was thinking of becoming a chef, lol...) Then hobbies changed, got into restorations, and razors were one of the things.
 
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Hmm last I saw prices on those sized boxed with labels were way more than 50, but that was years ago... Hah if you find another let me know. 😉 Did you get it locally? Those were fleabay prices I saw... Or if you ever part with it dibs first go haha! Sorry hope that isn't against policy about trading/buy/sell. (If it is I'll edit)

Edit: Just re-read your post and seems like both were fb market?

Unfortunately I don't fb... Way to intrusive... Idk if it got any better. But for a while there I was getting ads related to things in my texts, nothing through fb. So they obviously were reading texts... I may use it if I can find deals like that though haha!

I actually leaned more to razors than knives over the years. (Was thinking of becoming a chef, lol...) Then hobbies changed, got into restorations, and razors were one of the things.

So yep - the reason I said I didn't think the green one looked like a Thuri was that it looked to have a few dots or speckles on it. Thuris can have slight surface patterns but they're largely very consistent, and it wouldn't really be dots like that.

The big 10" green one you might have seen of mine a few pages back is a good example of how uniform even the very large ones tend to be. Though this can make them annoyingly difficult to ID just from pictures, unless they have the 'typical Thuri saw marks'. They are though very easy to tell in person if you know how they feel, as they're incredibly distinctive to the touch and in use. The other reason I said I didn't think it was a Thuri was the size - they tended to get cut quite small, and pretty much never over 2" wide afaik, whereas your stone looks larger...? Having said all that I'm no particular expert on Thuris (or anything else for that matter), so don't take anything I say as gospel!

You're right that any size of labelled Escher&Co. Thuringian goes for silly money usually, and it's a bit difficult to find them on the cheap as people can just google the name on the label and see it's worth hundreds. Though you can sometimes get lucky with the type that I posted above because it only says 'E&Co.' in tiny letters inside the traditional cup logo, so sometimes people might miss that. I'll ping you a message as I do have a couple of Thuris, including a smaller 5x1 Escher, that I could let go if you want to try one. Maybe swap for something. If you're mostly honing razors then you definitely want to get your hands on a Thuri at some point - they're really, really good.

On the subject of not being an expert about anything... when I said the pretty patterned stone of yours was a soft ark - that was to say that it's not one of the old Pike-Norton Washitas, whereas a couple of your other stones almost certainly are. It could well be a Washita produced by another company. And as you've probably seen in this thread some people make a distinction. I've never tried any kind of soft ark, or one of these other Washitas, just the old P-N ones, so really can't say how they compare. And that's not out of any kind of predjudice btw, just a quirk of where I am; most of my old stones are from the UK which as a market massively took to the original kind of Washita and the name had a lot of cache, plus for most of the 20th century Pike-Norton had a subsidary company and production factory in the UK. Which basically means that old Washitas are incredibly common there and can be found for very little money, though you rarely see soft arks or stones from other companies. In fact when an old soft ark came up on ebay a few days ago for $40 I jumped on it, even though that's more than I've paid for most of the old Washitas I've found. As with anything - scarcity undoubtedly plays into the perceived desirability and price of stuff, so I'm loooking forward to seeing how it compares to my Washitas. And interested to hear if you think there's much of a noticeable difference...

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SG is another quite big topic. In general though as I understand it - if you know that what you've got is a type of American novaculite, you should be able to then use it to make a distinction between Soft/Hard/Translucent&Black. As your SG goes up toward about 2.65 the stones get finer.

The old style of Washitas are a little more complicated because they can have quite a wide range of SGs - anything from about 2 to about 2.5 (my lightest is 2.08, and my heaviest 2.49 I think). Which means that you can't really use it to distinguish a Washita from an 'Arkansas' stone, as soft and hard arks run throughout this range. The most common Washita weights that I've come across, and would consider most typical are in the middle of that: 2.25 - 2.35. Again heavier stones will be finer and usually more translucent, though all will have some small translucency at the edge. Though it doesn't have so much of a bearing on the speed of the stone; you can get quite fine but very fast stones.

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As you say - it's all very confusing! One thing you can be certain of though is that you've got a pretty sweet collection there :).
 
So yep - the reason I said I didn't think the green one looked like a Thuri was that it looked to have a few dots or speckles on it. Thuris can have slight surface patterns but they're largely very consistent, and it wouldn't really be dots like that.

The big 10" green one you might have seen of mine a few pages back is a good example of how uniform even the very large ones tend to be. Though this can make them annoyingly difficult to ID just from pictures, unless they have the 'typical Thuri saw marks'. They are though very easy to tell in person if you know how they feel, as they're incredibly distinctive to the touch and in use. The other reason I said I didn't think it was a Thuri was the size - they tended to get cut quite small, and pretty much never over 2" wide afaik, whereas your stone looks larger...? Having said all that I'm no particular expert on Thuris (or anything else for that matter), so don't take anything I say as gospel!

You're right that any size of labelled Escher&Co. Thuringian goes for silly money usually, and it's a bit difficult to find them on the cheap as people can just google the name on the label and see it's worth hundreds. Though you can sometimes get lucky with the type that I posted above because it only says 'E&Co.' in tiny letters inside the traditional cup logo, so sometimes people might miss that. I'll ping you a message as I do have a couple of Thuris, including a smaller 5x1 Escher, that I could let go if you want to try one. Maybe swap for something. If you're mostly honing razors then you definitely want to get your hands on a Thuri at some point - they're really, really good.

On the subject of not being an expert about anything... when I said the pretty patterned stone of yours was a soft ark - that was to say that it's not one of the old Pike-Norton Washitas, whereas a couple of your other stones almost certainly are. It could well be a Washita produced by another company. And as you've probably seen in this thread some people make a distinction. I've never tried any kind of soft ark, or one of these other Washitas, just the old P-N ones, so really can't say how they compare. And that's not out of any kind of predjudice btw, just a quirk of where I am; most of my old stones are from the UK which as a market massively took to the original kind of Washita and the name had a lot of cache, plus for most of the 20th century Pike-Norton had a subsidary company and production factory in the UK. Which basically means that old Washitas are incredibly common there and can be found for very little money, though you rarely see soft arks or stones from other companies. In fact when an old soft ark came up on ebay a few days ago for $40 I jumped on it, even though that's more than I've paid for most of the old Washitas I've found. As with anything - scarcity undoubtedly plays into the perceived desirability and price of stuff, so I'm loooking forward to seeing how it compares to my Washitas. And interested to hear if you think there's much of a noticeable difference...

---

SG is another quite big topic. In general though as I understand it - if you know that what you've got is a type of American novaculite, you should be able to then use it to make a distinction between Soft/Hard/Translucent&Black. As your SG goes up toward about 2.65 the stones get finer.

The old style of Washitas are a little more complicated because they can have quite a wide range of SGs - anything from about 2 to about 2.5 (my lightest is 2.08, and my heaviest 2.49 I think). Which means that you can't really use it to distinguish a Washita from an 'Arkansas' stone, as soft and hard arks run throughout this range. The most common Washita weights that I've come across, and would consider most typical are in the middle of that: 2.25 - 2.35. Again heavier stones will be finer and usually more translucent, though all will have some small translucency at the edge. Though it doesn't have so much of a bearing on the speed of the stone; you can get quite fine but very fast stones.

---

As you say - it's all very confusing! One thing you can be certain of though is that you've got a pretty sweet collection there :).
Hah yeah after you mentioned it I looked into it and size of the green stone was definitely a factor like you said tended to be skinny or a uniform cut of I think 5 or 6x3x1?

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Slurry from lapping and dry pic of the green-ish stone. The slurry was like grey/light brown... Very hard stone... I started to use a worn diamond and it killed the rest of it pretty quickly. Then took it to some W/D sandpaper for a while and got tired...

Oh haha thay big Ole green one was your haha.... Yeah those boxed Eschers... I could tell at a glance what it was, seeing so many but more than I want to pay hah... Yeah definitely most interested! Been looking for a decent priced one on and off for quite a while hah...

Ah yeah very interesting, yeah I obviously was completely lost after reading various source information and some clashed with each other... The small pocket and the affixed one have a similar feel, pretty gritty, the latter being more so. Both definitely more than the white 8x from the otherday. But then I also have a known soft ark from woodcraft that ATM feels very similar to the white 8x... It's cleaned and lapped but to me doesn't act like I'd expect a soft ark to act, maybe I killed the surface with the diamond plate. Dan's said that could happen then I asked about how to refresh the surface as they put it, but never heard back ha...

Yeah, I read those article links earlier in the thread about the history. Amazing how certain stones influenced a whole region, kicking home stones aside, really tells ya something about at least the old Nova's. I actually have bought quite a few stones from the UK, because overall with shipping they were cheaper than ones in the US...

SG, Ah maybe that's where I got lost in translation... Wasn't aware the old Washita ranged so much!

Unless I misunderstood, I thought Washita was a grade of Nova? Or was it a slightly different stone all together? Hence the ranges in SG. And I thought all Washita's came from the US? Or a good % of them. Which is pretty narrow minded to think no other region has novaculite... But I got so lost I sort of gave up and just went on if I liked the stone or not.
 
Hah yeah after you mentioned it I looked into it and size of the green stone was definitely a factor like you said tended to be skinny or a uniform cut of I think 5 or 6x3x1?

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Slurry from lapping and dry pic of the green-ish stone. The slurry was like grey/light brown... Very hard stone... I started to use a worn diamond and it killed the rest of it pretty quickly. Then took it to some W/D sandpaper for a while and got tired...

Oh haha thay big Ole green one was your haha.... Yeah those boxed Eschers... I could tell at a glance what it was, seeing so many but more than I want to pay hah... Yeah definitely most interested! Been looking for a decent priced one on and off for quite a while hah...

Ah yeah very interesting, yeah I obviously was completely lost after reading various source information and some clashed with each other... The small pocket and the affixed one have a similar feel, pretty gritty, the latter being more so. Both definitely more than the white 8x from the otherday. But then I also have a known soft ark from woodcraft that ATM feels very similar to the white 8x... It's cleaned and lapped but to me doesn't act like I'd expect a soft ark to act, maybe I killed the surface with the diamond plate. Dan's said that could happen then I asked about how to refresh the surface as they put it, but never heard back ha...

Yeah, I read those article links earlier in the thread about the history. Amazing how certain stones influenced a whole region, kicking home stones aside, really tells ya something about at least the old Nova's. I actually have bought quite a few stones from the UK, because overall with shipping they were cheaper than ones in the US...

SG, Ah maybe that's where I got lost in translation... Wasn't aware the old Washita ranged so much!

Unless I misunderstood, I thought Washita was a grade of Nova? Or was it a slightly different stone all together? Hence the ranges in SG. And I thought all Washita's came from the US? Or a good % of them. Which is pretty narrow minded to think no other region has novaculite... But I got so lost I sort of gave up and just went on if I liked the stone or not.


Well it's certainly an interesting looking stone your grey-green one. And not something I've ever come across I don't think. If you got in the states then I'd guess maybe some kind of American slate or shale (Vermont?), but really no idea. And if that's one of the things you bought from the UK then there are a load more potential options too.

I've got a number of mystery stones, some of which are excellent, though there's probably not going to be any way of 100% id-ing them. And it gets particularly difficult with slates, as there were a lot produced from all over the world, and often look very similar to each other.

You're right that Washitas are a type of novaculite, so certainly similar to soft arks whatever way you spin it. And also that they're only from Arkansas, from the same area near Hot Springs as soft and hard arks. There were a number of quarries that produced them initially, and Pike bought at least some of them in the 1890s, though I don't think anyone knows if they bought all of them. The Pike-Norton quarries are no longer active, but it's perfectly possible that some of the new Washitas from other companies are from some of the other old Washita quarries.

So yes - all the Washitas I've found would have been imported from the US back in the day. It's just that the Brits really liked them as many UK stones are finer and slower so less good for knives and tools. The only other thing that really competed was the Turkish Oilstone, which is also novaculite and equally excellent. Though Washitas were probably both cheaper and less variable / more consistent, so they basically replaced those too.

As you say - really it's just a matter of whether you like something or not, rather than worrying about whether something's one thing or the other!

---

I'm sure you will have seen already, but it's always worth linking again to the excellent studies by Henk Bos: https://bosq.home.xs4all.nl
 
Yeah bought in the states, thought I bought it with the pocket ark but didn't according to my log. It doesn't feel like any slate I've sharpened on, and almost porous but not... And the molting dots is another unique feature, as well as the hardness, much harder than any slate I've touched. It quickly ate through the 400 W/D peices. Intriguing none the less. Hah, it's probably one of those large cheap Chinese hones that someone cut down and marked up. 🙄 Although the only real slate I have is some purple UK, and I think ILRs are slate as well. Actually to contradict myself, it maybe a type of slate it is similar to the ILR. Infos coming back to me as I write... Just trying to think back on when having to lap stones and comparing.

I'll see of I checked out that article yet. Thanks for the insight and info links. 👍

Edit: Have not seen this page before, but oddly enough while searching coticules I did read the part 4 from a different source. Or they used the same picture of the rough coticule as the other website that owns that stone hah.
 
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Couple new ones. They definitely aren't novaculite maybe I should start a new thread for mystery stones. But it's too late now. Maybe later.

Very dense, fine, soft grey-blue slate of some sort. I got two pieces. I sharpened my HSC with it. The edge is sick. Feels like the fineness of a shapton pro 12k. A little too ghosty through food for me for most of the time. But awful fun type of edge. And doesn't stick in the board like an equivalent synthetic edge. And super soft and creamy. Polished the wrought iron to a high shine. I've got a little more cleaning up to do on it but this is going to be a sick razor stone. Specific gravity at about 2.75 which is up near the range of Thuringian.
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Here's the other one. Haven't cleaned it up or played with it yet.

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And then there's this monster. I'm willing to bet it is some kind of UK stone, bit I have no idea. It's still got a fair bit of oil in it I think.



 
Couple new ones. They definitely aren't novaculite maybe I should start a new thread for mystery stones. But it's too late now. Maybe later.

Very dense, fine, soft grey-blue slate of some sort. I got two pieces. I sharpened my HSC with it. The edge is sick. Feels like the fineness of a shapton pro 12k. A little too ghosty through food for me for most of the time. But awful fun type of edge. And doesn't stick in the board like an equivalent synthetic edge. And super soft and creamy. Polished the wrought iron to a high shine. I've got a little more cleaning up to do on it but this is going to be a sick razor stone. Specific gravity at about 2.75 which is up near the range of Thuringian.
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Here's the other one. Haven't cleaned it up or played with it yet.

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And then there's this monster. I'm willing to bet it is some kind of UK stone, bit I have no idea. It's still got a fair bit of oil in it I think.



The 1st looks thuri, dimensions. Someone that actually has one can let you know better. Is it in the realm of 5 or 6x2.5?
 
And then there's this monster. I'm willing to bet it is some kind of UK stone, bit I have no idea. It's still got a fair bit of oil in it I think.
The monster looks crazy!

On the video, if I go by the colors, it almost looks like two similar stones were glued to each other. One lighter, the other darker.

But you assume that there is still some oil in the stone, that could also explain the difference.

In any case, I have never seen such a kind of stone.
 
Ah I missed the video, wow that is a big Ole hunk! Well from the ting it's a dense stone. 😄 I couldn't tell from the video what the inside looks at the white part when you bring it closer for a second. It looked like an ark, but that was from a glance.
 
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