The Washita Thread

Advertise with us
Miura knives
Japanese Knives - by Tokushu Knife
Shop Knives and stones on ebay
Kitchen Knife Forums

Help Support Kitchen Knife Forums:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
HumbleHomeCook said:
Here you go. Post #7 has a picture.

https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/anyone-use-the-norton-3-stone-sharpening-systems.1600861/
Click to expand...
It's something else.

PXL_20230324_205001315.jpg


PXL_20230324_205139234.MP.jpg
 
HumbleHomeCook said:
As I recall, the base is also an oil bath right?

I also think old Smith's, Case, and maybe Buck stones fit them but I could be totally wrong. I know they had 8" versions but I thought they had the 11's too.
Click to expand...
The base is an oil bath yes. This one the base has been broken and repaired so I got it cheap. I probably won't flood the bath anyway so no big deal for me. Now I have 6", 8", and 11" Tri-Hones. The big guy looks like a coarse and medium crystolon with a fine India maybe? I haven't looked too closely yet. My smaller ones are crystolon coarse, soft ark, hard ark (but all the weird semi-translucent ones that look like ancient butterscotch washitas.

cotedupy said:
You should still be able to buy all manner of other fun things to swap into the 313 if you want too...

View attachment 233262
Click to expand...
That's badass. Definitely got the mother in law birthday/Christmas gift dialed in for the next decade, god willing (we really get along and she loves buying me knife stuff).
 
Another from the Bay - This one out of QLD Aus for $20 aus sheckles.
Hard to work out from the sellers pick below, markings on the box said Wm Marpells and Sons, not many stone pics but showed the edge of a label that looked like Norton. from the pic, presumed it would be an India or similar. Already have a few old India stones, but give a few stones away to mates.
LW Nor1.jpg


Another little surprise when received this morning!!!

LW Nort.jpg


And then saw the label on the side !!!

Pike LW.jpg


Looking forward to cleaning this 8"x2" up. Another LW for the Fridge. Happy dayz.
 
Just cleaned up the label on the end and this one says "Fine Hard"
To all the Washita experts, were these stones graded?
This one to the touch feels a lot smoother than the last LLW i picked up and has a nice high pitch ring when tapping it with a pen.
Fine Hard LWW.jpg
 
Stockman said:
Just cleaned up the label on the end and this one says "Fine Hard"
To all the Washita experts, were these stones graded?
This one to the touch feels a lot smoother than the last LLW i picked up and has a nice high pitch ring when tapping it with a pen.
View attachment 233888
Click to expand...


Well that was a bit of a turn up eh! I wouldn’t have picked that for a Washita from the initial pic at all.

Pike Lily Whites were graded for their character. I’ve never seen it on another stone, nor indeed before now - a Norton era LW. Interesting, interesting.
 
cotedupy said:
Well that was a bit of a turn up eh! I wouldn’t have picked that for a Washita from the initial pic at all.

Pike Lily Whites were graded for their character. I’ve never seen it on another stone, nor indeed before now - a Norton era LW. Interesting, interesting.
Click to expand...
Was 90% sure it was going to be another India, but the 10% undecided and the label W.Marples and Sons on the box peeked my interest.
W.Marples and sons from what I can find out, were a large UK woodworking tool manufacturer dating back to its origins around 1862.

Will steam off the labels and give this one a bath, but might rub some steal across it first to see if she's a keeper or dust collector.
 
Stockman said:
Was 90% sure it was going to be another India, but the 10% undecided and the label W.Marples and Sons on the box peeked my interest.
W.Marples and sons from what I can find out, were a large UK woodworking tool manufacturer dating back to its origins around 1862.

Will steam off the labels and give this one a bath, but might rub some steal across it first to see if she's a keeper or dust collector.
Click to expand...


Yep, Marples were a fairly large, but very good quality, Sheffield toolmaker and cutler. I’ve got about 20 or so old Marples chisels of various flavours. Their history probably goes back a bit longer than that I think, because they were formed out of a couple of older producers.

And they also sold quite a variety of different stones as well, there are some catalogue pages of that somewhere I’ll try to dig out for you.
 
cotedupy said:
Yep, Marples were a fairly large, but very good quality, Sheffield toolmaker and cutler. I’ve got about 20 or so old Marples chisels of various flavours. Their history probably goes back a bit longer than that I think, because they were formed out of a couple of older producers.

And they also sold quite a variety of different stones as well, there are some catalogue pages of that somewhere I’ll try to dig out for you.
Click to expand...
The are still Marples making woodworking tools. There were a bunch of companies with similar names back in the day. Some of them family related and some just playing off of the success of the name. I don't know if the one on your box still exists. But the Marples name lives on in general
 
stringer said:
The base is an oil bath yes. This one the base has been broken and repaired so I got it cheap. I probably won't flood the bath anyway so no big deal for me. Now I have 6", 8", and 11" Tri-Hones. The big guy looks like a coarse and medium crystolon with a fine India maybe? I haven't looked too closely yet. My smaller ones are crystolon coarse, soft ark, hard ark (but all the weird semi-translucent ones that look like ancient butterscotch washitas.


That's badass. Definitely got the mother in law birthday/Christmas gift dialed in for the next decade, god willing (we really get along and she loves buying me knife stuff).
Click to expand...
They are a mess with a full bath and the grit gets mixed, so I just wipe them off with a rag and the bottom base on occasion.

Just to let you know all the replacment parts are available including the base but they have changed through the years and the current parts are not compatible with the older ones. Yours like mine are older, even the rubber feet are different but the new feet can be glued in. I learned this because I had a hair brained idea about two center sections loaded with different stones.
 
I will keep those tips in mind. Thank you.

It's seems quite dry, but I'm assuming it was used with oil; should I degrease it or just roll with it? Would degreasing allow me to use it as a water stone? Any other tips or guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks all!
 
It doesn't look too oily to me, but yes you can toss it in some simple green and it'll pull most of the darkened bits out to leave a mostly white stone. You'll want to steam that label off and save it before you toss it in.

You can use them with water or oil, I probably use mine with oil more often, but that's typically because they're coming off an oil stone from the previous progression step. If using water, I find a little dish soap or something similar helps things a decent amount.
 
stringer said:
Basically you need to weigh the stone in grams. Then see how much water the stone displaces to get it's volume. Divide mass by volume.

Click to expand...

Another control. Water temperature and temp of the object being measured are also factors in finding sg. If I remember it's @ 40° f.....
 
Logan09 said:
Picked up this stone. I took a gamble on it which I hate doing as I've been burned to many times(and still am) it was much more than I'd normally throw at an unknown stone, but I loved the Mahagony box it came in.

First picture with the box is what I saw. I knew it was a natural(I figured no-one would make such a nice box for for a synthetic) the stone was not coming out, I had to clamp it in my wood vise and after several attempts(i didn't want to break it or the box) it popped out. To my surprise the original label was still stuck on the stone. "Pike Rosy Red Washita" Going to try and save the label and attach it to the inside of the lid and give this a good de-greasing. Box also had initials and a date of 1931 carved in it which I was unaware of during purchase. It appears to be added much later and "crudely" done.View attachment 175566View attachment 175567
Click to expand...
Picked up this stone a while ago and sort of forgot about it. Box is similar style to this one. Thought it might of been a RR but unsure now hah.

First 2 pics outside pre clean. 3rd box. 4th indoor. 4, 5, after soak dry/wet. Last 2 pics of the box has a faint outline of a label of sorts maybe someone recognizes the shape?

Didn't get the SG yet, don't have a rig set up for a 8" stone yet.
 

Attachments

  • 20220604_150552.jpg
    20220604_150552.jpg
    2.8 MB · Views: 0
  • 20220604_150615.jpg
    20220604_150615.jpg
    2.1 MB · Views: 0
  • 20220604_201500.jpg
    20220604_201500.jpg
    1.5 MB · Views: 0
  • 20220604_211530.jpg
    20220604_211530.jpg
    945.8 KB · Views: 0
  • 20220613_114945.jpg
    20220613_114945.jpg
    3.2 MB · Views: 0
  • 20220613_115032.jpg
    20220613_115032.jpg
    3.1 MB · Views: 0
  • 20220826_134937.jpg
    20220826_134937.jpg
    1.6 MB · Views: 0
  • 20220826_134830.jpg
    20220826_134830.jpg
    2.2 MB · Views: 0
I am just curious and would like to ask the more experienced Washita users or the few Washita experts out there - are there also some other kinds of Washita stones with completely red labels like that on this stone which I recently bought (Washita Sharpening Stone - the tool squirrel) than the famous and very rare Rosy Red...Or did I luckily score one? To be honest, after reading all the various discussions about this particular kind of Washita I decided I urgently need one :-D...So I made various research about them within the last couple of days and even found one on Ebay, but lost the auction unfortunately (but it went really high for a Washita!), but on the same, i.e. yesterday incidentally found also the one I mentioned above...And as it really seemed to me from what I have read and seen that there are no other completely red on other kinds of washita, I bought it within minutes after I found it :-D...The worst thing that may happen is that I will get some "normal" Washita for a bit more than usually...But the hope is still there:)..Any input will be most appreciated! The label seems to be closely similar for instance to this one coming from a Rosy Red...

hqdefault.jpg
 
Krakorak said:
I am just curious and would like to ask the more experienced Washita users or the few Washita experts out there - are there also some other kinds of Washita stones with completely red labels like that on this stone which I recently bought (Washita Sharpening Stone - the tool squirrel) than the famous and very rare Rosy Red...Or did I luckily score one? To be honest, after reading all the various discussions about this particular kind of Washita I decided I urgently need one :-D...So I made various research about them within the last couple of days and even found one on Ebay, but lost the auction unfortunately (but it went really high for a Washita!), but on the same, i.e. yesterday incidentally found also the one I mentioned above...And as it really seemed to me from what I have read and seen that there are no other completely red on other kinds of washita, I bought it within minutes after I found it :-D...The worst thing that may happen is that I will get some "normal" Washita for a bit more than usually...But the hope is still there:)..Any input will be most appreciated! The label seems to be closely similar for instance to this one coming from a Rosy Red...

View attachment 243475
Click to expand...
Nice score, keep the label intact.
 
Skylar303 said:
His was the one in the link in the OP not the pic. I'd say it is one, and as Desert said I'd seal the label. 👍 Does infact look like a rosy label. Wasn't aware of any other companies with that color/size label.
Click to expand...
Actually, I might possibly be able to answer my question by myself, finally:)...When browsing through all the posts within this thread, I found this one by Oli: The Washita Thread

And that what can be found there is the so-called Red Washita which has a very similar, completely red label as some of the Rosy Reds, but it should be, according to Oli, the only labeled No. 2 grade Washita, some special edition for the UK market...And as can be seen, the label is comparatively a bit wider than the Pike's and also lacks the picture of the pike...And if one compares the label on my stone (see the last photo in the link I posted above!) with that one by Red Washita as posted by Oli, its probably the same, considering first the dimensions and second, the fact that there might be seen a highly faded, but still recognizable writing running in the same direction (i.e. slightly obliquely) as the "WASHITA" writing on that Red washita label...

So, it might be a useful info for those who might eventually also get a Washita with a similar, completely red, but unreadable label - it doesn't automatically mean that's a Rosy Red!

Anyway, the stone itself looks quite consistent, so let's wait how it will perform!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top