The Washita Thread

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I hope not. But could be.

If you reckon novaculite then I’m calling old Washita :). Probably just concidence but I’ve had a lot of them with very similar corner chips. (Though I have had Indias like that too.
 
How aggressive was the BBW? I've often read that it's equivalent to a 4K synthetic, grit-wise. Do you find that to be accurate?

I’m going to go against the grain here and say - in my experience the particle or grit size of a naturally bonded BBW has tended to seem around the same as the coti side. I even have one particularly odd stone where the coti side is notably coarser.

Though as Stringer said, I think coticules are better for razors, but because of how you can manipulate them. A slurried coticule is incredibly aggressive, but can finish very fine with clean water and zero pressure. The difference for whatever reason is less marked in BBW.

NB - I’m not an expert on using cotis with SRs. Those are just my impressions from using them with knives.
 
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Hard to say. But promising.

PXL_20220121_020718311.MP.jpg
 
Definitely not carborundum. But I don't have any idea. It's got layers and swirls. Pretty hard and dense but not super fine. It feels washita-esque but could be something else. I don't have any idea. Just glad it's not an India stone. ~8.5"*2.25"

More pictures tomorrow
 
Definitely not carborundum. But I don't have any idea. It's got layers and swirls. Pretty hard and dense but not super fine. It feels washita-esque but could be something else. I don't have any idea. Just glad it's not an India stone. ~8.5"*2.25"

More pictures tomorrow

Looking like one of the new colourful Washitas / soft ark...?

Dalmores have patterns like that too, but nothing else about it looks very Dalmore.
 
I’m going to go against the grain here and say - in my experience the particle or grit size of a naturally bonded BBW has tended to seem around the same as the coti side. I even have one particularly odd stone where the coti side is notably coarser.
A naturally bonded bbw is an exception as far as I know. In this case the bbw is (usually) much finer than usual. So a difference to the single sold bbw.

And that seems to agree with your experience.
 
A naturally bonded bbw is an exception as far as I know. In this case the bbw is (usually) much finer than usual. So a difference to the single sold bbw.

And that seems to agree with your experience.

Ah... I didn’t know this. Though now that you mention - I can imagine how that BBW near the yellow coticule might be more similar ‘grit’ to it than other parts. Interesting!

Most of the BBW I’ve used have been part of natural combis, though I do have a couple of pieces that aren’t. I shall have to try them out next to each other to compare...
 
Right now I think it might be a Dalmore. It's beautiful whatever it is. Never seen anything like it.



Oh yeah, Dalmore! At a push it could be a Hindo, but from the looks and your description, I'd be 95% on Dalmore. I only tried doing this earlier in the week but - they're much softer and coarser when soaked. If you let dry completely and then use with oil it'll be much more similar to a Hindo, at least in my experience. A nice, niche find, especially in the US, though these were exported there, sometimes under the name 'English Oilstone' or somesuch (despite being Scottish).

Apart from the surface pattern the other big giveaway is the colour - when they've been used with oil for a while Dalmore 'Blue's go brown. And it takes a surprisingly long soak to get rid. Here are some pics of mine, which has probably been soaked for 48hrs in total over a few different stints.

Dry:
IMG-4593.JPG


Wet:
IMG-4594.JPG


Other side wet. This side has less oil in it still, so the colour is more what the original blue looks like:
IMG-4595.JPG


On mine at least you can also see the surface patterns running down the sides. For a while this made me think it was a Hindo:
IMG-4596.JPG


I've lapped through most of it, so can't really take a picture, but it also has the same saw/cut marks as yours does at the end. So yep - almost certainly a DB :).
 
One of them has a ridiculous amount of mica. Absolute glitter bomb.



So when I said above 'original old Pike stones from New Hampshire'... it's pretty likely that's what you've got there by the look of it. The stone that Pike made their name on, and one of the first, if not the first, significant commercially produced US stones. I believe they were originally made mostly as scythestones, which would fit with the shape of yours too. Seriously cool score.



(Credit to @Desert Rat who originally sent me that vid a while ago - I wouldn't have known about it otherwise. I'm not just an encyclopedic repository of niche stone information!)
 
So when I said above 'original old Pike stones from New Hampshire'... it's pretty likely that's what you've got there by the look of it. The stone that Pike made their name on, and one of the first, if not the first, significant commercially produced US stones. I believe they were originally made mostly as scythestones, which would fit with the shape of yours too. Seriously cool score.



(Credit to @Desert Rat who originally sent me that vid a while ago - I wouldn't have known about it otherwise. I'm not just an encyclopedic repository of niche stone information!)


That's pretty cool. Thanks for resharing. I'm anxious to get to play with it.

Right now I'm on overnight trip to a couple friend's house. I always bring some kind of sharpening stones because they cook a lot and appreciate a touch-up when I visit. Mostly they have a bunch of Wusthofs, couple of Cutcos. So soft stainless. This time I brought the Buck Washita and a Norton Translucent File for deburring. I'm super impressed by the Buck. Cuts super fast at about 800 grit. Great feedback so you can tell when you are done because you don't feel the gritty resistance of mangled apex. Then just a couple swipes on the little hard ark to refine the apex just a touch and eliminate any burr. These are really pretty much the perfect tools for this knife collection.
PXL_20220123_134712239.jpg
 
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So when I said above 'original old Pike stones from New Hampshire'... it's pretty likely that's what you've got there by the look of it. The stone that Pike made their name on, and one of the first, if not the first, significant commercially produced US stones. I believe they were originally made mostly as scythestones, which would fit with the shape of yours too. Seriously cool score.



(Credit to @Desert Rat who originally sent me that vid a while ago - I wouldn't have known about it otherwise. I'm not just an encyclopedic repository of niche stone information!)


I did a bunch of reading today. And found the original SRP thread where that video was posted. There are no labels on mine, but I would bet it's one those original pikes. Mica/quartz schist. Pretty fine. Medium hardness. I didn't realize Pike and Norton got their start in New Hampshire. I spent a lot of time their when I lived in Boston I should have paid more attention to the rocks. Lol. I'm working on lapping it and I think I'm going to mount it on a wood block. I have plenty of antique ones to repurpose.
 
but looks like Washita if I understand this

Haha... Well this shows you why a lot of people consider the new Washitas (anything not produced by Pike-Norton) to be soft Arks. Old Pike-Norton Washitas were white.

Even something like this one - all that orange colour is old oil n stuff:

IMG-4462.jpg


If you degreased it for a few weeks / months it'd be white as the driven snow. You can see the true colour here on the end that I've belt sanded:

IMG-4667.JPG


---

Funnily enough I bought my first soft ark on ebay today. (All the other stones, but I've never had, or even tried, a soft ark!)

Nice condition, quite pretty-looking, old 8x2:

IMG-4644.jpg

It's very likely to be an old Pike-Norton stone, for a couple of reasons; Australian Abrasives were/are a subsidiary or associated with Norton Abrasives I believe, so a lot of the old American stones you find here are likely to be Nortons.

The joinery on the corners of the box is distinctive of Pike-Norton (though some other companies do the same now too). Here for instance are two of my old Washitas with the same style boxes. Top one is a labelled No.1, bottom one is unlabelled, but is likely an older Pike stone.

(And yep - both of these stones are completely white too, it's just oil and swarf):

IMG-4652.JPG
 
That's pretty cool. Thanks for resharing. I'm anxious to get to play with it.

Right now I'm on overnight trip to a couple friend's house. I always bring some kind of sharpening stones because they cook a lot and appreciate a touch-up when I visit. Mostly they have a bunch of Wusthofs, couple of Cutcos. So soft stainless. This time I brought the Buck Washita and a Norton Translucent File for deburring. I'm super impressed by the Buck. Cuts super fast at about 800 grit. Great feedback so you can tell when you are done because you don't feel the gritty resistance of mangled apex. Then just a couple swipes on the little hard ark to refine the apex just a touch and eliminate any burr. These are really pretty much the perfect tools for this knife collection.
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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.
 
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