Vintage Labeled Yellow Lake Lynn Idwal/Grecian

[SliceOfLife]

So I purchased a very oil-soaked Yellow Lake from UK last month. Bought it because it's 10x2" and I've not seen a 10x2" Yellow Lake before.


Get's here and it's a "grecian" type spotted Lynn Idwal.
I've only ever seen one or two of these before with the Yellow Lake Label.

Been prying bits and pieces of the label off and out of all the shellac/tar that it's been embedded in.

 

[SliceOfLife]

Here's the only other example I can find online:

 

[LJS]

7x1.5 YL here I have always called Llyn Idwal.

 

[LJS]

8x2 boxed.....no label on stone....not what I generally call Llyn Idwal. But I’m no expert.

 

[LJS]

I figured they were like the WARAHO stones and just bought any “fine” stones they could get and labeled Yellow Lake. Made that up on my own so no known fact behind it short of the variability there is.

 

[SliceOfLife]

Interesting

My Black slate (Yellow Lake) has yellow red in the triangle. I've had 10ish, all black slates, all yellow/red.
Your black slate... yellow/red


The one I found online, My 10", yours you just posted that are all "lynn idwal"s? Green/red.

Possibly a designation of stone type, or maybe a change in era... and the era where they were getting Lynn Idwal's was the green/red label era?

 

[SliceOfLife]

I'll also note, I've had maybe 6-8 unlabeled stones that I considered Lynn Idwals... that looked like these stones, in sizes from 5" to 12"... this stone is soooooo much softer and more regular grained than any of those... most of them were crazy hard. This stone Reminds me of a really good soft Charnley in feel. Shave test will tell if it's a decent finisher.

 

[LJS]

Somewhere I have a red box black slate. Can’t seem to locate. Been sometime since I read up but remember something about some being “genuine salaam” YL and some not.
That said, and possible me confused, your theory could be true. You LI-YL and mine both look significantly older than my boxed stones.

 

[SliceOfLife]

Yeah, The green labels are definitely the older label. Maybe they originally were selling Lynn Ids as "Yellow Lake" and then when that mine closed they switched to the black slates we all call "Yellow Lake"... and either then or shortly after changed label to yellow?


And as for the theory that they're like Waraho's... I've heard that before, but the sentence on the bottom of the labels seems intended to specifically contradict that... It claims that this "Yellow Lake" label is owned/trademarked/provided ONLY by the quarry itself... as in, they aren't slapping the label on any stones they didn't mine.


This does explain the number of perfect square cut Lynn Id's out there (Charnleys are rarely cut like that, but lynn id's are fairly often found with nice square cuts)... probably old Yellow Lake hones that lost their labels.

 

[LJS]

Your theory is quite plausible. Maybe others can post up what they have for reference. I bet that English gentleman Neil? who passed away could answer this one quick if he were still around.

Interesting thing about that sentence you mentioned, have seen it on all labels regardless of stone. Perhaps they had a quarry with several different layers? Or perhaps just basic branding, marketing, etc. Big diff between the types I have so maybe a geologist could say if that were even possible.

Regardless of the conjecture, I find them to be Llyn Idwal stones with the YL label. The ones you brought up anyway.

 

[LJS]

I still can’t seem to find that red box stone I have, but spent a few minutes googling which can be dangerous I know. I did find some Neil Miller posts on the YL and he said there were at least 4 and linked the YL business license which was both quarrier and importer. Original owner, Salman, started off using it as a brand using multiple suppliers and not just his own YL quarry.

Checked out some google images as well and the types I see are most predominantly the black slate types which most in my hands are identical to dragons tongue and not quite finishers. My yellow box one is smoother than most so I have kept it but most look like this. There is also a lighter grey slate looking type that most say is course like maybe 6kish. I haven’t had one. Then there is a purple type which I can’t tell for sure but seems to be what Salman originally mined and also sourced similar. Very little on the Llyn Idwal types but I’m about sure that’s what mine, and yous, is/are.

Weird thing though is that I came across that same photo you posted above. I didn’t pay it much attention originally and should have zoomed in so my eyes could see. But that very much looks more like a Dalmore to me. At least what I call a Dalmore. That kind of surprised me but may just be part of the brand and outsourcing.

 

[SliceOfLife]

Bumping this because there's a green label on an auction site right now that is CLEARLY not very old. It's oily, but to me it looks like it's a lynn idwal under the oil, not a lynn mell... which if that's the case supports that the green label was used to signify the lynn idwal stones under the yellow lake label, and wasn't era specific (this label is BRILLIANT, looks brand new almost)

 

[Biltong & Boerewors]

Don't know if I am allowed to do this, but here is a link from a tool forum with a lot of info about the stones:

Yellow Lake honing stone

A little while ago, in a discussion about oilstones, Jimi43 posted one of his many sensible, helpful comments pointing out that you can get some very good old oilstones on ebay for not much money. I followed his hint and was pleased to see that nobody else did - all the better for me, as I...

www.ukworkshop.co.uk

 

[cotedupy]

I was about to post these pics on another thread, but then did a little search and found that @SliceOfLife had already spotted (ho ho) the same thing a while back. Still, I can’t believe I hadn’t noticed this before…

The Yellow Lake Idwal is exactly the same type of rock as the James Howarth ‘Grecian Hone’: