Hone ID

Long time lurker but first time poster here,
I've lurked the forums for a long time and usually manage to figure out the answer to anything I need with a few searches, but the last 3 hones I've acquired have left me stumped (as well as an old hone which was my great grandfathers) and despite spending many hours searching the Internet. So I've bit the bullet and made an account in the hope you gents can help (I've heard HAD is contagious however so I've got to be careful now )
the first is a 6 x 1 x 3/4" dark grey / slightly blue hone, which has an almost metallic sheen to it, it is hard as hell and took a lot of lapping even with a DMT extra course stone for the bulk of the work) it has a sparkly surface but the crystals responsible remain invisible under 60 x mag, (not glittery enough to be a la lune). The slurry is an off white which dries with a very slightly green tint). No real distinguishing marks aside from a few small transparent dots on the surface.
Pan orange piece of wax is stuck to one end (possibly some form of identification) and the other end remains as raw unlapped Rock, the other side of the stone has some original cutting lines present.
Any further pictures will happily be added if needed.
Rob

the second is a hone which belonged to my great grandfather, is is 6x 1.5 x 0.75"
mossy green in colour with large number of black and white spots throughout, these do not sparkle.
It is a hard stone (seems to be some kind of slate) however not as hard as the grey hone above and it slurries fairly well with the DMT
Slurry is milky white and dries the same
I have tested as a finisher with oil after my coticule and it puts a very very nice edge on a razor

This one is a dark greeny grey colour, 5 x 1.75 x 0.75"
has a very 'sparkly' surface, which appears plain when dry but really shows its beauty when wet, with golden swirls appearing under the surface (no real pattern to them)
slurrys easily (fairly soft stone) with a milky brown slurry formed
stone is very smooth to the touch and not gritty at all
slurry dries a very very light brown

The last is a tapered hone which measures 1" at one end tapering up to 1.5" at the other, and is just a shade over 1/4 inch thick
It is black with brown / gold streaks, with a large portion of the back being this colour also
it is a very soft hone, and I figured it was a thuringian, however the gold streaks threw me off!
It slurries very easily, with a light brown slurry produced and is most certainly a finisher (I havent yet got round to testing it properly but it is very fine)

1 and 2 IDK.
3 A Thuri?
4 A Coti?

I guess the third one could be a Thuri, I wasn't aware they could sparkle like that however? It does have the mottling that I've seen on others,
the last one isn't a coticule, the colour is a much browner / gold colour, (I can take a picture next to me coticule for reference if it helps ?

2 looks like a Lynn Idwal

HunterBlades said:

2 looks like a Lynn Idwal

Click to expand...

Agreed...

First is a UK slate of some sort in my opinion.

Second I'd agree is probably a Lynn Idwal.

Third doesn't look like a thuri to me, but I can't place it. Looks coarse/looser than any thuri I've seen. Basically it just looks too flawed to be a thuri. Even patterned thuri's and thuri's with fossils always seem to have a very fine, clean, high quality look to them. That looks like a middle-grit stone to my eyes.

Last one I've had before. It probably isn't a thuri, it's another german slate. Similar to a thuri. Also quite soft. Edge isn't quite as comfortable, but is almost as sharp. You find them on some german paddle strops. Inferior stone in my opinion, but not easy to distinguish from a thuri without significant testing. Always seem to come in that blue/black color, with little in the way of recognizable patterning. If I had to compare it to a stone from a results/shave test perspective, I'd say it's more like the results coming off a french special stone or a slightly finer silkstone.

I tested the third stone today, having taken a 5/8 ern ator and blunting before re honing on 1k follow by Belgian blue and slurry dilutions on my coticule, the coticule is a real finisher and razors will generally pass HHT 3 after a good stropping.
I chose to use the coticule as I know how the edges perform off this stone.
The edge off the coticule was very keen and was pinging head hairs with a bit of encouragement,
I then moved onto the unknown hone, using a thin slurry for 10 laps, thinning down to a very thin slurry before finishing with 10 laps on the stone with just water.
The stone gave good feedback and improved the edge both under the microscope and in regards to the HHT, with hairs popping with minimal effort, I will retest this hone on another razor following finishing on a 12K Welsh slate as a final test.

The pictures I attached above show the stone in a rough looking condition as I had not lapped it down to 1000 grit (it was still at 320 grit lapping) it is a very smooth stone and the gritty appearance in the above pictures is not a true representation (I will add more pictures tonight)
as an extra note, I made a thick slurry and placed the stone near the radiator, the slurry smelled strongly clay like. And today I was able to raise a slurry by wetting and rubbing the stone firmly with my finger.
Rob