Home Forums Gear Knives and Blades Sharpening stone?

Without a box no answer can be certain. Many stones were sold in cedar boxes or on cedar bases. The size implies not terribly expensive when new and not worth a lot today. EBay may have enough comparable to get an idea of current prices.

Agreed with everybody else that it looks like a relatively coarse Arkansas stone Washita or Ouashita. Tthe stone to start with and for many purposes but not all enough stone to finish with. An oil stone and not a water stone.

On the other hand chatting with A. G. Russell - folks will remember he sold stones under the War Eagle name for the creek in his part of Arkansas - he told me the more color the more potential variation and the harder to grade accurately for retail sale.

Colored stones span the range from soft for a sharpening stone to hard but don't reach the super hard of translucent or black stones. Those two aside color really says nothing about effective grit.

Trade regulations specify density for classifying natural stones for the trade - more density is a harder stone.




All the information one could want, and enough more to be totally confusing can be found on the web. A stone freshly cut square will wear in and change a little over time. A stone will usually start a little smoother after being flattened and cut a little faster as time wears on; a diamond stone will usually start a little more aggressive and cut a little slower as time wears on or so the story goes.

I have a bunch of big natural oil stones including War Eagle surgical black with stands for sharpening softer knives - seems traditional for softer knives like Randall and such but for all practical purposes - water stone fanatics aside - I find a battery of today's diamond sharpeners - with stands, I agree with Mr. Russell that a sharpener without a stand is like a great holster with dime store belt never going to reach its potential - suit me just fine. If I had the skill I'd polish an edge but I don't and I'm not going to try to teach myself.