Dished Sharpening Stone

[Rick S]

Purchased an old dished out sharpening stone in a coffin shaped wooden box. The stone dated back to the 1880s and at some point was broken so one piece was about five inches and another three inches. Both pieces were used so much they are really dished out.

My original intent was to just use the box and give a Pike Wa****a stone a new home. The Pike was in great shape and still has the original label on one surface. I decided to clean the old stone and see what kind it was. I suspected it was a very high grade of Wa****a or Soft Arkansas. To test I tested the bite of the stone with my old carbon steel chefs knife. Was amazed how fast it was removing metal. Much faster than any of my other natural stones. Testing the edge I had passed a level of sharpness that I haven't achieve to this point in time.

I have always lapped my stones flat and it was my opinion that you couldn't sharpen a knife on a dished stone. Now I have just put a scary sharp edge on my chefs knife. Slicing raw meat and slicing onions paper thin was an experience that hard to explain. Just scary Sharp to the max.

Hoping someone can explain why the dished stone worked so well.

Hope you folks can figure out the stones name. For some reason it keeps getting changed by the naughty filter. That's kind of funny. This is my first post hope its not my last.

 

[TeeDee]

Rik

Anychance you can spell out the stones name phonetically?

As in

WHISKY ALPHA BLANK BLANK BLANK BLANK ALPHA

hth

 

[livefast999]

Pike...... Whiskey Alpha Sierra Hotel India Tango Alpha..... Stone

 

[Rick S]

livefast999 You are correct. It's a mountain range in Arkansas where it is mined named after the Indians that lived there. It cuts faster than Soft Arkansas. This one cuts very fast like a medium India but about the same abrasion as a fine India that has been used a lot. It is so dished that to true it up nothing would be left.


What I was thinking is I cut a convex edge using the dished stone.

 

[mr dazzler]

Probably something to do with that design concept of form following function. So make a form that assists the desired function....why not post some pictures of the stones and your knife?

 

[FGYT]

I keep a convex secondary in all my Chefs knives which is how thay come from factory gives a sharp and tough edge on the fine full flat primary
i also dont go as fine a grit on them as my wood knives as the fine saw tooth bits and cuts food better where a sharper but polished edge skates off ie tomatoes

ATB

Duncan

 

[MartiniDave]

Growing up in the Fens I remember a lot of the "Old Fellas" had whetstones in wooden storage boxes, most were deeply dished as you describe, and all were greatly cherished by there owners. Better than new ones they'd say.
I'm lucky to have a few, found when we cleared out my Dad's sheds, he was as big a jackdaw as me, and had snaffled those old stones when the old boys had passed on. They do seem to give a good general use edge and are at least as good as Jap waterstones.
From looking at the assortment, it seems there was a much large selection of stones available back then, and all way better quality than the Blackspur stuff you find now.

According to google, Wa****a stones are coarserr than regular Arkansas stones.

Sounds like you've stumbled on a little treasure there!

Dave

 

[robin wood]

I think FGYT has it. It is perfectly possible to sharpen on a dished stone but it gives a convex edge, this is better for somethings and less good for others.

There is a lot more to sharpening than just the degree of sharpness, the shape of the edge will affect how the knife feels in use. For cutting tomatoes you want a very thin knife so a full flat grind and coarse secondary bevel. For woodcarving the convex edge is not good as to control the cut it is important to register the bevel on the surface of the wood, can't do this if it is rounded.

Here is a folding knife maker I visited a while ago in Spain giving the final touches to a knife on a dished stone.

and testing

pics of the knife being made on my blog here http://greenwood-carving.blogspot.com/2010/01/folding-knives-in-spain-and-sheffield.html

 

[demographic]

I don't really worry about dished stones unless I am flattening plane irons and chisels off.

Never really bothered me for knives anyway and for doing the bevel of a plane iron having a dished stone can help as it gives the iron that bit of a camber so you can plane a board that's wider than the iron without putting tramlines in it from the plane iron corners.

 

[JonathanD]

It can wreck a scandi grind something chronic though. Always worth investing in a flattening stone if you use Japanese whetstones on a scandi grind. I never used to bother ten years or so back. After a while a slight convex edge appeared and required loads of work to put back after I used a DC4 while out and about. It was mullered good and proper, and was the devil of a job to make flat again.

The stones looked dead flat to my eye. It was only when I laid them down on the flat kitchen worktop and could see the very slight concave wear that had ground the stone down over a couple of years. Since then after every major sharpening session, I've rubbed them together to keep them flat and invested in a flattening stone for the medium to heavy grits.

 

[Rick S]

Posting some photographs would only make sense. Just don't know how to do it. Not up to speed on new technology. Trying to explain it to me would be a waste of time.

Bought this stone on EBay. I was the lone bidder and only bid on it myself for the box. Guess the break and being in two pieces was a deal killer. After using it I feel I got a diamond in the rough. Have several old ones that are still in the original box with the manufactures stickers still in place. This is my favorite so far. Now if I could just find out who belongs to the initials A.D. etched on the back of the box. I'm betting he knew something about sharpening and must have worn out a bundle of knives on this stone.


Thanks for every one's information and responding to my original post. I joined this forum because looking over your forum it's apparent you folks are very knowledgeable and I'm here to learn.

Didn't know if they would let an American join. My ancestors lived in Burton Joyce near Nottingham a long time ago. We left in the 1630s so I feel a bit like this is a homecoming.

 

[pitta-pitta]

Nice find.