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 bought the stone he mentioned for a very reasonable £10 including postage.
This is it:
You can see that it's new old stock. How old?
There are some obvious clues, and a little light research brings up some answers.
To read a bit more about the stone itself, I first checked in my copy of "Natural 19th and Early 20th Century Sharpening Stones and Hones" by Brian Read and Doug Morgan (a joint publication of The Tools and Trades History Society, UK and The Traditional Tools Group (Inc.), Australia, available here. That told me it was geologically hornfels and that it came from a quarry at Melynllyn, near Conway in North Wales.
It also told me that the quarry was known to be owned and operated in 1888 by the tool merchant AB Salmen, of St Mary Axe, London (where the Gherkin is now).
Looking closer at the very fine label
I now think that the wording within the drawing says "SALMEN LONDON OILSTONES."
BPM III told me that the 'long established' business of AB Salmen was taken over in 1926.
A discussion at the "Straight Razor Place" forum showed me two billheads for Salmen - at two more addresses in the City.
It also included a list of owners of quarries, showing that Salmen's owned the Melynllyn quarry between 1897 and 1906. Some more searching led to a 1908 list of mines showing Salmen as owners and that two people worked above ground and two below.
Some evocative pictures of the mine as it is now can be found here http://heritagephotoarchive.co.uk/p440400118 including the remains of a water powered saw, used to cut the pieces of rock into the right sizes.
But although the history is interesting, I like my tools to be in usable condition and I bought this to use it. How does it perform?
Some readers, who think it matters, may be wondering if it's flat.
Not the best photo, but I could not see any light between my Moore and Wright square and the stone's surface.
I tried it first with 3-in-1 oil, which is what I usually use. I found that it cut, but very slowly. There was some blackness on the rag, proving that steel had been removed, but not much. It felt as if the oil was working as a lubricant should, preventing the chisel from contacting the abrasive surface.
I think this must be because the stone - unlike a man-made oilstone - is very non-absorbent, so the oil all sits on the surface.
I switched to the nearest thin lubricant to hand - WD40 - and this gave much better results. I could feel the stone cutting - though it was still a slow action.
It produced a good smooth surface, which I have failed to photograph properly - small shiny surfaces are not easy!
but the good news is that it cuts paper, hair or wood with equal ease.
I now have a natural stone which is noticably finer than the hard Arkansas I normally use, and it's an extra bonus to know that it was first bought somewhere between about 1888 and 1926 - let's say around a century ago - by someone who just tucked it away in a safe place but never used it.
I shall use it - but I don't expect to wear it out!
Thanks again to Jim for the tip-off; and happy hunting to anyone else who fancies using a good whetstone.
I followed his hint and was pleased to see that nobody else did - all the better for me, as I bought the stone he mentioned for a very reasonable £10 including postage.
This is it:
You can see that it's new old stock. How old?
There are some obvious clues, and a little light research brings up some answers.
To read a bit more about the stone itself, I first checked in my copy of "Natural 19th and Early 20th Century Sharpening Stones and Hones" by Brian Read and Doug Morgan (a joint publication of The Tools and Trades History Society, UK and The Traditional Tools Group (Inc.), Australia, available here. That told me it was geologically hornfels and that it came from a quarry at Melynllyn, near Conway in North Wales.
It also told me that the quarry was known to be owned and operated in 1888 by the tool merchant AB Salmen, of St Mary Axe, London (where the Gherkin is now).
Looking closer at the very fine label
I now think that the wording within the drawing says "SALMEN LONDON OILSTONES."
BPM III told me that the 'long established' business of AB Salmen was taken over in 1926.
A discussion at the "Straight Razor Place" forum showed me two billheads for Salmen - at two more addresses in the City.
It also included a list of owners of quarries, showing that Salmen's owned the Melynllyn quarry between 1897 and 1906. Some more searching led to a 1908 list of mines showing Salmen as owners and that two people worked above ground and two below.
Some evocative pictures of the mine as it is now can be found here http://heritagephotoarchive.co.uk/p440400118 including the remains of a water powered saw, used to cut the pieces of rock into the right sizes.
But although the history is interesting, I like my tools to be in usable condition and I bought this to use it. How does it perform?
Some readers, who think it matters, may be wondering if it's flat.
Not the best photo, but I could not see any light between my Moore and Wright square and the stone's surface.
I tried it first with 3-in-1 oil, which is what I usually use. I found that it cut, but very slowly. There was some blackness on the rag, proving that steel had been removed, but not much. It felt as if the oil was working as a lubricant should, preventing the chisel from contacting the abrasive surface.
I think this must be because the stone - unlike a man-made oilstone - is very non-absorbent, so the oil all sits on the surface.
I switched to the nearest thin lubricant to hand - WD40 - and this gave much better results. I could feel the stone cutting - though it was still a slow action.
It produced a good smooth surface, which I have failed to photograph properly - small shiny surfaces are not easy!
but the good news is that it cuts paper, hair or wood with equal ease.
I now have a natural stone which is noticably finer than the hard Arkansas I normally use, and it's an extra bonus to know that it was first bought somewhere between about 1888 and 1926 - let's say around a century ago - by someone who just tucked it away in a safe place but never used it.
I shall use it - but I don't expect to wear it out!
Thanks again to Jim for the tip-off; and happy hunting to anyone else who fancies using a good whetstone.
