Greetings all,
>
>I went to a "widow downsizing to apartment" auction today and bought a
>box lot of stuff for $12. The main thing in the lot was a vintage
>8x2x1 Norton/Pike Lily White Washita Oil Stone. The rest was a bunch
>of sanding sleeves, a couple of hole saws; not exactly junk but maybe
>worth $12 if you needed the hole saws.
>
> Anyway, the stone is very flat and doesn't look like it's seen a lot
>of use. Can anyone tell me how white the stone should be if there
>were no embedded steel from prior use? It's certainly not paper
>white, but it's much more white than grey. Cleaning the stone off
>with a paper towel and oil didn't lift much metal dust. It's flat so
>there's no impetus shave off a layer in order to "flatten" it. I
>don't think it's full of metal particles since I could feel it cutting
>when I put an edge on a plane iron -- but until now I've been a
>scary-sharp and waterstone user. The edge was similar to what I get
>from SS. I think my knuckles are dragging a little more tonight than
>last... Any hints or info on the stone would be appreciated.
>
>hex
>-30-
>
>
Set a GOOD straight edge on it and see if there is any larger gaps in the length of the stone. That will tell you if it's flat enough.