In the excitement, I forgot to answer your question(s). The dark side is 
coarser, maybe natural maybe man-made. The good stuff is natural. It 
forms a bit of slurry like the superfine Japanese stones. Oh, use water, 
NOT oil.
How big is it?

Don, who only ever found small ones.

On 2018-02-07 1:02 PM, Ed Minch wrote:
>  From strop to stone
>
> I found what appears to be a very very high quality stone.  it is
maroon/brown/eggplant colored on one side
>
> https://www.flickr.com/photos/ruby1638/26265759018/in/dateposted-public/
>
> and tan/cream/pale yellow on the other
>
> https://www.flickr.com/photos/ruby1638/26265759338/in/dateposted-public/
>
> So 2 questions - what is it?  and how do I tell which side is the finer
stone?? —  in fact, how do you guess the grit of any stone you night find?
>
> I guess that’s 3 questions
>
>
> Ed Minch
> Don't anthropomorphise your tools - they hate that
>
>
>
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