The Washita Stone Confusion (no replies)

In several new YouTube videos, people have acquired vintage Washita stones and have given the modern description of the stone, i.e. that it is coarser that the Soft Arkansas. This may be true for some stones marketed as Washita stone in today's market, but the fact is those stones are most likely Soft Arkansas stone that are on the coarse side. The Washita stone is its own type of stone, just like a closely related Arkansas stone or other natural stone. Like the Arkansas stone, the Washita stone comes in different densities, grit grades and cosmetic grades. Originally, before the modern grading system for Arkansas stone which is complex, the old grading system divided Arkansas stones into two grades: Hard and Soft. The Hard stones were the fine stones(est. 4k-8k+ JIS*) , and the Soft(est. 600-2k*)t were the coarse stones. Washita stones were graded in the exact same way (with some additional grades for cosmetic issues, as the Washita stones are more prone to inclusions than Arkansas stones) for the exact same reason, as the stones can vary form coarse (est 400 to 2k JIS*) to very fine (2k-4k JIS*). For example, the Pike/Norton Lily White came in Hard or Soft, and the same with the No 1 and No 2, along with their Rosy Red stone. So you can have a Washita stone that is almost as fine as a Surgical Black or Translucent Arkansas (using today's grading system) all the way through down to being more coarse than a Soft Arkansas (again, using today's methods).




Sources:

United States Geological Survey
[books.google.com]

Annual Report of Geological Survey of Arkansas
[books.google.com]

Mineral Resources of the United States
[books.google.com]




*Natural stones don't actually have a grit rating, but you can estimate how coarse or fine they are by comparing them to known synthetic stones