Whetstone
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Description
A hard, fine-grain, abrasive stone used to hone tools and blades. Whetstones are usually composed of chalcedony, silica, or sandstone. Artificial whetstones are made with Alundum® or Carborundum. Whetstones are sometimes oiled before use and, hence, called oilstones.
Synonyms and Related Terms
oilstone; snakestone; honestone; rubbing stones; sharpening stone; coticule, Ayr stone; Ouchita stone (from the Ouchita Mountains in Arkansas); Scheifstein (Deut.); wetsteen (Ned.)
Comparisons
Properties of Common Abrasives
Sources Checked for Data in Record
- G.S.Brady, Materials Handbook, McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York, 1971 Comment: p. 869
- Ralph Mayer, A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques, Harper and Row Publishers, New York, 1969 (also 1945 printing)
- Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, at http://www.wikipedia.com Comment: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whetstone_%28tool%29 (Accessed Sept. 20, 2005)
- Random House, Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language, Grammercy Book, New York, 1997
- The American Heritage Dictionary or Encarta, via Microsoft Bookshelf 98, Microsoft Corp., 1998