I bought this a while back at the local swap meet and gave the guy his asking price, something I normally don’t do. It has remnants of the original Norton Abrasive Co label and I thought it said ‘Queen Creek’, but on doing some research I discovered it was in fact ‘Queer Creek’ and was the name of the stone/quarry from which it comes.
I decided I needed to make a box to hold and protect the stone. I selected a scrap of pine and chopped out the mortises with a chisel and smoothed out the bottom with a wooden router plane.
There are points at the corners on the bottom to hold it in place on my workbench while I am sharpening or honing. I used a square cut headless brad, pounded it in then snipped it off leaving a tiny point projecting. One long nail took care of all 4 corners.
Now I need to make an appropriate box for the fine Guangxi waterstone that I just acquired. I want to cut one end off the stone to make an ink stone, then I will make the box.
I will mention my unusual method of sharpening on an oil/water stone in the near future.
Stephen