Opinions on gold testing touch stones

[Ringhunter]

I ordered some acids to test some scrap but the stone that came with it it is very small and seems to be a perfect piece of junk. I did a little research and there are a few different type of natural stones, Danube, Arkansas and other natural stones. I had a Mizar24 but got rid of it because I just couldn't trust it so I'm new to the scratch test thing.
Any opinions on size and type would be appreciated. I will be testing alot of silver also so I hope that doesn't make a differende.
Thanks in advance!

[freud198]

http://www.scales-n-tools.com/index....roducts_id=471


This is the one I use, AND LOVE IT !!!!!! It is big and easy to clean.......This is the best stone on the market. It is synthetic

[Garyw]

I buy and resell vintage jewelry I use an acid test kit on a daily basis and the stone I use is like an arkansas stone but is only about 2" x 3" and came with the kit. It works fine for me. when I get too many scratches I clean it with a brillo pad and rinse it off and start all over.

[Alabama-Mike]

my favorite is arkansas stone 2"x8" in as jet black as you can get. the grit was about 1500ish when i got it but I tried to get it as close to 15,000 ish as possible with my lapidary setup.

Can't beat it and the HUGE stone allows me to test 20 or 30 (even more if I'm careful) pieces at a time. just line em up and let er rip.

I got a good deal on some jet black stones from an ebay seller from arkansas that was offering the stones at an intro price of ~20 a piece......last time I checked those sized ones go for $60+ and they are not as dark black as the ones I got. But they would be worth even the 60 bucks as you can cut them into about 6 BIG stones .....

Stay away from the synthetic ones....I can't give you a good reason why they just dont feel right to me.