On Tue, 16 Sep 2008 16:37:46 -0700 (PDT), you wrote:

>Eric,, We have many questions too and will be trying to find another whetstone
like this too.
>
>Today i was at the museum,,,
>
>first off,,,
>My first impression of the whetstone when i first found it was that it is more
modern  too.
>but,,
>If when i passed my metal detector over the whetstone at the runestone
museum,,, it had made no beeping sound,,,then we would not be having this
discussion.... end of story...
>
>BUT as soon as it beeped I knew i was right in my guess that it too had a rod
in it.. That rod should be very telling and so either they are both modern
whetstones or both ancient but they are identical .( and the rod ends are
visible on both)
>
>Today i was in to the museum for a closer inspection and was hoping to get a
better photo too. (i may have to buy a new camera to get that done)
>
>Both stones are exactly ten inches long and one and a quarter inches wide and
3/4 of an inch thick. they are dark gray and i can see a ridge type line running
end to end up the side of the whetstones. They are more obvious on the whetstone
at the museum.

This caught my attention.

You say "Both stones are EXACTLY ... " (emphasis mine).

If by 'exactly' you mean 'equal_to' by ordinary standards of precision
it raises the question of whether or not the stones were made by a
culture using the modern system of inch measurements and capable of
working to them with a commercial standard of precision. I would be
surprised if a product of a medieval culture would fall into this
category.

>
>My stone is more worn on one half and would be consistent with a right handed
guy sharpening a hand-sickle aka a sy. A local farm said his grand father
carried one with in the field when cutting grain. This was the portable unit
when the whetstone wheel was not available. I would agree that this would fit..
>
>This would also work well for a knife that a hunter would use to sharpen up
while gutting out his deer.
>
>This is a very remote area and finding anything so valuable here is way off
base and unlikely...but not impossible,,,but,,,and then have it be identical to
the one in the museum tooo,,,wooow. what odds? but still not impossible.
>
>Margrett Leuthner makes a reference to it in her movie for the shepards chapple
from 20 years ago. she also writes this about it in her book "crusade to
vinland" on page 29:
>
>"No person was found buried benieth the kensington runestone. However they did
bury the well worn sharpening stone they had used. A HONE so worn down by the
constant sharpening of chisels that it BROKE IN OHMANS HAND when he found it in
1899."
>
>WELL THEN,, ugg ,,, the whetstone at the museum was not for sharpening chisels
and it is not well worn either. and looks newer  or less worn than the one i
have found..
>,,,,ugg.
>
>also in a page from their files there is this:
>
>#78.3155 Knife sharpener... coarse carborundum 4/18/59 mrs. henry moen
>
>and then this
>"Nel flatten, a neighbor, was cutting brush on his own land a few rods away,
and he came over from time to time to see ohman pull down the trees. He saw  the
stone as soon as it was liberated from the roots that held it and also the
inscription. He brought the news to kensington, and before long the theory was
evolved that someone-  a rober, perhaps- must have buried a treasure there and
made some mystic marks on the stone to mark the spot. With ohmans permission, a
big hole ,seven feet deep and wide, was dug, but nothing was found but an
antique whetstone, so worn with use that it broke in two."
>
>SO THEN,, a bit of a different story,,, but clearly the whetstone at the museum
is not broken in two.. it is however cracked in two places. the cracks are tight
and are just hairline but do run completely around the stones shaft and it would
lead one to believe that it was broken.. The rod holds them together tight and
they must not have had any idea there was a rod in it.
>
>On the display the card says:
>Olaf Ohman discovered the runestone on his property in 1898. In 1899, olaf and
nels flatten, the neighbor, dug a hole seven feet wide and deep under the site
of the kensington runestone to look for artifacts or bodies. nothing was found
except this antique whetstone. It was so worn that it broke in to two pieces
when handled."
>
>so eric,, that is everything to date..
>
>i will work on getting good photos posted soon.
>
>thanks
>steve
>
>
>
>
>
>--- On Sun, 9/14/08, Eric Stevens <eric.stevens@...> wrote:
>From: Eric Stevens <eric.stevens@...>
>Subject: Re: [American Runestones] whetstone found
>To: americanrunestones@yahoogroups.com
>Date: Sunday, September 14, 2008, 3:35 PM
>
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> On Sun, 14 Sep 2008 17:34:34 -0000, you wrote:
>
>
>
>>hi all,,I have found a whetstone and need some help with it. I will
>
>>post photos in the next day or two. The whetstone is about the size of
>
>>a hammer handle and is 10 inches long. this artifact may be important
>
>>or may mean nothing but i am trying to find more information on
>
>>whetstones.
>
>>
>
>>Last week while at the kensington runestone museum i was waiting for
>
>>julie, the director, and ron the archiver to get out of a meeting and
>
>>so took another look at the runestone and the dozen artifacts
>
>>displayed with the runestone. One of these other artifacts was a
>
>>whetstone that was the only other item found with the kensington
>
>>runestone. After olaf ohman found the runestone he and a neighbor went
>
>>back and dug a seven foot square hole under where the runestone had
>
>>been found in the roots of a tree and found a whetstone.
>
>
>
>That is very interesting! I have a number of books about the KRS and
>
>none of them mention Ohman going back and digging another hole, let
>
>alone him finding a whetstone! (Sorry about the exclamation marks but
>
>I am genuinely very surprised at this).
>
>
>
>Do you know if this mentioned anywhere?
>
>
>
>Has a geologist looked at the whetstone with an eye to determining
>
>what it is and where it may have come from?
>
>
>
>>
>
>>The whetstone i have i actually found last summer on the same day i
>
>>had just found another mooring stone. i had looked at it briefly and
>
>>though it to be more of a modern time and so put it in my backpack and
>
>>continued my search. i had pull the whetstone out at home and was
>
>>puzzled by a bit of a rod exposed that runs up the middle of the
>
>>whetstone. i had assumed that it had been repaired but was still very
>
>>amazed how they had gotten the rod into the stone.
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>>
>
>>The whetstone i found is identical to the one ohman had found and i
>
>>also saw two hairline cracks running around his whetstone but it is
>
>>not chipped like mine. i then had the idea that there must be a rod in
>
>>this whetstone too and asked julie if she had more info on the
>
>>whetstone of ohmans. i told her of my whetstone and asked if i could
>
>>open the cases and take the whetstone of ohmans out and test it with
>
>>my metal dector for the presents of a rod too. ron and i did that test
>
>>on tuesday and it did detect the metal rod inside ohmans too.
>
>>
>
>>We took a few pictures of the whetstones together.
>
>>We are all excited about this new discovery and the many possible
>
>>implications. After an hour on the internet i have not found any
>
>>whetstones with a metal rod in them. this rod is about 3/32,s of an
>
>>inch in diameter and runs end to end. now that we have two of these
>
>>there must be more and possibily an explanation of how they made these
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>>in addition to who made them and when these were made.
>
>>
>
>>Ohmans whetstone was brought to the museum in 1958. they are both gray
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>>and 10 inches long and are a half to 3/4 of an inch thick. mine is
>
>>worn on one end and the crack around the middle has exposed a rusted
>
>>metal rod.
>
>>
>
>>If any one has more info on whetstones or has time to research them
>
>>your help or input would be very appreciated and perhaps you could
>
>>help solve this puzzle. Are they 600 years old or 60ty?
>
>>
>
>>I have limited internet at a local coffee shop here in northern
>
>>minnesota and so do not have a way to do good searches of the many
>
>>sites and museums that may have clues to solving this mystery stone.
>
>>i have no idea how they were made and are they made like a brick and
>
>>then dried or fired? or are they cut or chipped from a larger piece of
>
>>rock.,,,and just how did they ever get that rod in the stone?
>
>>
>
>>I see many whetstone were made in norway from the viking period until
>
>>present and they were a big exporter of them. this whetstone is soft
>
>>and sandstone like and feels like an 80 grit piece of sandpaper. the
>
>>vikings also had a superstition that they should leave something with
>
>>the runestones.( ?whetstone? )
>
>>
>
>>The kensington runestone is possibly the greatest artifact in north
>
>>america.. the archaeologist would say to be a great artifact it would
>
>>have to contain the 4 w,s. The who, when, where and why.
>
>>
>
>>the runestone says they are 8 goters and 22 norr in the year 1362.
>
>>they are on a journey of discovery to vinland. there then is also
>
>>directions that tell of them having lost ten men at a location a day
>
>>north from this runestone. this site has never been located but using
>
>>these directions i have been searching a small lake 20 or so miles
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>>north of runestone hill that is at the source of the nearest river
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>>that flowed past runestone hill. this is rural farm country and very
>
>>hilly and the lake has no cabins and homes and is only about ten feet
>
>>deep. it has 25 miles of shoreline and after two weeks of hiking
>
>>around the lake i had found two mooring stones and this whetstone.
>
>>
>
>>thanks
>
>>sincerely
>
>>steve
>
>>
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>Eric Stevens
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Eric Stevens