The mackerel stone should be cleaned, ground, toned, dried, polished, and made into an ink stone.

Cleaning: clean the mackerel stone with running water to remove the dust and dirt on the surface. Grinding: Put the cleaned mackerel stone on the grinding wheel and grind it with sandpaper or grinder to make its surface smoother and easier to use. Toning: Since the color of the mackerel stone is not completely uniform, it needs to be toned. Soak the mackerel stone in warm water and add some oxalic acid or other acidic solution as needed to adjust its color.

Drying: Dry the color-tuned mackerel, usually for a few days until it is completely dry. Polishing: Polishing the dried mackerel stone to make its surface smoother and achieve better use. Inkstone making: After the above treatment, mackerel stone can be used to make inkstones. According to different needs and purposes, you can choose different shapes and sizes of mackerel stone to make.

Introduction of mackerel stone

Mackerel stone, also known as black carp (huàn) stone, fish shock stone, fish essence stone, fish pillow stone, for the mackerel occipital bone below the pharyngeal part of the throat a used to assist in crushing the snail and other hard food keratin growths. Its color is yellow and tender, its shape is like a heart, hard as a stone after drying, crystal clear, such as jade, in the Hakka region as a precious item. It can be tied to a child's wrist with a string, which is said to have the effect of driving away evil spirits, preventing children from being frightened, and bringing good fortune and prosperity, hence the name "Fish Scare Stone".

Specialized production of mackerel stone quality such as angel muscle coral, color than Saiga antelope horn, limpid amber beeswax, people love. Therefore, the freshly taken mackerel stone needs to be stored in a cool, windless, light-proof, dry environment for more than half a month, to be its natural shade drying is appropriate. After drying, mackerel stone is orange with pink and attractive color.

Reference: Baidu Encyclopedia - Mackerel Stone