Thread: Arkansas Hones

Originally Posted by randydance062449

Your focusing on price, not performance and a proven track record. The Norton 4/8 combo stone has both.

Just gotta talk SWMBO into letting loose of the moolah!

I have been itching to get a translucent as well... Damn rock disease!

SirStropalot is absolutely on the money with regard difficulty of lapping!

I bought one recently (described as a "black translucent Arkansas stone" by a very reliable tool dealer) and can confirm that they are as hard as hell. After what seemed like hours of flattening on 120 and 360 wet & dry paper I tried it out. I re-honed an already OK razor (finished on a Shapton 12k ceramic) and can confirm that it shaved about the same - in other words the Arky did no harm. I intend to try it as a follow-up to the Norton 8k and see what happens.

I've been on an Arkie binge lately. It isn't intuitive, but if you use a higher grit W/D sandpaper, it works faster. I now start at 800 grit, but see real movement at 1500 grit. Haven't used the silicon carbide powder suggested here but would like to try since I have a few others to lap.

As for the edge I get off the one translucent in use, so far it improves every edge I've tried it on...as far as I can tell. I also sent at least a half dozen arkie finished edges off to others with good reports back. I won't say it's as keen as a jnat edge and as smooth as a cotis, but one or two others have.

Keep in mind I am averaging about two hundred laps on mineral oil on the arkie. One wrong stroke and it's back to the Botan. Still learning what it's capable of. I have another very old translucent and four SB's of various size to test out. That's planned for next week.

I have a hard translucent Arkie that I picked up as an impulse buy. My only other stone is a ceramic that I found in the tool shed so I'm looking into acquiring HAD errr, I mean some more stones to help me out. I was thinking of getting a coticule bout for now as well as a synthetic bevel setter and maybe a JNAT later. My question is does it make sense to get a coticule with a hard Arkie? From what I understand is they are both finishers but the coticule can be used as a middle stone as well with a thicker slurry. The Arkie I have says it's somewhere between 6000-8000 but feels like glass with very little feedback. What do you guys prefer as your finale stone? Arkie or coticule?

Originally Posted by Nias

I have a hard translucent Arkie that I picked up as an impulse buy. My only other stone is a ceramic that I found in the tool shed so I'm looking into acquiring HAD errr, I mean some more stones to help me out. I was thinking of getting a coticule bout for now as well as a synthetic bevel setter and maybe a JNAT later. My question is does it make sense to get a coticule with a hard Arkie? From what I understand is they are both finishers but the coticule can be used as a middle stone as well with a thicker slurry. The Arkie I have says it's somewhere between 6000-8000 but feels like glass with very little feedback. What do you guys prefer as your finale stone? Arkie or coticule?

Nias,
I'm no expert on these things. My info comes from others who are and the reading I've done and my recent, but pretty extensive experiments with my own translucent arkies. So, take it for what you will.

First of all, your expressed ambivalence about the stated grit vs the feel of the stone is spot on. While a translucent arkie actually has a pretty low grit rating (I've mostly heard around 1200, not 6-8k) it's specific gravity which is usually around 2.6 is the feature that gives the arkie its unique honing properties. Translucent arkies are not middle grit stones, they are finishers. After the coti with water, after the jnat/tomo, after the 12k synthetic.

As someone told me once, max out your edge on the jnat or coti and then take it to you your Arkie. This is what I've been trying to do and I have yet to not improve any edge I've been working on. Up till a few days ago I was using about 150-200 laps on mineral oil on the arkie. Just switched over to glycerin/water combo which is less thick and gives more contact with the stone. Not sure yet if the difference I'm getting is a result of this switch or not, but lately my edges have been a tad harsh.

Normally, the edges I get off the arkie are blazingly sharp, but comfortable. Not the kind of comfortable one gets off a coti, but close enough.

This is all a longish way of telling you that you can set the bevel and go through a complete progression with any stone you like and then finish with your translucent.

Anyone have any suggestions that may help with finishing on an ark. Only just got it but haven't had much luck yet. +1 on the lapping. I used very low grit W&D over my d8c. Took so longggggg. Even more unfortunate I brought 2 in different sizes.

Buy a large cookie sheet from the dollar store, don’t use your bride’s. Put your wet & dry on the cookie sheet or loose silicon carbide on the sheet with water, (Loose Silicon Carbide is faster, Gotgrit.com.) Put the sheet on a flat surface, a flat piece of concrete will work but a large marble or granite tile works better as you can get off your knees.

The sheet will contain the mess, I use my AC condenser it is a good height that allows me to apply lots of pressure and is just out the shop door. Use lots of water and a progression, lapping away the previous scratch pattern. Turn your stone frequently & use a sharpie to mark a grid, pencil will come off on the first pass. If you use a progression it will go much quicker, make large jumps and it will cost you time and muscle.

Go as high a grit as possible ending with 2k W/D, then move to stones. Your honing progression 3, 5,8K and finish with a hard Ark with water and Smiths Honing Oil. Then hone a couple of kitchen knives with pressure until you feel the stones smooth out.
Your finished stone will feel like glass with a knife on it but you will feel the grit. It should not feel bumpy. It will take a bunch of laps at least 2-300 pressure laps.

The good thing is you only have to lap it once. Finishing a razor will take a lot of laps, experiment with pressure and use Smith’s Oil with water, 2-3 drops on a wet stone, keep the stone wet.

Just noticed that there is absolutly nothing written about Arkansas hones on the SRP wiki page. Maybe someone with experiance could contribute some knowledge for the sake of humanity.

My Arkie came flat as could be so there was no need to lap it, thank god. I took some really fine silicon sandpaper and just sanded it a bit to remove the glaze. That really helped with the feedback aspect as I can now tell that there is "some" abrasive action going on. Although I could hone on this stone all day long before I feel any improvement, then make one wrong stroke and have to hone for another couple hours.
I only have this and a ceramic so it will have to do for now. I really need to get me some more stones, and from what I've been reading on this site, so do the rest of you.

Originally Posted by Nias

Just noticed that there is absolutly nothing written about Arkansas hones on the SRP wiki page. Maybe someone with experiance could contribute some knowledge for the sake of humanity.

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Two basic facts about Arkansas stones are :

They are very decent finishers used with oil and
they are difficult to lap.

I ruined a DMT 325 on my black surgical ark and it's still not totally lapped.
My translucent is lapped but it came that way.