Thread: Arkansas Hones

With a finishing Arks, Black, Translucent or the Grey that I am seeing more of, you want smooth more than flat. The smoother you can get the stone the better, finer it will polish the edge.

They are hard, so it will take more laps that we are spoiled with synthetics or waterstone naturals. Time spent prepping/lapping an Ark will give you a keen, smooth shaving edge. That edge is different than any other I have tried, hard to explain. It has a little bite, but not enough to irritate your skin. I like it.

You edge/bevel will look hazy not polished under magnification.

The burnishing of the stone face with hard steel is what refines the face for razor edge polishing.

Originally Posted by Euclid440

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.

Just so I understand I use my stones on the ark after I've lapped it flat?

Ed

The best performance from an Ark finisher for razors is the smoothest finish on the face of the stone, by polishing with the highest grit finishing medium. You can use Wet & Dry, but if you have a progression of stones you can use them as well or instead of. It will not hurt your stones. The closer in progression your stones or W/D, the least amount of time you will spend on each grit.

Final finish on the Ark stones is with a Hard Ark stone, then hard Steel. The hard ark while it may be a lower grit, is harder and will polish finer once the stone is as smooth as possible.

This may seem over the top, but is only done once…like all the other stuff we do isn’t.

Enjoy that Ark edge.

Thanks for the info. I have a second smaller ark so will use that at finish as both are the same.