So I bought an arkansas...but

So I won a auction on ebay for a arkansas hone that says it is a Black Hard Arkansas, but if you go on Dan's Whetstone's he has his arks classified as soft, hard, black, and translucent in that order of fineness too. So my question is what is it? Is it a hard ark that happens to be black or is it a black arkansas that is hard. I believe the maker is taylor or something like that. The writing is hard to make out but I can see that it says Black Hard Arkansas. Here is the link to the auction.

New Knife Hone Sharpener in Cedar Box New | eBay

Man you better watch out for the police ...... you stole that hone @ $11.00 . ;)

I believe, going by the box and my memory, that is a Smith's Black Hard Ark. Some guys say that a translucent is finer, others the Black hard Ark. The old vintage Norton and Pike boxes are marked "Hard Arkansas" regardless of whether it was a translucent or a black. IMO the black is slightly finer, but that may just be the trans and black that I have. I'm sure they vary. Anyway, it ought to be a nice finisher for you.

Oh yeah I know I stole it haha. I was so nervous that I was going to be overbid at the last few seconds and then bam it said I won. I was just bored scrolling the ebay pages for hones and saw that sucker screaming my name and I have been wanting an ark for a while but the prices were too high for what was in stock plus the smaller hones are just perfect for my taste.

But thanks I hope it is a good finisher. I hate buying things on the bay or internet in general because of my lack of a certain virtue that begins with a "p"

Congratulations cosperryan! Jimmy’s right, nice catch. They are sometimes called surgical black Arkansas. Similar to this A G Russell War Eagle Whetstone Surgical Black Hard Arkansas | eBay Use with a little oil. I hope it’s nice and flat. Don't drop it on a hard surface.
Mike;

http://i.imgur.com/EqBt0qP.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/7FPTlPq.jpg

Thanks mike. I doubt its going to be lapped, although my fingers are crossed. I have read about people and their lapping nightmares on these stones. I have heard that most use smiths honing oil but I grabbed some norton honing oil to use on my coticule and I figure honin oil is honing oil so I guess it should be fine

Smiths or Norton or even mineral oil is fine. Go easy a little dab will do. Be prepared do a minimum of 100 to 200 passes (good practice). Clean off any residual oil when done. Have fun.
Mike

http://i.imgur.com/JEwyMqU.jpg

200 laps? Thats it? No I dont mind the amount. From what little honing I have done I enjoy it very much and find it very relaxing and gives me something to do. I am dreading the lapping part though. I dont mind it with my nortons or coticule because those are easy but all I have is a 1200 grit diamond stone that is very old and thus well worn. I highly doubt it is up to the task of lapping an ark. Any suggestions for that. I dont have enough money to spend on a dmt so cheaper is better

A good Black Arkansas stone is a very smooth extra-fine finisher. I now use Mineral oil, and it seems to work just as well as honing oil, which I used most of my life; prior to this year.

I have 3 Surgical Black, and 2 Translucent Stones. My favorite happens to be a 2"x4"x1" Blue-Black stone that gives a keen edge, but a little more quickly than the others. I have a 2"x6"x1" stone that is a Black Translucent. It's hard and smooth like glass. It's much slower than the others.

There is a specific "Smith's Honing solution " that works very well and is not oil and is water clean up, that is what I use on all oil stones now to make sure I never risk contamination with my water stones...

Arkansas stones are not only rated by color and type but density also, but unless you have several stones to compare to that might not mean much... My good Arkie might be my most dense stone, I have a few new ones I haven't checked but I doubt they can beat it..

So I got my ark today. Holy crap did that thing suck to lap and man did it need it. It was covered in sap from the cedar box so I just soaked it in alcohol and got the sap off. Like I said all I have to lap is a 1200 grit diamond stone so it took about 2.5 hours. I honed a little with it and it really doesnt have a feel to it but does have a sound like a ringing sound from the steel dragging across it. It is a little translucent about eighth of an inch of light will shine through it. For 11 bucks I don't think I did that bad.

Sounds good! In the future it might help to start lapping with 180grit emery cloth and work up to 1200grit wet/dry. This type of stone will strip the diamonds from DMT 1200 plate.
Mike