The dans primitive stones are like an off the menu item. You have to know it exists before ordering. I don't know why they dont advertise it. Saves them lots of money
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The dans primitive stones are like an off the menu item. You have to know it exists before ordering. I don't know why they dont advertise it. Saves them lots of money
Thanks Wid, that makes sense. The only info I could find about the Washita is they were used in the abattoirs here for knives. It is the second one I have seen, but no-one knew what they were.
The second stone, I got wrong too, it is a Hard Translucent Arkansas stone from sharpeningsupplies.com.
There is another thread here using a different approach with the Arks which I found interesting.
We woodworkers (not necessarily me) are often catalog buyers, and not too adventurous.
A lot of the woodworking crowd that's out there is incapable of using anything that isn't matched to a sharpening guide. It sort of baffles me as to why people wouldn't want to develop some hand skill, but many don't want to.
I wish they stocked some. It's not like I need stones, but I wouldn't mind a few hunks of their rejects. I already have two of their bona fide 8x2 bench stones (black and trans).
I'm just too lazy and impatient to wait a month for them.
I don't think that the prices will go up, it's not like there's a huge run on primitive stones, lol.
Neither do I, but just a hunch. If they put them on their page, they could market them for 2/3rds of bench stone price and I'll bet people would buy them.
But it would also cut into their finished stone sales.
Yeah I was just joking. I remember the dragons tongue stones went up when people on here and other forums started going crazy on them and Inigo Jones didn't know how to handle it and couldn't make them fast enough and people were charging higher prices for theirs. Of course they are not a full time hone making company like dans so.
It'd be interesting to hear from dans what most of their market is. When you go around woodworking stores, there are tons of them that have 1/2 inch thick stones from dans. Razor users would be a tiny tiny market for them.
Attachment 197149 a washita I just finished lapping.5 inches by 1-3/4 by 3/4 .it is a fine one and is nearly the finest washita I own.
Like it! I've seen one or two that would finish a razor just fine. There's one on ebay that's about 6 inches long that barely has any pores in it, but it is most certainly a washita, it has the waxy look.
I *think* my days buying the stones are over, but they are interesting and often cheap. It's hard to resist.
Attachment 198878 Attachment 198880 Attachment 198881 Attachment 198878 I finally cleaned up this washita I bought a long time ago. 7x2x1 inches.on the hard and fine side. glad I did now.cheers .
Attachment 198882 end picture.
And I double posted.sorry about that.....
I think I may be a fan of the Arkie! Just got back from a few days of vacation and had my new 8x2" Surgical Black from Dan's waiting on me. I broke it in a little using a chisel and then took a Genco 5/8" for about 100 laps. That razor had a good Naniwa 12K edge on it and had probably been refreshed on CrOx once or twice. This has been the norm for all my razors so far and they have all shaved pretty well but if I get a little heavy handed, they will give me some irritation. Well, this Arkie edge seems to be the smoothest one I've ever felt. I'm going to have to give it a few more tries since I hadn't shaved in a few days, which is very unusual for me. Could be that had an effect. But I had no sting at all when I splashed on the aftershave so I'm happy so far.
Congrats on your success ! A good Ark edge is hard to beat. The only down side is the number of laps required to get there and one bad stroke in a moment of inattention can set you back.
A good Arkansas edge is like a coti edge on steroids. Congrats on your success
Well those who know me, know that I have had a love affair with my Guangxi stone for a couple years now. Using only that and a 1k king to hone mine and others razors with superb results. I recently found out you can use water, dish soap, and glycerin on Arkansas stones so I dug mine out and gave it a shot. Well, I had to reach up and feel my face after the first stroke because it was that smooth and sharp. I couldn't believe it! This is the edge I've always dreamed about!
My Guangxi hasn't seen any action in about a month as I have been honing every razor I can get my hands on with my Arkansas stones and with consistent results too. Unbelievable.
I am now going to commit the next year to using nothing but my Arkies so I can really get to know these stones. Like a kid who's fallen in love I can do nothing but gush about these stones and people around me (including my wife) are sick of hearing about it. That's ok. I'm as happy as a teenager in puppy love.
This was the reaction I had after my first arkie shave once I really figured it out. Mind you I was still somewhat new to honing at the time so it would still take me a couple of tries to really get that edge perfect but once I did I ran with it and never looked back. The c12k is close IMO But not quite on the same level as a good arkie finish. And yeah that whole did I just actually shave my face with a real razor feeling is something I absolutely love. No need for aftershave when it's that smooth haha
I thought the razor was as dull as a butter knife because I didn't feel anything! I thought I really messed up somehow and I just took a rounded edge and scraped cream off my face. When I reached up and felt it I was shocked it had actually shaved my face clean! Incredibly sharp but at the same time smooth with no burn.
My C12K was able to get the razor close in the sharpness category but far from the smoothness I was able to get with the Arkie. Not for lack of effort either. I honed with that Guangxi for a couple years straight. One thing I know is that the effort spent on my Chinese Natural and the knowledge gained was well applied when I picked up the Arkansas stones.