Thread: Hard Arkansas

I love my Arks. if I find a blade that wont quite do what I want I break out my oil stones. they are slow compared to my Nortons. I can always count on them to give me a finish I want.if you like the finish you had from this one, wait till you get the black.

I got my middle stone in today, a black from Dave at Naturals. I had asked him to make certain it is flat and by goodness it was. I'm in the process of dressing it. So far I have used a 325/600 DMT, 800 grit and then 1500 grit wet/dry.

Now I'm using an old cheap cleaver to shine it up. Hopefully it can make enough progress to try out this weekend.

A couple of pics

MMMMMM rock porn!!!!

Yea, thick old carbon steel cleavers and large carbon chef’s knives work well with pressure and some Smiths Honing Solution for finishing a Ark and it will put a hell of an edge on you knife in the process.

If you got it smooth enough, a few hundred pressure laps will get it feeling like glass, the smoother the better for razors.

Use the Smith’s on a wet stone, 2-3 drops of Smiths. I finish on a 12k Super Stone then go to the Ark.

Love that edge, it is crisp and smooth. To touch up, tape and micro bevel just a few laps.

She's starting to take on a nice black color.

Nice looking stone, what size is it? You can get them down here but they are only 4 x 2 inch.

This one is an 8x3x1, it's a good size stone.

I have found that adding a small amount of "Marvel Mystery Oil" to the Smith's can really make a positive impact on your honeing. It really helps keep the swarf from building up in the stone & it smells good. Marvel Mystery oil has been around forever& I sometimes use it straight on a oil stone.

Slawman

A year or two ago, it seemed like there wasn't much of a fan base on this website for Arkansas stones of any kind. People said they were too slow, and that synthetics were a better option. Now this thread has shown that there is a fan base, especially for the Surgical Black and Translucent stones. How did the revival of Arkansas stones break out on this website? Who or what turned the tide of public opinion about these stones?

Originally Posted by 1KnifeGuy4U

A year or two ago, it seemed like there wasn't much of a fan base on this website for Arkansas stones of any kind. People said they were too slow, and that synthetics were a better option. Now this thread has shown that there is a fan base, especially for the Surgical Black and Translucent stones. How did the revival of Arkansas stones break out on this website? Who or what turned the tide of public opinion about these stones?

I know I started using them as my main finishers since about a year and a half ago maybe. Before that it was just a coticule. I didn't worry about it taking longer or anything like that as I was trying to save money and get the best possible edge while doing so. I believe I accomplished that goal. I won't say that it was I or any one person that started a "revival" of arks but maybe more like there were a few of us hiding in the back of the crowd letting everyone talk about their eschers and JNATS and what not and then I think the timing was just right and we all found each other and this thread blew up.

I also think that a few people who were not mainly ark users started to experiment with them and realized that you really could get a really really great edge with them. Then I think as the thread grew it sparked interest in more and more people and spread like ebola. Which is to say fast but not quite like the hype would make it seem. I think it is hard to pull people who have been using JNATS or eschers or what have you as finisher for quite some time and get them to use an ark. Each type of stone has a different feel and people get use to the feel of the stones they use for a while. I can say that I really like and am use to the arkie. I used to use a coticule only for a little while before I got an arkie and I thought that was a great shave and it still is but not compared to the arkie finishes I can get. The only other stone that i like as a finisher out of my arsenal (I don't have a JNAT or escher) is my CNAT. It gives a pretty good and seemingly similar feel on my shaves. Even then I would prefer my arkie.

I think another reason why many people were against arkies was that they didn't know how to use them. For instance if you read a lot of the older threads you will see some people telling other members to raise a slurry on their translucents. This is ok if you are looking for speed instead of keenness. But when you are trying to finish a razor and raise a slurry you will not get an optimal edge. You want a well worn surface and that takes time to achieve. Breaking in the stone we call it. There is a huge difference from an arkie that is fresh from the factory vs. well worn. I don't think a lot of people knew this and thus treated them as they would other natural stones. Of course these stones that they were familiar with were waterstones and not oilstones, because they didn't know how to use an oil stone.

I also think that with the advent and improvement of synthetic oil and waterstones that many people forgot about arkies beyond a smiths or lansky system. Diamond hones become the god of hones for chefs and I am sure many other professions because they would last forever and you could hone dry and they were fast. I know my dad and my mom (both chefs) would only use diamond sharpeners. In the professional line speed is usually valued more, then keenness.

Just my thoughts