Thread: Hard Arkansas

What was meant by "worn wet and dry" (if you have not already figured it out) is the cutting action of a used up piece of "wet/dry" sand paper. When its fresh and new, its has a lot of "bite" to it, but as you use it more and more, it no longer cuts as quickly, or as deeply. Best way I know of to describe it, would be to picture a bundle of a dozen sharp pencils pointy side up. This would be "new paper" as you use the pencils the pointy end wears down more and more until you would eventually achieve points that are softened, rounded, or possibly even as flat as they were before they were sharpened. Its still the same 12 pencils, made of the same graphite in a wood matrix, but now the points don't make such a fine line.
In essence, this is the exact same thing that happens to the surface of an Ark stone. freshly lapped has many exposed points. as you use it, the points wear down.

Thank you Gentleman for answering my questions...

Originally Posted by Oakeshott

Jörg,
That is one seriously nice arkie. I got chills looking at it. I'm interested in the history of arkies and am curious if you bought it from a seller in Europe or in the US. We had a big export business of these stones dating back to the 19th Century, but they were considered expensive for their time. More so, I think, than coticules or Thuris. Anything you know about the history of that stone I'd love to hear.

mark

Hi Mark,
Thanks for the nice comment ! I got the hone in the German bay (dirt cheap btw... ) and unfortunately don't have any background information about it.

Cheers
Jörg

Originally Posted by Phrank

Just trying to put a place for a stone like this in my head...so is it a finisher, like an Escher of Nani...or somewhere down the line....didn't quite understand your response, glass smooth I understand, but you lost me on the worn wet and dry part. Could you expand a little....

Phrank, I used to work in the auto body trade and we used a lot of wet and dry sandpaper. As a sandpaper wears, it losses it's cutting power as the particles 'wear down' and slowly become less efficient. So in effect it slowly goes up in grits. What was a 220 slowly works it's way to perhaps a 400-600. When I found that the paper wasn't cutting, I'd change paper with the exception of when sanding for final prep before painting and then I'd use it until it was almost useless.

I hope this makes sense.

Sorry I was late to the party with my explanation.

Just got back from Dans , met Dan and his son Sherlen got a tour and quite a few stories oh and picked up a super looking black Ark ,,my friend Glen is going to have a laugh at this, he knows I dont hone , heck he's had my Zulu for a few months ,but I couldn't help myself , if you get a chance this is a great stop while out on your bike, very nice people. And their history is fun to listen to. Dans a very interesting man. I'll get some pics up after I get in from the rally. Tc

Soo....Got these finally. They are stupid huge. Especially the translucent. These are going to be a b!tch to break in. That little sucker in the middle is a 4x2 black trans. The large black has no translucency at all. the translucent is an inch or so at its thickest and the light on my cell can be seen right through. The only complaint I have about these is that they're not chamfered on the edges and on the black thats going to be hard to do. The translucent at least has that large side completely straight so that will be easier. Oh and they have some pieces that flake off on the backs because of the rough cut.

Now I am just thinking about making a fitted box for each. I think I will do something like glass bedding these, The only problem will be making sure the release agent gets in all the nooks and crannies. Any ideas?

Wow - those are spectacular! Congrats!

Sorry - I know nothing of bedding.

Ya making an Arkansas side walk? LOL

Fantastic looking stones, congrats. I used a dremel with a sanding wheel to knock the edges down. A belt sander would work great I think.

Originally Posted by jollo74

Hi folks,

time for me to eat some humble pie ...

After a couple of not really good experiences with Arkansas hones for razors I was convinced they are no good... You also don't read a lot (if anything) about them in our German straight razor shaving forums.

So, I thought it's just an American thing (you know, like Germans loving the thuringians and Belgians the coticules)...

But I was wrong and it turned out that I probably just didn't have the best specimen and definitely not the right prep...

It started to dawn on me after buying this nice stone:
http://straightrazorpalace.com/hones...ml#post1357336

Now I have just gotten another one, a lovely translucent Arkansas in a nice wooden box:







It came dead flat and smooth as polished marble. I honed my little 5/8 Kiebitz razor on it (coticule finish) and it took ages but I was rewarded with a nice polished edge and a super smooth shave. No burning of the after shave whatsoever.

I'm a believer now !

Cheers
Jörg

Super NICE! I love the bone colored translucents.

I need to get mine all shiny like that. I'm working on it but it's slow going.