Thread: Hard Arkansas

Yes, if you're looking for a finisher, put your money elsewhere.

One aside - if you're finishing an edge with a black or trans ark, the washita is a fantastic setup stone for that because it does not leave deep grooves and most razors are in a hardness range and of a steel composition that works well with washitas and arks.

I ran into a finer washita doing a good job on a razor by accident. In the process i described, the first shave was tolerable, but not very good. The second shave was as good as any natural finisher I've used (after very light passes on heavy oil and linen and strop again). I have to assume that the linen (i do not use a charged linen) had left a slightly smoothed very thin edge and the second trip to the washita did not quite work to it.

When I looked at the edge under a microscope at 200x, it looked a lot like a trans/black ark edge.

I forgot to say what I was intending....

Sometimes washitas can be found for five bucks at a flea market, etc. If that's the case, it's nice to have one that's been agitated with a diamond hone (they cut fast at that), and one that's settled in. A fast cutting washita or soft arkansas will set a bevel faster than a 1000 grit waterstone, but the edge will not be in bad shape after it's done (something like a coarse diamond hone, for example, is very hard on an edge). Those three (fast washita, settled washita, prepared trans/black) would make a very nice three stone progression, and the first can be any cheap soft (like the multicolored things that smiths sells) if it's hard to find a good washita. The only caution is that any stone that's fast on the bevel is also going to be hard on the spine, so the usual spine protection steps apply. The aggressive washitas have a fantastic feel when cutting, and it can be easy to get carried away with them