Thread: Hard Arkansas

Originally Posted by Wid

Looks like a Washita to me

That was my first thought.

Just had my first shave off of my translucent black ark. Smoooth and sharp - very nice. I ran through a Shapton Pro progression from 1,000 - 2,000 - 8,000- 12,000 then kicked on one layer of tape and ran about 50 laps on the coarsely lapped side of my ark with a few drops of Tap Magic and then cleaned it up real good, wiped down with acetone to remove the oil and gave it about 50 laps on my plain bridle leather hanging strop. First pass first stroke was so smooth and "soft" feeling I thought I wasn't even shaving, lol. Literally got the squeegee feel I've heard people talk about. I had to kill the edge on this razor to try the ark - got too impatient to wait until it dulled. Next time I'm going to change the progression to Shapton Pro 1,000 - 2,000 - Trans Black Ark and see how that goes. I may try the more finely lapped side of the Ark next on the current edge but not sure if I will bother until some time in the future as it's already very good.

Anyone who says you can't shave off of an ark is crazy.

So you just did 50 on the rougher side? What grit was the rough side laped on?

Yup 50 on the coarser side. But don't forget it was concentrated right at the edge since I used a layer of tape. The coarser side of my stone was lapped with 120 grit loose SiC on a cast iron lapping plate. However I wouldn't call it a 120 grit finish, as arks break down SiC grit pretty darn fast, and as it breaks down it leaves a significantly smoother finish.

I was frankly quite surprised at how well it did after everyone saying how the stone needs to be steeled for so long to get a good edge. I didn't rub any steel at all on that side. Maybe that is the difference between translucent and translucent black?

Not sure but it sure shaved nice. I quite often get bumps on my neck from shaving even with a good edge because I've got really sensitive skin there - I even get bumps with a brand new Fusion cart for example. Sometimes I will only shave my neck WTG because of that. No bumps from this edge even with a full BBS ATG regimen.