Thread: Hard Arkansas

if you have a soft ark i'd flatten it and then rub it with a rough cloth for maybe 5 minutes, imo that will pull any rough particules up and out of your stone...hard arks are a different case imo, use a piece of HARD and FLAT steel to rub it till you get a nice shine and or can see light reflecting (without oil on the stone) the reflection shouldnt be mirror like IMO ! Leave the mirror for your trans/blacks. And as always ymmv. Hope i've helped and not hashed it up for anyone. Cheers and shave on.

Burnish with a Carbon Steel cleaver, you can pick them up for under 5 buck at antique stores and flea markets. They are also handy to have in the kitchen.

With that you can really put some pressure on the stone face and get across the whole stone.

I do heavy pressure half-laps with Smiths and water until it is slick like glass.

Put a razor on the stone and as you burnish it the feel will get slicker, until it is almost like wet glass.

Here’s an old 10X3 black.

Yes, I have a couple of soft Arkies. I have a few knife blades with no handles, so could start thinning the tangs. I will take any and all ideas and decide which ones to try.