Thread: Hard Arkansas

I think I may be a fan of the Arkie! Just got back from a few days of vacation and had my new 8x2" Surgical Black from Dan's waiting on me. I broke it in a little using a chisel and then took a Genco 5/8" for about 100 laps. That razor had a good Naniwa 12K edge on it and had probably been refreshed on CrOx once or twice. This has been the norm for all my razors so far and they have all shaved pretty well but if I get a little heavy handed, they will give me some irritation. Well, this Arkie edge seems to be the smoothest one I've ever felt. I'm going to have to give it a few more tries since I hadn't shaved in a few days, which is very unusual for me. Could be that had an effect. But I had no sting at all when I splashed on the aftershave so I'm happy so far.

Congrats on your success ! A good Ark edge is hard to beat. The only down side is the number of laps required to get there and one bad stroke in a moment of inattention can set you back.

A good Arkansas edge is like a coti edge on steroids. Congrats on your success

Well those who know me, know that I have had a love affair with my Guangxi stone for a couple years now. Using only that and a 1k king to hone mine and others razors with superb results. I recently found out you can use water, dish soap, and glycerin on Arkansas stones so I dug mine out and gave it a shot. Well, I had to reach up and feel my face after the first stroke because it was that smooth and sharp. I couldn't believe it! This is the edge I've always dreamed about!

My Guangxi hasn't seen any action in about a month as I have been honing every razor I can get my hands on with my Arkansas stones and with consistent results too. Unbelievable.

I am now going to commit the next year to using nothing but my Arkies so I can really get to know these stones. Like a kid who's fallen in love I can do nothing but gush about these stones and people around me (including my wife) are sick of hearing about it. That's ok. I'm as happy as a teenager in puppy love.

Originally Posted by Steel

Well those who know me, know that I have had a love affair with my Guangxi stone for a couple years now. Using only that and a 1k king to hone mine and others razors with superb results. I recently found out you can use water, dish soap, and glycerin on Arkansas stones so I dug mine out and gave it a shot. Well, I had to reach up and feel my face after the first stroke because it was that smooth and sharp. I couldn't believe it! This is the edge I've always dreamed about!

My Guangxi hasn't seen any action in about a month as I have been honing every razor I can get my hands on with my Arkansas stones and with consistent results too. Unbelievable.

I am now going to commit the next year to using nothing but my Arkies so I can really get to know these stones. Like a kid who's fallen in love I can do nothing but gush about these stones and people around me (including my wife) are sick of hearing about it. That's ok. I'm as happy as a teenager in puppy love.

This was the reaction I had after my first arkie shave once I really figured it out. Mind you I was still somewhat new to honing at the time so it would still take me a couple of tries to really get that edge perfect but once I did I ran with it and never looked back. The c12k is close IMO But not quite on the same level as a good arkie finish. And yeah that whole did I just actually shave my face with a real razor feeling is something I absolutely love. No need for aftershave when it's that smooth haha

Originally Posted by cosperryan

This was the reaction I had after my first arkie shave once I really figured it out. Mind you I was still somewhat new to honing at the time so it would still take me a couple of tries to really get that edge perfect but once I did I ran with it and never looked back. The c12k is close IMO But not quite on the same level as a good arkie finish. And yeah that whole did I just actually shave my face with a real razor feeling is something I absolutely love. No need for aftershave when it's that smooth haha

I thought the razor was as dull as a butter knife because I didn't feel anything! I thought I really messed up somehow and I just took a rounded edge and scraped cream off my face. When I reached up and felt it I was shocked it had actually shaved my face clean! Incredibly sharp but at the same time smooth with no burn.

My C12K was able to get the razor close in the sharpness category but far from the smoothness I was able to get with the Arkie. Not for lack of effort either. I honed with that Guangxi for a couple years straight. One thing I know is that the effort spent on my Chinese Natural and the knowledge gained was well applied when I picked up the Arkansas stones.