Thread: Vintage Arkansas

Hi guys. I just got a good deal on a Arkansas stone and decided to buy it without knowing much about them i wanted to ask you guys what you think of it. I have seen quite a few diffrent colors on them and dont know much about what color is better as a finisher. What honing style suits it and should it be used with oil,slurry of some sort or just water? Stil haven't got it but should be here soon.

It looks to be a translucent. I like them with oil, smiths honing solution or water with a drop of liquid soap. Best used after a higher grit stone. Very fine stone. Congrats

Originally Posted by Wid

It looks to be a translucent. I like them with oil, smiths honing solution or water with a drop of liquid soap. Best used after a higher grit stone. Very fine stone. Congrats

+1. I also prefer it with oil. Smith's Honing Oil is what I use, I've had a bottle since forever. A little goes a long way. Aside from lubricating the stone/edge it also is a vehicle to carry swarf away, and prevent it from embedding and glazing the stone. I wipe the mess off with a paper towel every so often, and when I'm done. As Wid pointed out, it is a slow finisher, so works best with an already shave ready edge.

I am also a fan of them, but more for tools than razors. With razors, use as a slow maintenance stone and never lap them once you've got them set up like you want them. They cut coarsely lapped, but can break in to work very very finely if you leave them alone.

Keep the surface as clean as possible, any foreign anything on them (even a loose stone particle) will damage the edge of a razor.

I use mine with Wd40 and mineral oil (thicker oil generally provides a finer finish). It'll be very unusual if a stone like that one hasn't already seen a lot of oil, so that will probably be what you need to use for it unless you want to run it through the dishwasher or boil it, and I'm not sure doing that would even get enough oil out to make it nice to use with water.

I once read that Smith's was nothing but mineral oil. Seems thinner to me, so maybe it is mineral oil with some petroleum product slightly diluting it ?

Howard, years ago, posted that Easy Off oven cleaner (blue can) was good for getting oil out of stones. Haven't ever had the pleasure, but he said it works well.

I have used easy off ( lye ) to clean an old oil soaked stone, worked great.

My basic thoughts on the stone... As stated by all above, Translucent, and a great stone.
If its already flat, leave it alone. If you need to flatten it, you are in for a whole lot of exercise!

My thoughts on its use... As many have said, once its finish has been worked to a slick shiny surface, leave it alone. Can be a superlative finisher. (or not as the case may be!)

Slurry? Not if you don't want to lose that super smooth finish. But feel free to try some natural Japanese nagura stone on it.

Oil or water? First things first... SMELL IT!
If it had oil on it, there is no way to know what KIND of oil was used, but whatever it was, if it is rancid and stanching you will want to clean it up at least somewhat. Yes, oven cleaner works. You can also make a strong solution of drain cleaner and soak the stone in that. PLEASE BE CAREFUL
The fumes from these cleaners can be DEADLY concentrated in an enclosed space, and in high concentrations can cause severe burns. use your gloves, and do it out doors if possible. I have also had good success wrapping the stone in multiple layers of paper towels, and putting in the oven. Start with low temp (150-200F) and take it up to 300 for an hour, and then drop the temp slowly again. Slow change is the key to not causing stress which could possibly cause damage.
Also make sure to let it sit to cool. Nothing damages a stone faster than you dropping the hot potato!

Ok, so first off it looks like you have two stones pictured, a black and translucent. If I am right that black needs to get lapped. Those are some serious scratches in it. I have many stones and my Hard Black Ark (HBA from here on out) is my best finisher. In my opinion there is no real difference between translucent and HBA except for color. The only real difference is density which varies from stone to stone even of the some color.

The one thing I have found true is that all these arks need is some break in time. Lap it first so that you know it is flat. A non flat stone is useless no matter how fine it is. It will be a pain in the butt, however once it is done the first time you shouldn't need to do it again especially if you only use it for razors. After you lap it, it will seem quite course for a finisher. That is expected, you just now need to break it in. Run a cheap chisel or knife (I like to use butchers knifes for this) over it many times with pressure using oil as the lubricant. I use sewing machine oil (just personal preference and its cheap). Once it is decently reflective without oil on it you are probably good to go.

There are some people who say they raise a slurry on a HBA or translucent and to those people, I assume, they have no idea what they are doing. You should never raise a slurry on an oil stone...ever. Water stones...okay raise all the slurry you want but oil stones...just stop.

Now if you want to know my routine it is as follows...

First I use either a 1.2k diamond stone or a soft ark. I do this as we all do bevel setters...until it shaves and pops hair. Then next I do a full dilucot method with a coticule. You don't have to use a coticule but its just what I use. Then I do a coti on just water, maybe 50 laps or so. Then I move to the HBA and do however many laps it takes till it feels right. I know its not a good go by point but depending on the razor it could take from 50-300 laps to feel right. Once you get it though you'll know what I mean. It'll stop being scratchy or rough and feel like you are rubbing two pieces of oiled glass together. Also too speed along the process I will use WD-40 for the first half of the process and then use sewing machine oil. I feel the thicker the oil the more cushion and less contact between the blade and the stone and thus the finer the finish.

I have heard many people say that the process doesn't take nearly as long if you use all ark's for the progression such as a soft then hard then hard black or trans. I don't know being as I don't have a hard ark to fill in the middle and thus why I use the coti in-between the soft/diamond and the hard.

Wow thanks for the great tips guys! much appreciated . I'll check it when it arrives and see if it's flat and if there is any hints of oil been used and if thats the case i will then get some thick oil and try it as a finisher after a coticule. It's always fun to test new stones.

I decided to not buy the black one. was not sure what it was. other then the year it was used

The comment above about an arkansas routine being faster if all stones are arkansas stones is true. It's hard to follow diamonds with an ark stone without making a lateral move in groove depth first. Arks cut shallow wide grooves compared to diamonds, so if anything, you'd want to go the other direction if possible.

If one has a soft ark stone and a razor that needs a bevel set, a soft, hard (in today's terms), black/trans routine is a pleasant routine to work through.