Interesting question
I have started some blades on my India Oil Stone but felt like it was always losing rough particulate while i was honing.
I have no other experience with any others.
Mike
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Interesting question
I have started some blades on my India Oil Stone but felt like it was always losing rough particulate while i was honing.
I have no other experience with any others.
Mike
Your choice of hones is a very personal matter with many variations. I personally would dedicate a set to straights.
That flattening stone is made for water stones.
+1 with 32t on the flattening stone. After using it before and going to a DMT D8C, I'm going to try my best not to go back to it. It tends to gouge my stones. Plus it probably would not withstand your arks. Your best bet is getting as flat as you can find 325 grit diamond plate. It tends to work great with a wide range of stone materials, however I have not tried it with an ark before so someone else will have to say how well it works on them.
to flatten an Arkansas stone get a cheap ceramic tile from Lowes, home depot and purchase sic paper grits from 60 to 600 this plus water will flatten your arks in a reliable manner and to a very good job or it.
I do know of one fellow that uses all Arky stones with oil for honing razors. He has posted a few times on this forum.
They can be slow, but, if the razor has a good bevel, why not??
~Richard
This^, plus many people swear by loose Silicon Carbide grit. The good thing is that once hard Arkansas stones are flat they don't change easilyQuote:
Originally Posted by Blistersteel
When using a low grit to flatten a stone, the stone's grit is unchanged? Seems a bit worrisome to take a 320 grit rock to a 4000 grit rock...
you can buy wet and dry grit in any grit you like.I never go above 5k grit on my arks.I have lapped and polished every Ark I have from washitas , softs , hard, surgical black and true translucent with wet and dry.on the surgical black and translucents I dress the face with a 8x2 inch piece of D2 hardened to 62 Rockwell .this gives a very nice glass like surface treatment and allows my sb's and trans to perform at a very pleasurable level edge wise , shave wise.-CAM-Quote:
Originally Posted by Sirnanigans
The course grit works faster. Then you go to finer grits to flatten the marks from the courser ones. Not much different than metal or wood.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sirnanigans
That's what I figured, was just confused by the mention of a single 320 stone. I would likely go with a sandpaper method because I only have a few knives and chisels that I take enough care of that I seldom sharpen them. The stone wouldn't need flattening enough to warrant an expensive series of diamond stones.Quote:
Originally Posted by 32t
If you have single grit hones like the Arkys then you could lap both faces. Use one side for your chisels and the other for your razors.
And somehow I would never have thought of that. You just saved me a lot of grief, for this I thank you!Quote:
Originally Posted by 32t
I've done it on several razors. Maybe a dozen (as in from not-used-in-decades to shaving sharp). I have so many stones that I don't ever do the same thing for long, but I don't see any detriment to using oilstones.
I also use a jasper stone as a burnisher after a black arkansas, but to be honest, after a few shaves, I don't notice any difference (maybe initially, too). I use the jasper solely because I have it and it's sort of like a sure-thing burnisher.
I would rather agitate a soft arkansas to set a bevel than use a synthetic oilstone (like an india stone), but I'm sure an india would work fine. The soft arkansas with a slurry on it will set a bevel as fast as anything else. I follow that with a washita that is broken in smooth and then use a hard ark (and then the jasper for insurance).
Possible, yes. Harder for a beginner who has watched a bunch of videos that use synthetic stones and finish with powders or pastes? Probably.
Do I notice a difference between any of them after a razor's got a week of shaves and a few trips to the linen? no. They're all the same by that point.
I'm going to irritate you guys with a video. I, for some reason, went on a rash of purchases of japanese NOS razors a couple of months ago. This razor is one of the ones made of the schoeller bleckmann special process "phoenix" steel. I have no clue what it's virtue is, I'm more interested in the razor being well made than made of whiz bang steel.
I've been shaving with this razor the last two weeks.
Anyway, I have some very settled in stones, and since oilstones don't really cut steel too much when they're settled in and the steel is approaching polished, I figured I'd see if the shave would work well if I just worked the razor on the stones in various directions without getting into any specific method. It actually worked fine.
Like I said, the shaves have been fine, and my magic point with any razor (oilstone or whatever) is where the razor shaves after it's been to the linen a couple of times. The linen will define where the razor stays for the next 150-300 shaves, and if there's a problem with the sharpening, the linen won't step it up. If there isn't, it'll be in excellent shape after a couple of trips to the linen and feel like every other razor I have.
(Do NOT do this with a razor on stones that have not settled in well, if the stones are coarse and still cutting, they will just raise a fat wire edge).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61Qt...pdxvepK7zDpcow
I have used a surgical black Arkansas hone for quite a while. My experience is that the oil and swarf will fill the pores and make the stone even less efficient. I prefer to use it with water.
The opposite of that should occur. If the oil used is thick enough (not a light cutting fluid, but an oil), then the oil should keep swarf from ever getting stuck in pores. It should come out with the oil.
My experience with the stones is that they will cut a notch or two more finely (without totally feather-touching them) if there is oil on them instead of water or a light cutting fluid.
With tools, I use something thin because speed is desirable, and with razors, I will use something thin sometimes but often finish with oil if I think the stone is not quite going where I want it to.
Nonetheless, there is no substitute for familiarity with the stones. An experienced user who looked like they have awkward technique will do well with the stones, but someone brand new to them probably won't. It would be my guess that the reputation of the stones being really slow has a lot to do with people using them like waterstones and coticules, and they should be instead used like oilstones.
Very nice. My razor has yet they be sharpened since received... it fails the hanging hair test all the way along the blade. I made a strop so it hasn't been getting worse, but so far I have really needed to prep my face to avoid discomfort.Quote:
Originally Posted by DaveW
Hopefully I will have a hard (surgical) black arkansas stone to compliment my 'medium' arkansas (probably just hard arkansas with clever marketing) soon.
At that point, I can make a chromium oxide doped denim strop from some old jeans and give it a go at improving the razor. I am 100% confident that I can recreate the current, terrible edge, so I see no harm in a good try.
If you have one of the newer "hard" arkansas stones that still has some bite, a black followed by green chrome will (should at least) make for a very keen edge, as good as anything else.
In my experience, once Arks are very smooth they do not do much cutting with water - it's more of a burnishing effect. With oil they will still pull swarf. The stones don't really "clog" when using oil, they just get so much swarf on the surface that your razor or whatever you're sharpening is just sliding over oily steel/swarf rather than hitting abrasive. Easy remedy for this - add a few more drops of oil and wipe off the surface with a paper towel. Do it again until it comes away almost clean, then go back to honing. If you do this every 100 laps or so the stone will never clog, and even if you do get it loaded up, more oil and a paper towel wipe or two will clear it right out. Personally I never let anything BUT oil touch my Arks.
I don't know what oil you would recommend, I only used Smith's honing oil that I bought with the stone. Every so often I would brush them under a hot water tap with washing up liquid to get rid of the oil and swarf clogging up the pores of the stone.Quote:
Originally Posted by DaveW
Quote:
Originally Posted by eKretz
I sharpen my tools to great effect with 3 in 1 oil. It's just general purpose lubricant oil, nothing special.Quote:
Originally Posted by Kees
I second this. When I have my bevel totally flat against the stone, eventually it will begin to float over the surface, making no noise or tactile feedback. At this point, I use a lint free cloth and a bit of mineral spirits to clean it.Quote:
Originally Posted by eKretz
Mineral spirits will clean it in a jiffy and doesn't need to be fully rinsed before adding more oil, because it is oil (volatile oil).
I don't know what smiths is, but I've seen a lot of people using arkansas stones fairly dry. They need to have enough oil on them to actually float out particles. I use light mineral oil.Quote:
Originally Posted by Kees
There's a million ways to use them. I've talked to someone who refuses to use anything but spit, because he thinks he's re-enacting something historical and saving money.
If it feels like the razor gets suspended above the stone in heavy oil, you can just use additional pressure.