Thread: Black Ark more beautiful then I thought

Originally Posted by Orville

Thanks . . . filing under "if it seems to good to be true" . . .

Yeah, i guess they (norton) don't want their ad copy to tell you the whole story on it, or you might not buy it!!

It was, at the time I bought mine, about $25, and well known among the woodworkers that it was only good for soft woodworking stones like King and Norton, but the fact that they weren't always flat and they don't stay flat forever drove a lot of people nutty.

For an old school woodworker not afraid to flatten their flattening stone on a sidewalk or driveway, and with a bucket full of king stones, it'd probably be fine. Otherwise obsoleted by diamond plates, though.

But, to the original question . . .

If the stone is flat when you get it, I personally don't lap it - just burnish it.

A black or trans ark is a stone that should leave a bright polish on razors when it's fully settled in (especially if used with a medium oil). If the surface is scuffed any significant amount by lapping, it takes a long time to get back to that point.

As a side note, Dan's does (or at least used to) do the same surface prep on their soft (coarser) stones and they recommend lapping them or scuffing the surface before using them. Depends on the stone.

Also depends on the vendor. Natural Whetstone stones will come much more coarse than Dan's stones, but both should end up at the same level of fineness in the end. The dark gray trans sold by NW cuts very aggressively at first.

OK, you've sold me . . . looks like I'll be picking up a finisher to augment my lapping films.

Originally Posted by Orville

So, no lapping required, just burnishing? Or, did you use it straight out of the box?

With all the talk about Silicon Carbide to lap Arks, I was wondering about this . . .

Lee Valley Tools - Important Announcement

Or is that just taking the easy way out?

I put it to the back of my DMT Dia Flat to check flatness and I verified it was flat to .0005" and I don't need it any flatter then that. I never take the easy way out. I use it straight out of the box for now. I'm burnishing it with my practice razor. Over time it will get finer but if it starts driving me insane I'm going to burnish it with a screwdriver.

I like breaking them in with a chisel and heavy pressure. Seems to work pretty good.

Thanks wid, I tried yesterday without it being broken in and then again today but followed it with a coticule. More then acceptable shave today

I will be breaking one side in when I stop working so much overtime I kind of like it as is right now it removes metal but refines a lot too. Not finisher quality yet!

Hope I,m not off topic too much, Dave, Wid on burnishing these Arks, do I need to use a chisel that is as wide as the stone? Or just work it all over as much as possible? I have had a Dans Black for over a year and have not touched it yet, I picked it up at there shop. But I want to get it ready to try. So any detailed info will help. Thanks guys. Tc

Any hardware store chisel a half inch or an inch wide should be fine. Just not something too narrow (it'll be cumbersome to use if you get something too narrow).

Literally just rub the flat back of the chisel all over the stone until it's no longer raising much swarf. That will depend some on the chisel, as an ark settled in will still easily cut steel rc 55, but it won't do much to steel that's rc 62 because the particles are about the same hardness of that.

Anyway, any chisel that's not damaged with burrs all over it, just rub it on the stone with some pressure and wipe the oil (or whatever you use) off of the stone once in a while mid process to get rid of any loose particles. Water would work fine for burnishing the stone, too - maybe better, except that applying oil or smiths later might float up some particles that got stuck with water.

Following this thread has me considering some ark's in the line up.
The Lee Valley offering of the soft ark, for bevel setting, is that not recommended due to it being not a pike ark? Considering an upgrade.
I currently have a king 1k I use for bevel set and am not happy with it's action. Looking for ideas and opinions, not trying to thread jack but you followers on here seem to have an abundance of oilstone experience.
I currently have the above mentioned King 1k, a Norton 4/8k combo, a charnely forest, phig, Zulu, and coti blue/yellow in my rock box. As well as barber hones and the like.
Thanks gents.