Thread: Apache Black Gila

Originally Posted by kcb5150

Quitting for now... This is starting to give me tennis elbow... This is a very nasty thing to lap.

Sounds similar to jasper in that respect. Diamond hones will mark jasper but they seem to skate on it when you're using them rather than filing the stone away.

It is actually raining tons of material as I go, but it is so dense that you rinse it thinking you made progress and it barely moved. It would almost be disheartening if I didn't see the more shallow stuff starting to disappear. It's just horrible, nasty work.

Originally Posted by kcb5150

Quitting for now... This is starting to give me tennis elbow... This is a very nasty thing to lap.

I know the feeling full well lol.

Had a lot going on so this was shelved for a week or so. I'm at the stage where I am conditioning the surface. At the point where I feel like fixed grits and rubbing other stones on it is giving diminishing returns so I have defaulted to the usual ark method of halfstrokes with a ruined blade. I need to tweak chamfer also. It's not an easy stone to work with. It's harder than an ark, and prone to natural pits. Normally, they don't do harm, but the ones at right angles to the track have to be deleted... And when you get a white spot on the edge of your chamfer, they can pit out on you. I think all of the tiny pits are related to this. Once I clean the chamfer, smooth it out to make sure there is nothing to do harm and go over the surface one more time. I think I can test a blade on it.

This is pretty much where I am now. I'll give it a test with something basic tonight or tomorrow to make sure I got all of the lapping media out of the stone.

https://youtu.be/zfU6ZviE-HY

Harder than an Ark?

So, it is an interesting thread of over a hundred post between the two of you, trying to lap these stones, but given all the work and problems with these stones, where is the benefit?

Just, buy a good high grit Synthetic or one of the proven Natural finishers that have been cranking out great razor edges for hundreds of years and at a fraction the cost? Or a piece of 48 cent lapping film.

Why would anyone spend the kind of money they are asking for this stone?

Originally Posted by Utopian

Harder than an Ark?

I have a very small pocket translucent arkansas stone. I have to agree with kcb5150. The Apache Gila is HARD.

Originally Posted by Utopian

Harder than an Ark?

Sadly, it is

I don't know what to tell you... I keep buying coticules and I need more of them like an overweight kid needs that packet of pop tarts from the school vending machine... I was just using about 3/4 of mine till I decided I was going to get some sic and romp through the two areas I had been avoiding. I didn't think it was going to take maybe 1/3lb of 220 grit to do it. Like I said myself if you go back in this, I traded for mine otherwise I'd never have bought one, mostly because I have a lot of said classic german/french/american options. If you have cash to burn, don't want to use a finishing stone that likes to be slurried, like arks, but hate the slowness, it's something to look at I suppose. It's all moot anyway, they have barely sold any near as I can tell and don't seem to be adding more.

Originally Posted by Euclid440

So, it is an interesting thread of over a hundred post between the two of you, trying to lap these stones, but given all the work and problems with these stones, where is the benefit?

Just, buy a good high grit Synthetic or one of the proven Natural finishers that have been cranking out great razor edges for hundreds of years and at a fraction the cost? Or a piece of 48 cent lapping film.

Why would anyone spend the kind of money they are asking for this stone?