Thread: I need help. I dont know what I bought.

Hard to say from the photos, could be a Translucent. A good soaking in Simple Green & water, 50/50 will get it clean, but could take months depending on how much oil has soaked in and how clean you want it.

When I get an Ark I clean with Oven Cleaner and dish soap then if it is flattish and smooth, I try a razor on it. If it was well used it may have a nice burnished finish on it that would be a shame to remove by lapping.

Lapping is done with about $15 of lose Silicone Oxide, you will ruin your diamond plate trying to lap an Ark. Here is a good thread on cleaning and lapping Arks.

They can be very nice finishers after an 8 or 12k edge. An Ark edge is crisp and smooth, it is a unique edge.

Originally Posted by ultrasoundguy2003

I had never seen one before.
Its was dirty and as you alluded to doorsch ' I dont trust Ebay"
Strange thing after I held it up to the light for 5 minutes it honed better.
Magically I think it needs light to activate the honing particles in proper alignment.

As far as i remember some proposals from others you should lap it as fine as possible, then
you need to prep the surface with something like a chisel to get the smoothest possible surface....

EDITED: SKIP it Euclid was faster

Originally Posted by ultrasoundguy2003

John you know I believe you like gospel.
Off to the library and Internet to learn about this Unicorn.

Now I found your prior posts
"when I dont know what it is I make up another kind of PHIG"

Here snipe, snipe, snipe.

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Originally Posted by ultrasoundguy2003

John you know I believe you like gospel.
Off to the library and Internet to learn about this Unicorn.

Now I found your prior posts
"when I dont know what it is I make up another kind of PHIG"

Here snipe, snipe, snipe.

I've seen PHIG and a hundred other descriptors used for hones. This is all mysterious and intriguing to a new shaver. Especially getting into straights. So I googled that acronym, PHIG.

"CHUG (Chinese hone of unknown grit) or
PHIG (people's hone of indeterminate grit)"

It's only unknown or indeterminate until the user decides what it is!

Originally Posted by Euclid440

Hard to say from the photos, could be a Translucent. A good soaking in Simple Green & water, 50/50 will get it clean, but could take months depending on how much oil has soaked in and how clean you want it.

When I get an Ark I clean with Oven Cleaner and dish soap then if it is flattish and smooth, I try a razor on it. If it was well used it may have a nice burnished finish on it that would be a shame to remove by lapping.

Lapping is done with about $15 of lose Silicone Oxide, you will ruin your diamond plate trying to lap an Ark. Here is a good thread on cleaning and lapping Arks.

They can be very nice finishers after an 8 or 12k edge. An Ark edge is crisp and smooth, it is a unique edge.

I used E-Z Off on my granddad's old Arky to pull years of crud out of it. It cleaned up pretty well.

That all started because grit claims sellers were making, none of which were close.
Some of those stones work, some don’t.

The stone in the post is not one of them, it is an ark.

Originally Posted by Euclid440

That all started because grit claims sellers were making, none of which were close.
Some of those stones work, some don’t.

The stone in the post is not one of them, it is an ark.

Thank-you for the post and pointing me to that thread.
It is flat, DMT 1200 is smoked , and now I will get a chisel and burnish.
Any tips about proper burnish and how do you know when its in the neighborhood.
Feel smooth presently but that may just be the stone. I will try the unlapped side after the simple green.
Chisel and a hour sound about right??

I burnish under running water...seems to speed things up. When I first started I was using oil but the swarf and slurry that kicked up from the stone gave it a matte finish. With water I can get a literal mirror finish on a black or a trans.
As for when it's done...when I start to get that reflective finish I'll try it out on a razor and see where I need to go from there.

Here's my Black Norton after burnishing. I can't remember how much time I had total in getting it ready. I'd do it 15-20 minutes here and there to keep myself from getting burned out

Originally Posted by Euclid440

That all started because grit claims sellers were making, none of which were close.

That all started when I started THIS thread.

Slartibartfast came up with "People's Hone." It might have been Holliforpirating that added "Indeterminate Grit" but I'm not certain of that one.