Thread: Arkansas bliss

All coti's come from the quarry graded into standard and select. The only difference is select don't have the visual flaws that are common in coti's like black dots and lines.

thesuperiorshave

that's the place to go if you want to see the stone you are buying. Do some research on them first as coti's are not as easy as other stones.

Originally Posted by Iceni

All coti's come from the quarry graded into standard and select. The only difference is select don't have the visual flaws that are common in coti's like black dots and lines.

thesuperiorshave

that's the place to go if you want to see the stone you are buying. Do some research on them first as coti's are not as easy as other stones.

oh yes definitely going to have to research before buying one. A loooot of research thanks for the tip. Perhaps I will just bug you guys about which one to buy when the time comes : )

I have been using Arkansas stones on my razors for about a year now and I hone, on average, 5 a week. They are indeed wonderful stones that are as attractive as they are effective. There are MANY ways to use them and it has been a fun and challenging journey for me but now I have a system that is consistent and the edges, like you have found, are excellent. I have about a dozen so far and am looking for more Bring on the yard sales.

Originally Posted by Steel

I have been using Arkansas stones on my razors for about a year now and I hone, on average, 5 a week. They are indeed wonderful stones that are as attractive as they are effective. There are MANY ways to use them and it has been a fun and challenging journey for me but now I have a system that is consistent and the edges, like you have found, are excellent. I have about a dozen so far and am looking for more Bring on the yard sales.

Do you use any soft or hard arks before the black finishers? I haven't had any luck with the softer arkansas, just synthetic finish up to the black.

You can certainly get great edges from a Ark progression. Its not the easiest way to hone but it does work. I don't hone much these days but have used a soft for bevel set to hard to black. Makes for a real nice edge but you have to work for it.

A little reading for ya

http://straightrazorpalace.com/hones...-arkansas.html

Originally Posted by glytch5

Do you use any soft or hard arks before the black finishers? I haven't had any luck with the softer arkansas, just synthetic finish up to the black.

I use a washita, a soft, hard, translucent/black. A synthetic progression up to the ark is probably the easiest to do but once you figure them out they are not so difficult. It's figuring them out that's been the most time consuming.

Fantastic stones for razors when prepped correctly, no question. I've found my newer stones just as effective as my older vintage ones personally. I think the guys who say otherwise just have vintage stones that were already prepped/broken-in and expected to buy a new stone and have it finish just as well as a vintage stone that has had years of use/break-in. Not gonna happen. There is quite a lot of misinformation regarding the finest (black and translucent) Arks for exactly this reason. I can't count the number of times I've seen guys say Arks aren't fine enough to use for a straight razor. We know better though, heh.

Makes me want a surgical black or translucent even more (ad in the classfieds ....).

Does anyone around here have any experience with the hard blacks from dictum.com? (https://www.dictum.com/en/sharpening...tones/arkansas) Was considering one of those. Or another reliable source in europe?

Here are my arks: a washita, soft, hard and translucent.


I love these stones but if you want fast then they are not for you. Burnishing the translucent made all the difference. All my arks needed lapping, even the ones from Dan's.