Thread: Arkansas bliss

You guys make me smile honestly. I can see that every body has their own system of sharpening & honing. I order a stone from Dan's and they soaked it in oil ! That isn't doing me any favors . I keep my Arkansas stones extremely clean. I want to see the little white & silver micro dots of quarts when I hold it up to the light. In my opinion this is what makes these stones the best in the world !!! If you know what you are doing the surgical black and the translucent will talk to you. If you have ever played with a fine crystal wine glass by moistening your finger and running it around the edge. You should have noticed it sing to you. The quarts silica in these stones will do the same. I don't have any exotic stones to compare the Arkansas stones with, but I have a lot of barber hones, and a piece of a three inch coti . I have never found any thing that doesn't work yet. So keep honing I like reading what you guys write.

Originally Posted by Euclid440

You can lap an ark flat in 15-20 minutes, with 60 grit loose Silicon Oxide and a steel cookie sheet from the dollar store and a flat piece of cement floor.

For about $15, you can buy a progression of loose Silicone Oxide grit, from 60 to 500 grit, from GotGrit.com, you will only need a couple teaspoons of each grit, maybe more for the 60 grit. Once you get flat, it goes quickly, just a few minutes on each grit. Mark a grid on the stone, with a sharpie, pencil will just wash off with the slurry. Finish on Wet and Dry, 600, 800 and 1 & 2k, then burnish.

But, it does not have to be perfectly flat to work, try it first. Burnish it with a large carbon steel knife, I use a cleaver I bought at a flea market for a dollar, any large carbon steel knife will work.

Surprisingly, if you finish the edge on an 8 or 12k, first, you can put a very nice hazy, kasumi bevel with a burnished Ark, in less than 200 laps. It’s a bit more work, but not really, all that much.

Do you continue to re-use the abrasive or toss it after lapping?

No, toss it. I mix it with a splash of water, so it is messy, but the cookie sheet contains the slurry. You only need about a teaspoon per grit. On the 60 grit you may have to change out the grit a couple times depending on how out of flat your stone is.

If it is really dished, just lap the back side. I lay the cookie sheet on the floor and use my body weight to grind it flat, you can feel when the grit stops cutting, rinse the slurry off and apply fresh grit.

The smallest quantity you can buy, from Got Grit is ¼ pound and that is more than enough to do several stones.

If you buy an old Black or Translucent Ark, try it first, it does not have to be perfectly flat and it may already be burnished from years of use. Just run a large knife on it and you will feel if it is smooth, that’s what you want.

The same burnishing process works well for PHIGS and will improve their polishing abilities.

When I got my surgical black from Dan's I used a 300 diamond then 1000 diamond and then burnished with an old razor. I find using wd 40 works very well on the stone. I am still experimenting to see how many laps I need. I find the old razors really like the Escher and the newer ones the Ark. I am still very interested in seeing how the old ones respond with say different oil and strokes.