Thread: Arkansas bliss

Originally Posted by DaveW

I'm a big fan. I have a text trail on this forum gushing about them already. Two things to add to this conversation, though:
* Dan's black and trans are as good as any that have ever come from the ground. Don't get caught up in chasing vintage stones (but no reason to turn them down, either, if you find them for the right price).
* I never try to wake up oilstones. If you need something stronger, go backward to more air gaps in a stone

I have used soft ark (well, that's the one concession to waking up, I will lap the surface of a cheap soft to wake it up - they will cut as fast as any other bevel setter if awake, but beware that means they can be just as hard on a razor spine, too), followed by washita (no need to ever lap the washita once it's flat and conditioned), followed by black or trans, whatever is handy.

the edge is as good as any other natural stone.

As an alternative to the temptation to wake up the stones by lapping or slurrying them, you can instead depart from the normal light touch we go with and bias a bit of medium firm pressure to a bevel, and don't be too picky about the stroke type. Just not so much pressure that you flex the razor, but some pressure is fine and it will not affect the edge when you lighten up the pressure level to finish the edge.

+1 Dave! I appreciate everything you have "gushed" about Arkies as it really confirmed what I was thinking when I was starting out learning them on razors. One thing I do is keep one side of the stone fresh and clean, lapping it a few times every three razors. This way I have one side that is fresh and then flip it over and use the finer burnished side. I have found that, for me, it gives me a consistency that I was missing otherwise and it is like having two stones in one.

in terms of hard-black-translucent as long as you use oil like you are supposed to, I see almost no need to re condition those surfaces almost ever! Just like Dave said. As people have stated in the passed, oil prevent abrasion and allows cutting, where if your using water well... the lapping/conditioning is a whole nother story!

Soft Arks and such, yeah they can wear out even with oil, but still should last quite a long time! I have a vintage translucent Norton Bear Manning stone, and while it is nice, its nothing to write home about compared to some of the modern hones i've tried.

Let those blacks break in! I think the years of use is why people like to buy "grandpas" old black ark, because its been warn in to be incredible fine.

Originally Posted by Steel

+1 Dave! I appreciate everything you have "gushed" about Arkies as it really confirmed what I was thinking when I was starting out learning them on razors. One thing I do is keep one side of the stone fresh and clean, lapping it a few times every three razors. This way I have one side that is fresh and then flip it over and use the finer burnished side. I have found that, for me, it gives me a consistency that I was missing otherwise and it is like having two stones in one.

that's a pretty good plan, I used to do that with a mid-level stone that I got that natural whetstone sells as "hard" (it's stronger cutting than dan's soft), and probably would if I still used it.