Arkansas bliss

[glytch5]

I looked for some new threads in the hone section, didn't see anything pertaining Arkansas.

For all you guys out there that have black arks laying around that you never liked for knives, and don't quite do well enough with on razors, I respectfully depart from you! I have finally found a natural finisher that works consistently for me.

A few years back I bought a bunch of Dan's whetstones. One was from knifecenter.com and its a 2x8x1/2. It cost me like 50 bucks. I thought it was alright on knives, but most of my pocket blades were high speed steel so it really don't do much.

I took out a dovo BQ a few weeks ago, turned on some Netflix and honed away WITH HONING oil for what felt like 45 minutes.

I spent longer than I needed to but my gosh... what an edge! Going from my 8k naniwa super stones straight to this dan's black gives me really good results... Im happy! I now understand the few odd ballers in here who use Arks, and why they are referred to as "killer" hones hahah. It does take a long time! but man its worth it.
PS: this stone was factory lapped, I never had to touch it, just break it in a little.
So guys I urge you to break out your black arks and translucents with extreme patience, i'm having lots of fun!

[Grazor]

There are quite a few older threads about them. Well worth reading. Great hones if prepped right.

[glytch5]

heck yeah! It was just weird ya know... I was just sitting there barely looking at what I was doing half in the dark watching a movie, and a while later I decided to stop and feel the edge and BAM!
I do all my razors on it now. You always hear about people saying modern Arkansas stones are nothing like vintage ones...
I think thats my favorite part about dan's is the prep, they rout up the edges and give it a good surface out of the box. Every other ark from other brand i've always had to SiC lap at least.

[tcrideshd]

Dans are pretty close, he and his son do a fine job of giving you a flat surface, but it is far from prepped, you need to burnish it to get a smooth edge on a razor. But they will give a decent edge if the stone is done right. A little side note, go to Dans if you ever get a chance great people and will give you the nickel tour for nothing, I stop by every time I,m in hot springs. Tc

[Utopian]

Wait, you didn't give us all of the information yet. What was the movie?

[JeffR]

I use a hard black Arkansas stone just like glytch5's. Prepping consisted of sharpening a kitchen knife. If one cultivates just a little patience, edges from hard Arks give a wonderfully smooth edge.

(I have found that perfectly flat and fastidiously surfaced sharpening stones of all sorts are certainly nice, but not at all necessary.)

[glytch5]

I use a hard black Arkansas stone just like glytch5's. Prepping consisted of sharpening a kitchen knife. If one cultivates just a little patience, edges from hard Arks give a wonderfully smooth edge.

(I have found that perfectly flat and fastidiously surfaced sharpening stones of all sorts are certainly nice, but not at all necessary.)

Yes prepping for me was just a few uses of other blades for this particular dans. I also have a Dan's pocket black ark, its semi translucent and is probably the finest ark I own, right out of the box great surface. It can be hard if you condition an ark to strike the right balance between fine and still cutting. This stone is just perfect in the center I think. plus 10 points Dan's!

[bluesman7]

Dans are pretty close, he and his son do a fine job of giving you a flat surface, but it is far from prepped, you need to burnish it to get a smooth edge on a razor. But they will give a decent edge if the stone is done right. A little side note, go to Dans if you ever get a chance great people and will give you the nickel tour for nothing, I stop by every time I,m in hot springs. Tc

Do you remember a thread about a visit to Dan's with a bunch of pictures? I thought maybe you had posted it, but I could not find it.

[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.

[tcrideshd]

Do you remember a thread about a visit to Dan's with a bunch of pictures? I thought maybe you had posted it, but I could not find it.

Victor I have a post or two on Dan,s but I never posted any pics, I need to remember next time I,m there to take some, really cool place, Tc