Thread: Ebay Gamble

I saw a lot on Ebay that I couldn't resist. It had what appear to be a Washita and Black Arkansas, and then there was this:



Any guesses what that large hone in back is? I'm thinking dingy translucent, but I'm not fully confident in that assessment.

Its a hard black Arkansas stone, you can tell by the discoloration in the lower left about 3 inches from the edge.

Looks like either a black Ark or a very dark (some call them "black") translucent Ark to me too. The black translucent stones are just barely translucent - check it in the dark with a flashlight - due to the dark color, light will only transmit a small distance so check near an edge.

Yeah, I've seen a lot of classifications. Surgical black, true black, "blacks" that aren't black, true hard, black hard, and so on. That's part of what makes the guess work difficult. Sidmind's guess - hard black - sounds like one I'm familiar with, but can't be the same as the 'black hard' classification I know of because that only comes in 2 colors, black and blue-black.

The discolored spot looked to me like someone got a drop of oil on the edge and cleaned away the swarf there. But that may be natural discoloration. In any case, if that turns out to be a finishing grade Arkie, I will be ecstatic. I can't imagine anyone needing a medium/hard grade stone that size (12" x 2.5" x 1") but stranger things have happened.

beautyfull ark A trans ark like this and few diferent naguras to use on it , is all you need for finishing
an exeptional edges

Now I'm getting all excited. Can't wait to get hold of it, clean it up, and get some light on it so I can see if it's a translucent.

I've got a small piece of coticule and BBW to make some makeshift Nagura stones with. Plus bits of 3 different Welsh Slates and PHIG to play with, but I doubt they'll yield much that can't be found with their parent hones. Any other recommendations for nagura stones? I'm clueless on that area of honing so I've no idea what type of nagura would be used for what.

Hmmm...research time! If that's a translucent (or a true hard/black equivalent) I am going to have a LOT of fun with that stone.

Yup looks like a good sized arky.

You should get some nice edges off it, It doesn't look like it needs a lot of flattening if any either. If it did want flattening you would be in for a world of pain, Arky's are hard, And by that they make granite look soft!

It may want a damn good burnishing. Arks without a burnish don't perform well as finishers. But abuse it a bit with some hard steel like a knife, chisel, or plane blade and it should turn into a nice glassy finish.

Normally people use light oil on them when honing, but you can happily get away with just water with some soap. If you want to test both then the stone should wash without a problem. Again a little soapy water and the oil comes right off and won't have penetrated. I store mine dry after been cleaned. If you are using slurries be careful when building the slurry, and keep an eye on the stone's burnish. It's safer to slurry on a diamond plate and transfer it over, rather than scrubbing rock on rock. Also if you go too low with your slurry grit you risk the burnish, For example attempting to use a 6K slurry on it.

You should be exited. Arkies are superb stones, Very versatile and consistent. They only lack in speed and prep time to get them flat and burnished to a satisfactory level.

Well, I'm assuming* the fellow selling these found them all in the same place. Of particular interest in the lot were the 3 stones mentioned, and there's also a diamond lapping plate in there. If this all came from the same previous owner, that's a good indicator that the stone should* be fairly flat. God help me if it isn't. Lapping an 8" PHIG was bad enough, I can only imagine what it'll take to flatten out a 12" translucent. If it is out of flat, I'm likely just going to take it in little nibbles until I'm satisfied with it.

What I was thinking, as far as slurry goes, is the same thing I do with every other stone of mine. One side is polished/burnished and the other is left a little rough. I use the rough side for slurry work, then flip to the polished/burnished side for the final phase without slurry. That way I don't have to worry so much about messing up the side I worked so hard to clean, polish, and burnish. I'm still working out if I want to use a honing oil or water with it. I'm really tempted to go with water just so I can play with slurry, even though oil will be undeniably better with it. There's always the shave lather trick I use with my other hones, which works about like oil with the benefit of being water soluble.

I have sharpened on Arkies all my life. You have some learning to do about Arkansas stones. They don't slurry.

Originally Posted by AlienEdge

I have sharpened on Arkies all my life. You have some learning to do about Arkansas stones. They don't slurry.

You have some learning to do about slurries - just because a base stone doesn't slurry doesn't mean you can't use the slurry from a nagura (slurry stone) on it.