Thread: Lapping a Dan's Arkansas

In good faith effort to enable EVERYONE --

I will be uploading my arkansas stones when I get them.

I will also check both diligently for flatness. Looks like I'll pick up the SiC powder and some finer lapping paper just in case

Here's the black arkie, lapped dead flat and burnished. Sic powder 80, 220, 500, then sandpaper 1000, 2000, then coticule slurrying, and about 1k laps on a beater gold dollar with pressure

I've tried both ways and get much better results out of them without burnishing. Smiths honing solution or water floats the swarf.

Maybe burnish one side for a super slow finisher (if you don't already have one) and keep the abrasive tuned up on the other side.

Ok ive been reading a lot of threads on Arkies and i still cannot understand wich one is finer the translucent or the black arkansas
Im pretty much convinced that i have to buy and try arkasas stones but i cannot understand witch ones - for midle work washita or soft or hard And for finishing Trans or black ark
Im continuing to read threads .

Their both about the same, and that's coming from Dan hisself, it's all about specific gravity as to hard hard they are, it's a natural and they are pretty consistent, a surgical black or translucent, both are great finishers and would be very challenging to determine which is finer without trying a lot. Tc

Originally Posted by RusenBG

Ok ive been reading a lot of threads on Arkies and i still cannot understand wich one is finer the translucent or the black arkansas
Im pretty much convinced that i have to buy and try arkasas stones but i cannot understand witch ones - for midle work washita or soft or hard And for finishing Trans or black ark
Im continuing to read threads .

If you read Dan's site post on grit / gravity, the Hard Black and Translucent are the same "gravity" or hardness. I have both and, yeh, they're the same.

They are natural stones… each will have it’s own performance results.

As said burnish one side and try it …

Its been awhile since I have been active on this forum but I am starting to get back to it, life ya know. Anyways, I am a big proponent of arkies and coticules and arkies are a great combo. I dont know about this coticule slurry on an ark thing but I do love an edge maxed out on a coticule then "finished" on a nice ark. Anyways, I wouldn't lap it if it doesn't necessarily need it. If you do though, SiC powder is your best bet, everything else will wear out or break down too fast. Also no need IMO to go high grit really, just maybe 1k or so. then just get a chisel or bar of steel if available and work that stone like it owes you money. If you want it as a finisher then you should be able to read words reflecting off of it without oil. Also if you want some Dans on the cheap ask if they have any of the raw cut stones or whatever they call it. They're massive and only about 30 bucks or so, of course the tradeoff is only one side is cut but if you have a tile saw you can do the other sides. I just ordered another Dans black, i got the 6x2 because I like to hold the stone in my hand while honing and that size is the biggest I feel comfortable holding.