Thread: Washita or Soft Arkansas for bevel setting

Thanks Cris. Too course huh? I could see that I guess. I don't have experience with that many arks to draw a conclusion. . Just the ones from my Dad. Even that soft medium of his seems pretty hard and smooth to me. Honestly these weren't even his selected stones. These were ones he had put away in a warehouse from when we moved him into assisted living. My brother got the majority of his sharpening stuff, what I got was really leftovers. He had a bunch of ceramic stuff and some other milky looking natural stones. One he called a moonstone. I don't even know what else he had. Anyway they are heirlooms and they remind me of my dad and I'm glad I've been able to make them work well. But thanks for that information. That's what I wanted to know He also had some carborundum stones which I now have and I wouldn't even think about putting my razors on those.

While we're on the topic. Anyone know what this one is?


This is the block mounted one of Dad's

Looks like one of the hard arkies from Case Brothers around 1960.

Its a very hard smooth rock! Hope that helps.

Nice by the way.

Thanks. I may finish that one up to 3k-5k and try using it for finishing. Currently I'm using it in between the soft medium and the small hard ark.

I started the straight razor journey a few years ago because I got pissed off over the cost of replacement razor cartridges. I bought a Kamisori off the bay, I already had an arm load of arks that I was pretty confident in that I could hone a razor shaving sharp and save a ton of money. I was correct, but really I got lucky. Arks can probably refine any edge, but creating one is another story altogether.

You can take this advice for exactly what you paid for it, but if you are struggling with ark progressions it might be that the arks just don't cut that particular steel well. Don't pussy foot, use pressure. If that doesn't get results it could very well be a compatibility issue. For such razors I come off of coticule's or just shave off a coti edge or JNAT ect.

Originally Posted by Desrtrat

I started the straight razor journey a few years ago because I got pissed off over the cost of replacement razor cartridges. I bought a Kamisori off the bay, I already had an arm load of arks that I was pretty confident in that I could hone a razor shaving sharp and save a ton of money. I was correct, but really I got lucky. Arks can probably refine any edge, but creating one is another story altogether.

You can take this advice for exactly what you paid for it, but if you are struggling with ark progressions it might be that the arks just don't cut that particular steel well. Don't pussy foot, use pressure. If that doesn't get results it could very well be a compatibility issue. For such razors I come off of coticule's or just shave off a coti edge or JNAT ect.

I'm kind of in the same boat. I had these stones and just by dumb luck I've made a progression that works like a charm. I'm aware that I could get there quicker with a set of synthetics and I still do but I find the honing cathartic.
I would argue the point about if tradesmen had a quicker tool they would use it. Being a tradesman myself I agree to a certain extent but there's a difference between craftsmanship and artisanship. Some of the old ways are slower or more labor intensive but are in some cases better and worth paying for. For example manipulating a safe instead of drilling holes in it. Sure you could strap a drill rig on and bore holes a lot easier but with very high end or very old/historic stuff sometimes you just don't want to do that. Just spend a little time and do it the right way. BUT, you have to know how and the only way to know how is to keep that skill set sharp.

I've got a Chosera 1K also and it does make quick work of steel. I just enjoy stroking those blades across the arks and I gave up hurrying a while back. I spent a lot of time as a young kid sharpening the knives for our family's butcher shop and all we had were carborundum and arks. I had them figured out pretty well when it came to keen edges