Thread: New Arkansas stones...

I just got these big old honking 8"x3" Arkansas stones. These are not commercial stones. I got them from a hone hobbyist who finds them, cuts them, shapes them, and laps them himself. Unlike my last Arkansas stones (Dan's brand) these ones where preped specifically with razors in mind. I can tell a big difference. I have honed a bit on both and so far I can't tell much difference in the edges from the surgical black and the translucent. I haven't decided which is my favorite yet.




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Nice! You will most likely not see much if any difference between the two. They run very close together in the cutting ability, especially after being burnished.

Those are absolutely gorgeous! Congrats!

Originally Posted by kelbro

Nice! You will most likely not see much if any difference between the two. They run very close together in the cutting ability, especially after being burnished.

This. About the only difference between a surgical black and a translucent hone is that one is translucent and the other is black and opaque. No idea what the difference is that causes the coloring, but the coloring doesn't effect the density or it's ability to hone a blade. I greatly enjoy my Arkies.

Really nice stones. I find it interesting someone would do that as a hobbyist.

Originally Posted by Wid

Really nice stones. I find it interesting someone would do that as a hobbyist.

Not exactly what is going on, years ago I purchased a truck load of rough stones directly from the quarry, (a combination of blemished stones and or heal cut scraps they had no use for but I seen potential, this was way before the J-NAT craze where a 'koppa' was a thing. I also have some large slabs of stone that I am cutting down and lapping.


EDIT:
I try to stress the 'hobby' thing because I have only sold a 1/2 dozen stones in the last few years, most of those were not even sold but traded for other stones I didn't have in my collection. Please do not contact me for any trades as I simply am not working on any in that capacity.
/EDIT:



Here is a couple of the translucent slabs I have been working on the last couple of weeks, so far no good stones of any size have came from it, its a work in progress. These particular slabs I just recently acquired from a friend in Arkansas.

Cool stones. It would be cool to see a videography of the transformation from that big rock to a hone. A pic or two taken at each step. I can't imagine how much work is involved to get from there to there.

Originally Posted by kelbro

Cool stones. It would be cool to see a videography of the transformation from that big rock to a hone. A pic or two taken at each step. I can't imagine how much work is involved to get from there to there.

I have spent a fair amount of time just today, nice thing about Novoculte is it can be worked with hand tools, The first photo was done entirely by thinning out using a hammer and chisel. I have a small amount of experience making arrowheads from chert and novoculte, so studying the rock and letting it tell you where to bump it is a big help. my saw has a max cut of 3.5 inch, and this stone was about 10 inches thick at the highest point, I thinned it down to about 6 inches today, and of course as you can see some of this rock is worthless, I hope as I get deeper into the core it will be better.
The second photo I am cutting 1/2 side at a time and trying to meet in the middle.

I have a large slab saw with a 12 inch cut depth lined out, but it might be awhile before that happens if at all.
Enjoy the photos, its fun regardless of my lack of progress.

That's fantastic, I hope you end up finding some good hones in there, good luck with it!

I am thinking of getting a new finishing hone It is between a Surgical Black & a Shapton 16K. Any thoughts or ideas??

Slawman