Thread: Translucent Ark?

Happy New Year early, fellas-As I posted in the Christmas thread, I ended up with TWO Chosera 1k's for Christmas (I thought my sons were getting me a bottle of scotch, so I finally pulled the trigger on one I had been eyeing!). Anyway, as my friend CJBianco wanted one too, and I wanted to try out a couple of his naturals, we worked out a trade. First of all, I guess there is a reason so many "serious" honers like the Chosera as a bevel setter. Once I lapped the coarse "skin" off of it and chamfered the edges, it really does seem to smooth the bevel out to almost 4 or 5k level. Even the 1st blade I maxed out on it was tree-topping hair on my arm (which has always been about Norton 4k territory for me previously).

But this thread is about the two naturals I have been dying to try. Although I have been getting good edges off my usual Norton 4/8k/Nani 12 progression (with the occasional PHIG finish for giggles), I felt I was missing that legendary smoothness that naturals are said to deliver, so I jumped at the chance to get a "Pocket Rocket"-sized JNAT (Shobudani?) with tomo nagura, and a Translucent Arkie.

I will start a separate thread later about the JNat as I know there is more of a learning curve with these. Hell, I was up 'til 4 am reading websites and watching JNat videos. I'll just post a pic of it here sitting on a Nani 12k for size comparison:

Now on to the Trans Ark. Christopher said, and my reading confirms, that in the old days, it was simply graded a "hard" ark. I'm not sure if the box is original (and the print on the top has long rubbed off), but the stone fits perfectly inside it. And though it seems to be practically unused, somebody prepared it well for razors (fresh, sharp chamfer lines, mirror burnished, no oil smell or feel). And it is a beautiful, multi-colored stone, varying from a creamy color to a dark brownish gray-green, if that makes any sense.

Sitting on the Chosera for reference:
.

The cool thing that I love so much about it (indeed, it is exactly the kind of Arkie I wanted!) is its true translucence. My headlamp just lights it up with a glow, all the way across. My understanding is that this makes it a true "translucent" arkie, no?

Anyway, having never honed on one before (other than demoing knife sharpening on the cheapo Smith's tri-hones with Cub Scouts-more like finger cutting!), I just knew what I had read. I took an already shave-ready George Butler "Shakespeare" razor with my standard Nani 12 finish, already silently tree-topping leg hair-just maybe a tad "crisp." So not having any actual honing oil on hand, I just used a few drops of glycerin with a couple of spritzes of water mixed in. Having heard how hard and slow these are, I started doing sets of 50. I'm not sure about the feedback-I just know the passes were silky smooth from the get-go, and only seemed to get more so. My arm-hair and magnifying light tests told me that it was getting sharper (or maybe just smoother based on the scratch pattern?), so I kept going.

I ultimately did about 300 laps followed by 50 on my 3" English bridle. I will shave-test it tomorrow (along with a few of my initial JNat experiments on other edges), then report back. I just thought it would be best to start with the simplest, most straightforward one, and learn the basics on it before going down the rabbit hole with the JNat.

I would appreciate any useful feedback or tips from you Arkie guys. Thanks in advance, and Happy New Year! SHD/Aaron

A beautiful beautiful stone! It looks very transparent. It sounds like you are a quick learn and have done your homework. You never know until the shave but it sounds like you did great. I will be watching this thread to see how your shave goes. When done right they are truly amazing IMO. A shave where the blade effortlessly glides along and you have absolutely no irritation. You feel as though you could do 100 passes and still not feel any irritation but it is so close and smooth that a couple passes is all that's needed. Pass me the scotch.

Then again, you may have just an ordinary shave. Time and the shave will tell.

Nice stone, will be interesting to hear the results of the shave.

Sent from a galaxy far far away...

That's a pretty stone, I like how you can see just the ambient light from the window sill seeping through the rock. Sounds to me like all she may need is a good burnish to truly be ready for action.

Since you've already got a Naniwa 12K I think you'll find using that Jnat to be surprisingly straightforward. If you're coming off that 12K I would wager you could safely forego any fuss with slurry, and go straight to water on the bare hone. But that's a topic for another thread.

In regard to the translucent, I'm with Steel and Grazor. Sounds like you did everything right on your end, if the stone was surfaced right you should be in for a really nice shave when you put that razor to the test.

Sounds to me like all she may need is a good burnish to truly be ready for action. Thanks for the feedback Marshall and others. A couple of quick questions for you guys or any other ark users:

1. Burnishing-If it already has that "wet mirror" surface sheen when you angle it lengthwise down towards a light, and the blade just glides across almost like glass, does it NEED further burnishing? If so, do I need to get out some kitchen knives and start working them across it?

2. Oil-I've heard Smith's, plain water, glycerin, 3-in-1, sewing machine oil, various "recipes" involving honing oil and solvents like kerosene, etc. I'll use anything simple and reliable. If I use much oil, do I need to scrub it off with soap and a scotch-brite pad or anything?

3. Laps-Assuming an already shave-ready, 12k Nani edge, if I truly want to make a noticeable difference and get those "silky" arkie edges I hear about, are 100 x-strokes sufficient? 200? 300, like I did today? Does it matter much?

I hear it's almost impossible to over-hone on one of these, though it seems like you could wreck a full-hollow, ultra-thin edge with such a hard stone and some wrong strokes.

Anyway, curious to hear further thoughts if anyone is not too far "into their cups" tonight! Thanks again-Aaron

edit: Two more questions I just thought of:
4. Burnishing-Even if it doesn't "need" it, would it do any harm to do sets of, let's say, Japanese-style back and forths with a little pressure using an 8" stainless chef's knife that is already pretty sharp? I don't have any chisels or plane blades.

5. Cleanup and glazing-I have heard of arks "glazing over" and becoming virtually useless until cleaned and refreshed on the surface? Should I worry about this? And given that arks have the reputation of eating expensive diamond plates for breakfast, what is the best way to clean and refresh the surface after honing, if necessary?

Again, thanks in advance!

1. No. If it already has a good finish it will only get better with use. No need to burnish any further u less it is not giving you the edge you want.

2. Any oil or lubricant works but my preference is for water soluble. So either smiths or ballistol oil.

3. The laps depend on your stone and particular blade/grind. I personally don't count laps. 300 should be plenty if the surface is burnished and it is light pressure.

Thanks Steel-I jumped the gun with that stainless 8" chef's knife just to see what I could do (ignoring the very tempting Chosera 1k right beside it!). When I took it out of the drawer, it had much less of an edge than I thought, actually-not quite butter-knife dull, but not much better.

Anyway, I did the aforementioned back and forths on the ark with a knife that really needed a full bevel set, and in about 10 minutes, I had a stupid sharp edge on it (along with some circles and x-strokes for smoothing). I was kind of shocked, actually-I had expected it to take a while to notice anything at all.

I didn't know these things were capable of such quick heavy lifting; I thought it was more of a hard, slow polisher. It will be interesting to find out what other super-powers this stone has!

I've used baby oil (mineral oil) or sometime Dawn dish soap. A couple of drops, add water to suit.

The wider the bevel (more surface area in contact at once) the slower the stone will be. If you can work at just the apex like when freehand sharpening a knife Arks can get the job done very quickly. They produce superb edges on plain carbon steels and even some alloys. They are among my very favorite stones for razor finishing, and I use them regularly on kitchen knives also.

That's a beautiful translucent. Love the banding. If you want to know what it really is like I'm not sure following a 12k will give you an accurate evaluation. Maybe try it after a 8 k edge and see?
Slippery slope, you'll want to feel it following a good hard Ark next.