Thread: Black arkansas vs Translucent

I polished a couple of stones and got them shining like a mirror.

After wiping them down with acetone, a lot of the shine disappeared.

Is it possible that you are just filling in the pores with compound?

As hard as they are to lap, it's hard for me to grasp the concept that a cloth buffing wheel with a little rouge would cut into an arkie.

The surgical black seemed to keep more of the sheen than the two trannies did.

Did virtually nothing for the Swaty.

A cloth buffing wheel can easily cut an Ark - as long as it's loaded with the right compound. Diamond compound will obviously cut one, as will CBN, boron carbide, silicon carbide, aluminum oxide and even garnet. Something like CrOx might have more trouble cutting but should still be able to polish.

The main thing you want to watch out for is using too aggressive of a compound - ideally you'd rather only just polish, not cut. A compound that cuts too aggressively will pretty rapidly result in a hone that isn't very flat. This probably isn't the best approach for every hone.

The secret to polishing is preparation . if the trans have somebubles in it they will not go away .
now wipe it with alcohol or aceton and after druyng you will see the results
The polishing compound haz waxes , for binders ,that makes the surface shiny . You have to check the progress after a wiping the wax coat .
If the surface have some major efecs, they have to be sanded doun , before buffing .
i dont believe that thee is such compound that can take from the ark stone and make it , not flat .

Lol, sure there is. All the compounds above are composed of abrasives considerably harder than an Ark. Spending too much time in one place with these will result in local deviations from flatness. It's important when buffing anything to be cautious about that. People buff steel all the time and end up with massively rounded corners and dips in flat surfaces. The same can happen to a stone with careless work.

It's interesting to me that this could work.

My SB already had a great burnishing on it and it looks the best afterwards.

I did notice that to get a good consistent finish, it took light-medium pressure. Too much pressure left a lot of blotchiness.

I also didn't spend more than 5 mins on each stone before they looked good.

I have several compounds for my buffer. Maybe the white compound was not aggressive enough since it's really for aluminum. I have tripoli and flexcut gold too. I may try them.

I figure it's like buffing anything else - just enough pressure to get the cloth touching the stone. Keep it moving, don't focus too much in any one area. Don't want the work piece getting hot, or any low spots due to wear in one area.

I used chromox. I figure if it can cut and polish glass there's no reason it shouldn't do something to just about any stone in my possession. Translucent Arkies included. There's a visible difference before & after. Sure the finish is a little hazy, but they feel smoother than ever in the past.

Perhaps more important than how the stone looks or feels was the performance. I polished 7, but I've only honed on one - my coticule. Before the stone could just barely make a finish fine enough to shave with. Less keen than a Norton 8K edge, though more comfortable right off the bat. Now it's giving an edge that is both more keen and more comfortable. It may not make a world of difference on an Arkansas or my PHIG, those were already putting scary sharp edges on a blade. But I suspect my ZY hone and perhaps Welsh slates will see a good bit of improvement.

Shame my buffing wheel is toast. I'd like to hit my barber hones with this too. I might have to pick up a few more.

Yes the presure must be light or the abrasive goes away too fast and it damage the form .
If buffed properly , you shouldnt digg a groove into the stone .
The time spend in the weel and systematicaly reload the weel with compound a litle bit is the key .
There must be a system of moves , that assure right and equal covering of the syrface evenly .

I once watched a guy remove a deep scratch, from a plate glass window, he used a progression of wet and dry sanding disc on a Makita random orbit, palm sander. He went up to 3k, then Cerium paste, he mixed from powder, just about ½ a teaspoon and a foam pad on the sander and buffed it smooth and clear.

Once he ground out the scratch, he ran through the grits quickly, couple minutes on each.

I suspect that may be a better way to go, the face would be flatter. Double stick tape the stone to a counter and polishing the face, it is much like how marble and granite counter tops are polished for repairs.

My arks arrived. These big boys.

Here's my initial thoughts on purchasing from natural whetstone.

The prices are really good. Especially price to size ratio compared to others
The soft and hard Arkansas I would recommend them whole heartedly. The soft cuts fast. The hard refines that soft and is not redundant. Have yet to lap them so this is factor finish testing on a knife not a razor yet. I'll get to the black in a minute.

They come in wooden boxes which is pretty standard. Suprisingly all 3 of my boxes have different tops.. I'm not complaining because it's what's in the box that matter to me but I was surprised at the lack of uniformity. Unfortunately 2/3 boxes arrived broken. I placed a quick email to natural whetstone and within the hour got a reply saying that he would send two new boxes for me.

So quality is good. Prices are good, customer service is good. Where my stones were lacking and I really did ask before purchasing was flatness. All of my stones had a 1/16-1/8" dish.

I have yet to tackle the soft and hard but today I spent 4 hours lapping my black and I can honestly say I never want to live through that's nightmare again. My arms feel like jello right now. I was using sandpaper 40 grit and gave er for 2 hours got fed up and went to my belt sander. Belt was too worn.... went to palm sander. No good. Back to hand lapping. What an experience.

The black I've got to say is nothing like Dan's black. Dan's has a black glass look to it while this black is more grey, a lot more compact than a hard Arkansas for sure but not the ultra fine finisher of a Dan's. It's currently flat and sitting at 100grit. I don't have the heart or the arm endurance to lap the other side but my knives won't care much. It's not burnished so haven't tested anything yet. I will in the coming weeks.

So I am happy with my purchases the only thing I will need is a final finishing ark. I'm thinking a translucent from Dan's because I already have a black and I don't want to lap the translucent that would be just as hard or harder than the black I've got now and Dan's come flat out ofthe box I just want to burnish and go.

Since you already have the black on hand, I would say get it burnished and tested before buying another expensive stone. Unless you just want a translucent on hand to compare and contrast. Typically folks go soft > hard > finisher, or with a sharp blade that just needs a quick refresh - hard > finisher. So if it's not making a good shaving edge it might be worth replacing. But I wouldn't burn time doing a few hundred laps on a translucent then shift to a black or vice versa.

At any rate, density is key not coloring with novaculite. That grey rock just might surprise you when it's burnished. Those are some pretty stones, especially the one on the right. Is that the hard Arkie?