Thread: Black arkansas vs Translucent

Originally Posted by Marshal

Yeah, polishing and burnishing a Black or Translucent is best taken in bites. There's a reason my 12 x 3 isn't fully flattened and ready to work. The 6 x 2 was much more friendly.

12x3 black or translucent? From where?

Translucent. Found it on Ebay in a lot actually, no idea who the original company that mined it up was. It's unmarked.

Originally Posted by Marshal

Translucent. Found it on Ebay in a lot actually, no idea who the original company that mined it up was. It's unmarked.

Pictures please

Got the dimensions off by a hair - 12 x 2.5

Here it is next to a ZY razor hone that's about 8 x 3 for comparison.





The face I've been slowly working over has black marker and you can kinda see the oval where I've been slowly working it flat here and there. This one's been a bit of a bear, rather than being concave the hone is somewhat convexed. Now that I've seen the thread regarding rounded hones part of me is wondering if going out of my way to flatten it isn't something of a mistake. Maybe it was meant to be high & rounded, kind of like the ones in use at Dovo...?

Well, the other side still has that profile. And I'll be d*&%^ed if that's getting lapped. It can stay as-is. Might get a little burnishing, but I'll be content with one flat side.

That's a nice looking stone congrats. Did you pay an arm and a leg for it?


Side note: Today I spent another 2 hours lapping and prepping the black. An hour and a half of lapping and another 30 minutes of polishing.

Used wet dry 150 grit to finish up the lapping. I then used my king stones to lap to 8k. Started with the 1k and then the 4K and finally 8. Sharpened two knives on it.

I then scrubbed it with a toothbrush and dish soap to remove any grit as I read on b&b from slice of life that Arkansas hones hold on to loose grit so clean it. I took his advice and cleaned it well.

Took a razor that was shaving but not well off a coticule. Wasn't comfortable believe it or not on the last shave so I thought I'd give it a go on the black ark.

Did about 50 laps on oil. 10x3 is a lot of real estate so I didn't feel the need to do hundreds of laps. It didn't need it. Stropped and shaved and it was equal or above a good coticule edge for me. Close and comfortable. It definitely improved my rough shaving edge to the point where I enjoyed it immensely. I was kind of worried when I sold my last fine coticule to Harrywally that I would be finisher-less. Thankfully this is not the case.

I am very pleased with the stone and after putting all the effort into it I never plan on selling this stone, or any of my Arkansas stones for that matter. It can only get better from here.

So I would also recommend the black stone from natural whetstone. Just know that out of the box it will be rough and not flat. Once you flatten and polish it you'll be surprised at how it changes. It really opened my eyes and my initial disappointment/low expectations were shattered. Buy from natural whetstone with confidence. There stones are good, after all they are novaculite.

I would buy there black translucent but my arms would not appreciate me lapping an even harder ark!!! I'll see how this stone breaks in.

Apologies for the ramblings.

It's hard to believe that just a few short years ago the common thought was that Arkansas stones were only for knives since their grit was rated around 1200 at best. Now, Of course, we know this isnt the case.

I love reading about Arkenstone success. Congrats!!!

They may not be popular but they do work well. I can't wait to do a full progression.

Nope, it was actually one heck of a steal. It came in a lot that also had 2 translucents measuring 6 x 2 x 1, and 5 x 2 x 3/8, an EZE lap diamond plate, a pair of scythe stones and a no name hardware store hone or 2. I think including shipping it was just under 90 bucks.

I'm guessing the seller didn't know what they had, or just didn't want to sit on the hones.