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On the road at Dan's Whetstones
I've been intending to stop by and visit Dan's Whetstones for quite some time. About 30 miles north of Interstate 30, and just west of Hot Springs, Arkansas, today was the perfect day for the visit.
Here's how it came about. I was fueling my big rig at the Loves truck stop in Little Rock this morning about 08:30, not needing to be back in Houston till Saturday morning. Lots of time. As I say, I've been wanting to go by, but now I had a motive. (More about that in a bit). So I called, spoke to Mary S., said I wanted to come by, told her I was driving a big rig tanker, checked on parking and turning space, and she said come on. I was about an hour away.
Upon arrival and parking the rig, Mary greeted me in their business office area. I'm not going to reherse things you can read from their website, except a couple of things later on. Let me say that Mary was warm and welcoming, and ready to give me the grand tour complete with introductions and thourough explanations.
There are three buildings. The grand saw room, the main production facility, and the office. Here's a picture of the grand saw.
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How's that for a saw? Now here's the main production area.
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As Mary and I moved to the production area we were joined by Steve Kirschman, the eldest son of Danny Kirschman, the founder of the company. Steve is a wealth of information all things Arkansas novaculite stones. How would you like to have all this in your garage?
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Here's both Steve and Mary.
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From the production area we moved to the finishing room.
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Notice the grinding machines in the background. There are four of these in here. Here's a closer picture.
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The bin above the grinder dispenses grit for grinding and lapping.
At the end of the tour I got to meet and chat with a true American entrepreneur, Mr. Danny Kirschman, founder of Dan's Whetstones.
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I told Steve and Mary I was going to do a little write up for SRP. They asked me to emphasize two points. First, all of Dan's Arkansas Whetstones are genuine novaculite; and second, color does not determine grade or classification of the stones. The grade and classification is determined by density and gravity.
It's on this last point where my motive for wanting to stop for a visit today comes in. It became evident in my conversation with Steve Kirschman there are three grades/classifications of novaculite: Soft Arkansas, Hard Arkansas, and True Hard Arkansas. This last category carries a density/gravity rating of 2.5+. For marketing and commercial purposes, the True Hard Arkansas is sub-divided Colored Translucent, Translucent, and Black Arkansas. Additionally, the descriptions extra fine and ultra fine are marketing and commercial terms and have no specific application except in certain technical and scientific uses. Even then, the differences among the True Hard Arkansas category are inconclusive.
While some straight razor users use the softer grades for beval setting and mid-range uses, I dare say most of us use the higher density/gravity stones as finishers, (i.e. Translucent or Black Arkansas).
So why the sub-division of the True Hard Arkansas clasification? Marketing. There are those, Steve said, who think the Black Arkansas is denser and produces a finer edge honing for their specific application. Others want a pure Translucent. In our discussion of straight razor honing, Steve said the inconclusive distinctions within the True Hard Arkansas category make any claim a "distinction without a difference."
I can say from my own use of the Translucent and Black Arkansas, they are superb finishers.
The Dan's Whetstone family is True Hard Americana. If you use, or are thinking of using an Arkansas whetstone, make sure you use a genuine novaculite. Check out their website and give them a call. It was a delightful visit.
https://www.danswhetstone.com