Thread: Arkansas Adventures...

Originally Posted by Marshal

Tonight's experiment - full Arkansas progression on a new (to me) Morley clover stamp.

Attachment 258971

Talk about a hard fought battle. Left to right, Soft Arkie, Hard Arkie, True Hard Arkie. Morley needed full bevel set and (small) chip repair at the toe.

To start, all my stones, these included, have been surfaced differently on each side. The 'back' side tends to be rougher, the 'front' is burnished, or just more fine. So starting on the back of the Soft Arkie, I started to wear away the chip in the toe. Only took about 5 or 10 minutes, I figured at this point surely the bevel was set. I was mistaken. But I didn't realize it just yet. Flipped to the front side of the stone and got to work. It felt kinda sticky on the pad of my thumb after a hundred laps or so. But not quite right. I didn't listen to that little voice, and moved on to the hard stone. After 10 minutes, maybe less, I decided it was time to check if it would shave arm hair. Nothing. Felt dull on the thumb pad. Back to the soft stone. But not the fast cutting backside. I'm a glutton for punishment.

After a good 10 or 15 minutes on the face of the soft stone I realized I was only half there, and I could've had this finished twice over if I had just used the rough back of the stone. Because this type of work is specifically why I left it coarse. 5 minutes later the bevel was set. Flipped over to the face of the soft stone, TPT felt sticky all along the edge. Looking good. Moved on to the face of the hard stone (No need to use the coarse side). A few hundred laps later it was taking off arm hair nice and easy. Now we're making progress right? Well, no. Moved on to the back side of the True Hard which is currently just as sent from Dan's and after 100 laps did another little shave test. Wouldn't cut hair. No logical reason for this, just wouldn't fly.



Back to the soft stone. Coarse side, because I learned my lesson earlier. This time there was a lot of back & forth between the soft and hard stone and finally it dawned on me what was happening. 1: Lots of distractions. 2: I was using tape. And not replacing between stones because it didn't look too worn. Not at all like it gets when I'm using Synthetics, but that was enough to throw things off.



At this point I took a few hours away from the stones. Needed a break, dinner, and to sort out distractions. Came back to it and started at the ground up. Changed tape half through bevel setting, when I flipped over to the face of the soft stone, when I jumped to the hard stone, and again when I jumped to the back side of the True Hard. Stropped after the Soft Arkie, Hard Arkie, and again after the 'coarse' face of the True Hard. Thumb pad test was a go at each stage. Everything checked out under the loupe. Arm hair test passed after the Hard and coarse True hard stones. Flipped the True Hard to the burnished face and did some plain water laps. Little bit of palm stropping at the mid point. When I was done with water laps, I made a nice slick shave lather and finished off with 150 strokes.

If this thing can't pass the shave test tomorrow I will be surprised, because it feels like a pretty sweet edge. Don't have the will power to shave test it tonight though.

I have spent the last couple YEARS getting an all ark progression down. The tests are all different, for me, when using these stones as opposed to synthetics. A soft Arkansas can set a bevel but if you are working from a bevel setting surface it doesn't pass my arm hair test until I move on to a hard. With a chip removed from an edge I don't see how the bevel was not set! It is also really easy to use too much pressure or make a mistake. Now a razor takes me between 25-45 minutes depending on how much time I have to spend setting bevel with one of my Washitas. They are puzzles for sure since the surface of an Arkansas stone is always changing. Sometimes in the middle of a session. Good luck man. You have the skills I am sure to crack the code.....if they don't crack you first.

Probably because I was a little too focused on the toe, since that's where the nick was. The last 1/4" where the chip was, and the inch to the heel was set. The rest felt OK-is on my thumb pad, so I moved on thinking I might get it with the Hard stone. It didn't get it.

Having to stop every 50 laps or so and having my attention taken off the stones didn't help. Maybe I should turned the phone off.


I'm still trying to figure out how I dulled it on the True Hard the first time I went to it. Maybe I didn't clean enough trash off it, because it was shaving arm hair decently after the Hard stone.

Originally Posted by Marshal

Probably because I was a little too focused on the toe, since that's where the nick was. The last 1/4" where the chip was, and the inch to the heel was set. The rest felt OK-is on my thumb pad, so I moved on thinking I might get it with the Hard stone. It didn't get it.

Having to stop every 50 laps or so and having my attention taken off the stones didn't help. Maybe I should turned the phone off.


I'm still trying to figure out how I dulled it on the True Hard the first time I went to it. Maybe I didn't clean enough trash off it, because it was shaving arm hair decently after the Hard stone.

Ahhhh. That makes sense. Well, much respect for taking on an Arkansas progression! Sorry it was such a tough battle for you. Maybe next time try an easier blade UNLESS you are like me and a glutton for punishment. :-)

Well, we'll see how it goes next time. Which won't be too far off. Shave test was a failure.

I think Im just falling into the same traps/pitfalls I do with any single grit hone. I get bored. Impatient. Move on early. But it's a little worse with slower stones.

I don't know why, but I don't run into that when working with slurry.

My Ark adventure should start these days.. got this from a friend to try.

Tips? This is the first Arkansas I'm handing.

I got loose grit #80! [emoji16]

Do you know where it came from? Is it a Dan's Whetstone? If so, presumption is it is well flat. Next step, start honing and laying down laps. I'd start with 200 in reps of 50. BTW, good looking stone.

The stone is old(ish), his father bought it some 50 years ago in Germany. I'll snap a pic of the box when I get home again.

This morning I tried it with light slurry. I had lapped it with Atoma 400, found it to be very close to perfectly flat, so it didn't take long to finish. Then finished the surface with 1200 (also diamond). While at it, I put a razor on it and did around 50 laps on light slurry. This is the result, with almost no pressure. The edge does pop arm hair, but is no good for shaving yet.

I will take your advice and now go to clear water, and do some sets od 50. Thank you!

Originally Posted by Srdjan

The stone is old(ish), his father bought it some 50 years ago in Germany. I'll snap a pic of the box when I get home again.

This morning I tried it with light slurry. I had lapped it with Atoma 400, found it to be very close to perfectly flat, so it didn't take long to finish. Then finished the surface with 1200 (also diamond). While at it, I put a razor on it and did around 50 laps on light slurry. This is the result, with almost no pressure. The edge does pop arm hair, but is no good for shaving yet.

I will take your advice and now go to clear water, and do some sets od 50. Thank you!

Nice looking stone. I've never found a need to use a slurry on a translucent Arkansas stone. They are finishers and perform very well with water or very thin oil.

I did a fun experiment with a washita a few weeks ago while setting a bevel..

I started with a freshly lapped surface (400 Atoma) on an old Norton washita and used a smaller pocket sized washita (that i made from a broken Buck #134) to create a slurry. What i found was the washita cut first at normal speed, but with each slurry cutting action would slow (obviously from burnishing) and the edge would get more refined. I did about 5 sets of 100 laps each on a new slurry, then I switched off the slurry to oil for a few hundred laps at the end.

Ill tell ya, I shaved with that edge just for kicks and it was very sharp, a little harsh.. but a much smoother edge then what I get from a Cho 1K. Its the closest I've come to a one stone honing process.

Just a fun experiment.. Since then i just keep one side of the stone freshly lapped and the other side burnished and just use them in that order for bevel setting.

Love this stone..

Originally Posted by kelbro

Nice looking stone. I've never found a need to use a slurry on a translucent Arkansas stone. They are finishers and perform very well with water or very thin oil.

Pretty much this. Only time I use slurry is when it comes from a different (softer) source stone. Coticule, Welsh slates, Jnat naguras, etc. Trying to dig up enough material to form a working slurry is a good way to kill a diamond plate. Flattening Arkansas stones is what did in my DMT 325. When I do work with slurry on an Arkansas, I use the back side because, like MW76, I keep one side of the stone burnished and I don't want to disturb that. The smoother the surface, the better edge you're going to get. The stone will cut slower of course, so it's a trade off.