Thread: Arkansa stones

A trans stone that passes light will be a good stone. Dan's black stones are about the same specific gravity and fineness as the best trans stones. Most other black stones aren't as dense and therefore aren't as fine.

Old Norton or pike (rare) black stones are good, if someone is pushing the old halls stock, those are ok, but no black stone that I've tried- new or old - is better than dans black.

If a full thickness stone is too expensive, get half thickness or combo to cut the cost.

As mentioned above, specific gravity determines fineness far better than anything else. The subpar black stones lack density. The good ones are mid 2.6s. At about 2.6, you start seeing pores, and pores are aggressive cutters until a stone is very broken in. That's bad.

I really like my Arkansas stones. I have a couple of smaller ones I got in a knife kit. A soft and hard, They feel very fine with a buttery consistency. When I started on straights I got a new 8" soft/hard combo and a black. It took a long time to get the new combo to break in, and now the soft on the combo feels nice and buttery. The hard still feels a bit gritty. The black I got after lapping and burnishing it is glassy and provides a great edge I've played with synthetics and film but I get my best edges off the Arkies. I use a honing oil that I make that is equal parts mineral oil and mineral spirits. The honing solution is important to keep your stones free of swarf and keep them working for you.

Black and Translucent are the same, the difference is literally coloring of the stone. Novaculite is novaculite, it's %99 silica if I remember right. The only difference between a Soft, Hard, or True Hard/Surgical Black/Translucent is the density of the material. Like Dave said, the lower the density the more porous. A more porous stone will be an aggressive cutter (Soft), a less porous stone (Translucent/Surgical) will be finer and slower. True Hard, Black, and Translucent stones are all in the same density range so their performance overlaps one another. Getting this color or that will not increase the odds of getting a stone with higher density.