Thread: Arkansa stones

Have been looking at Arkansa stones. Have read conflicting information on the black and translucent stones. Which is supposed to be finer. I know they are graded by density but seen conflicting information on that also.

Thanks Ray

Yeah, it is one of those "it is, until it isn't" kind of things. Density seems to be the only consistent way of judging how fine/coarse it is.
I have an old Norton barber hone that is a hard grey transluscent and it is probably finer than the hard black Arkansas stones you can order new now.
Try doing a search as there are a few useful threads on the topic with information from guys that know a LOT more than I do.

According to Dan, and this is the source for many decades, he said there's no difference in the black or Trans, if the density is the same then it's the same, I believe Dan knows. Tc

Either one of those, if lapped flat and burnished with a kitchen knife or cleaver, will put a surgical edge on a razor. I doubt most journeyman honers could tell the difference, though my own vintage Norton translucent feels finer to me than my more recently prepped surgical black.

We have some serious Arkie aficionados on this board who can give you much more technical info. re the importance of specific gravity and clear up the often confusing nomenclature.

But honestly, get a good specimen of either, and given a solid, repeatable honing stroke, you can put an unbelievably sharp, crisp edge on any blade with some work beyond any 8-12k synthetic without going down the technical rabbit hole. Have fun and hone on!

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.

Dan’s lists the surgical black as finer than the translucent. The translucent costs more due to its rarity.

https://www.danswhetstone.com/inform...ne-grades-101/

And if you look at the bottom of the page, it lists them as 2.50+ specific gravity. You could have a Surgical Black stone at 2.51 and a Translucent at 2.55.

Not that your blade will know the difference. Straight from the horse's mouth:

http://straightrazorpalace.com/hones...hetstones.html

Now why they say outright color has no bearing on the stone's performance, and a Translucent or True Hard will perform the same, but on their site perpetuate the same general belief that surgical black is "Ultra Fine" I dunno. Maybe for that particular classification they take a little extra time and only ship out stones with a particularly high density? But I did notice when they revamped their site this particular page did not make the cut. I think perhaps it's back by popular demand

Arkansas eye candy:



Green True Hard, banded brown Translucent stone, and a Surgical Black.

My current surgical black and translucent produce identical (to me) edges.

Dan's is a solid source for top quality, flat stones.