Thread: Arkansas: Translucent or Surgical Black?

Originally Posted by ScoutHikerDad

Great, now I want a foot-long primitive Dan's surgical black (at a crazy good price like that!). With the top flattened and burnished and the sides cleaned up a bit, that is gonna be 1 sexy hone. I guess you just arrange towels around it to stabilize?

Oh, and yeah, kiss your DMT goodbye if you use it on that beast (though everybody needs a well-worn DMT 325, come to think of it).

They have an even bigger one (11 x 4?) available now for $80, I picked the 10.5 x 3.5 because of its shape.

I took a 60/80 grit double sided sanding block sponge from Walmart and chamfered the edges with it in about 20-30 minutes. It worked great and really rounded out the edges.

I bought one of those yoga weight bags off amazon and filled it with beans, so i can mold and adjust it flat despite the uneven surface of the bottom of the Ark.

I had my first shave yesterday off of it and must say that it was just like a coticule edge but a little sharper.

I can't find the primitive cut stones anywhere on their site, for the life of me.

Call them.
They have a fair amount of stones for sale that aren't listed on the website.
That is how I got my stone. They were happy to send pictures and we're great to do business with.
Very highly recommended.

Pete <:-}

Originally Posted by petercp4e

Call them.
They have a fair amount of stones for sale that aren't listed on the website.
That is how I got my stone. They were happy to send pictures and we're great to do business with.
Very highly recommended.

Pete <:-}

+1..... same here

I am fairly quick at picking up most things of interest to me but embarrassingly slow at picking up some things (example, meme? I haven't got a hold on that). I don't
have an understanding of "burnished." Apparently it has to do with rubbing steel over the Arkansas. But to what purpose? Please someone offer some help, I promise
to give some thought effort to comprehend. I have a surgical black I would like to put into use with enough confidence to know that I am getting the best it has to offer.

Originally Posted by Learner

I am fairly quick at picking up most things of interest to me but embarrassingly slow at picking up some things (example, meme? I haven't got a hold on that). I don't
have an understanding of "burnished." Apparently it has to do with rubbing steel over the Arkansas. But to what purpose? Please someone offer some help, I promise
to give some thought effort to comprehend. I have a surgical black I would like to put into use with enough confidence to know that I am getting the best it has to offer.

So, an Arkansas stone is different from most others in that it doesn't really release grit to do the cutting, the silica creates a hard, fine-tooth that skims metal off the blade's surface. The idea behind burnishing the stone is to knock those teeth down as low as possible so they remove minimal amounts of metal, resulting in a finer polish.

To illustrate Marshall’s point consider the link below. Burnishing is nothing more than polishing; from mild to significant, polishing. Maybe Marshall will post a picture of his beautiful green True Hard. You’ll see mine with mild burnishing in the link.

https://sharprazorpalace.com/hones/1...true-hard.html

I'll try to remember when I'm back home Friday. At the moment I'm 2 hours from home for work training, so I've got limited access to that sort of thing.

Edit: or I could do some digging through old threads.

https://sharprazorpalace.com/hones/1...dventures.html

I love that green candy stick.