Quote Originally Posted by Brontosaurus View Post
Sounds like the so-called black translucent to me. A slight notch above the rest from my experience as to visible bevel polish; yet there is nothing like the stalagmite-molten sensation of a highly-polished grey translucent when honing in the hand in my opinion.

I use oil with my Arkansas stones.
I get this-my Norton banded translucent feels like it has been waxed and buffed (it hasn't). Also a joy to hone on. I had a nice 6x2x1 convex gray-black trans that was a great hone. I wish I hadn't sold it.