Thread: Where to start with natural hones

Honestly, I don't appreciate the Arkansas novaculite hones. I mean, they'll do their job, eventually, but I would first suggest getting a Chinese finisher, a Thuringian, a Coticule or something that actually removes steel, before I suggest a black or translucent Ark.

But it seems that the choice has already been made. Why not ride with it?

Arks do take a little investment of time but I think they are worth it. No other piece of rock that I have used has a character quite like them and I guess you either like it enough to put the time in or you don't. The OP will sort that out for himself but I don't think you can go wrong with a trans ark.

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I am glad some of you are having success with the Arkies. I have not been so lucky. My failure was due to not lapping the surface of the Arkie first.
Mine were smoother than glass. I literally put thousands of laps on a razor with no discernable change in the edge. I did that with both a black and a translucent and several different razors. When I resume honing I will first lap the Arkies.

I think it has to do with how they're lapped and the stone being employed. My take is that if there is a noticeable generation of swarf to the naked eye, then change to the edge is being effected. Hard to see this on a black hard Arkansas; wiping the blade gently with a paper towel from time to time does the trick, particularly if used with oil. If a translucent has been lapped coarsely, it's noticeable on the stone.

With Arks lapped to 1500x-2000x, I've often thought that they may be doing more burnishing of the edge than actual sharpening. This would account for some of the outrageously high grit ratings that folks sometimes give to them when used after very high (10k+ JIS) synthetic hones. I imagine that here they are working to correct over-honing or that the stone is functioning like a strop used with an edge-leading pass.

Take those hard Arks back to about 220 sic and you should see a difference. They don't need to be burnished so much at that level of grit. They are fine enough as it is.

That's all the further I've taken mine, Paul. Then I burnish them, if I want.

Back in the beginning of honing razors, I only had one stone ( 1k ). I let the swarf build up on the stone as I honed. It would slow down the metal removal and increase the polishing effect, as I progressed.

Not as comfortable as a full progression of today, but not bad for a kid that was only 17 yrs old at the time.

Sometimes ya have to be smarter than the rock.

I have posted the following comments before. I can’t remember where I found them, it might even have been in a thread on SRP. Sometimes it’s just easier to repost than to locate the original.

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If you are going to be slurry honing on a very hard stone (raising slurry with a hard stone) it's counter-productive to polish the stone too much. It will only make raising a slurry much more difficult. Best is to flatten the stone with a diamond plate then raise a couple consecutive slurries with the rubbing stone and wash them away. Raise the next one and hone with it. This is for finishing only after something like 8k. If you want to try it from a little earlier in the progression you can go to 2k then raise a diamond plate slurry and hone on that, then a rubbing stone slurry and hone on that. Repeat by raising another rubbing stone slurry if necessary until you get your finished edge. On most stones the last one should be a fairly thin slurry, not too thick. Oh, and the radius you have on the corner of the stone should be sufficient. Only polish a very hard stone surface if you are going to use it without slurry. Otherwise you are better off letting the stone go to its natural state during slurry honing.