Thread: Arkansas "Blue-Black" novaculite stone

Greetings: My name is JD and I just joined the SRP forum this evening. I'm wanting to learn and my first question is about a super grade of Arkansas Novaculite sharpening stone I have. I got this stone from a guy in Hot Springs Arkansas who used to work for one of the companies that mined novaculite back in the 60s. He said that this particular grade had been mined out and was very hard to find now a days.

He called it a "blue-black" stone. It has a surface that is about as smooth as glass and it has a texture that I've never felt on any other Arkansas novaculite stone before. And I've had many Arkansas stones over the years. The only one I have that is even close to this one is an older BUCK hard ARkansas Stone I got back in the early 70s. It is white-opaque and it is really small. I remember I paid about $15 for that stone in the early 70s and that was a chunk of change back in those days.

Well anyway I just wonder if any of you straight razor professionals have ever heard of the Arkansas "blue-black" stone? Or are any of you aware of this really hard BUCK stone I just mentioned? Also can any of you direct me to a forum here at SRP that talks about sharpening and sharpening tools? Great to be aboard and I look forward to getting aquainted with you guys >>> JD

i've never heard of a blue-black but it sounds awesome. i'm fascinated with stones and sharpening and have a bunch of them. frankly i suck at sharpening razors but i'm pretty good at knives. if by "tools" you mean knives, woodworking, hunting etc then i have some links you may be interested in. as for razor honing, this is the place to find out. check out the forums and everything you need to know is there.

let me know if you find anything out on your blue-black. i have a black arkansas, and a white, and a bunch of waterstones. i like the arkansas better but i must admit the waterstones do the job faster.

brettzilla

G'day & Welcome JD

I used to use a Black Arkansas stone when I started honing but not familiar with the Blue Black. Some one will chime in with info I'm sure.

Meantime try these links
Straight Razor Place Wiki
Hones, stones, rocks and plates - Straight Razor Place Forums
Advanced Honing Topics - Straight Razor Place Forums

Sounds like you have some treasure there. Congrats. what other special info can your buddy supply

Stone Grades 101. Generally rated as close to a surgical black. I've seen several blue blacks, but never got to use them.

Lotsa' honing info in the wiki and honing faqs.

I've seen the black hard ARkansas stones before but this one has a completely different look to it. This one honestly does have shades of blue and black depending on the light and how you look at it. It sort of has an opaque sheen to it. It also sort of looks like extremely very dark grayish/black milk. It's as hard as a politician's heart and it really does one hell of a finishing number on most of my knives.

I've never seen one like this one since. I have to believe that the guy that sold this to me was telling the truth about it.

Thankyou for posting this. Sometime ago a member here posted about a blue Arkansas stone, and he described it as being more like a strop in use, as opposed to a hone, due to it's smoothness. I haven't been able to find the post since, and I've asked a number of companies and individuals about such a stone, but no-one had ever heard of such a stone. So at the very least you have something that seems to be rather rare, and potentially, very fine.

Kindest regards,
Alex

Originally Posted by A_S

Thankyou for posting this. Sometime ago a member here posted about a blue Arkansas stone, and he described it as being more like a strop in use, as opposed to a hone, due to it's smoothness. I haven't been able to find the post since, and I've asked a number of companies and individuals about such a stone, but no-one had ever heard of such a stone. So at the very least you have something that seems to be rather rare, and potentially, very fine.

Kindest regards,
Alex

Well Alex it's like I said in the beginning post. The guy I got this from did work for one of the mining companies that used to take this stuff out of the ground. He said that this particular grade was completely mined out going all the way back to the 1960s. He said that woodworkers in particular really treasured this grade of novaculite. I originallly bought 2 of these stones from the guy at $80 each. I got in a bind about a year ago and sold one of them to a good knife buddy of mine and he won't sell it back to me>> he likes his as much as I like mine.

I have heard that the Garrett Wade company has some really good grade '"translucent" grade white ARkansas Stone for sale. I can't comment on it because I've never used any of Garrett Wade's stones. But I will say that they are a very reputable company. I got my Theirs Issard Straight Razor from them back in the late 90s. And I've been told that it's a nice piece from a guy who knows his razors very well.

I'm hoping this blue-black novaculite stone will be good for razors. What other stones would you guys in the "know" recommend. I also have a Spyderco Ultra-Fine ceramic stone that they claim is great for straight razor sharpening. I got so many questions I just don't know where to begin. But I am looking forward to participating in this great Forum. I'm impressed so far.

I used to lurk at the Razor section over at bladeforums.com But their razor forum is nothing like this one. Although their knife Forums are tops in my opinion.

Embarrassed edit. Was not a Blue-Black after all.

Dan's website does refer to the stone on its Stone Grade 101 page: Stone Grades 101

Can you post any pictures?

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