Thread: Surgical Black Arkansas v Translucent Arkansas

Originally Posted by dericandteri

I'm glad to see this post. I'm fascinated by Arks as well. Old references speak of them highly for razors, I know of one that mentions them as equals to belgian hones and Swaty's, yet they seem to get a bum rap around here.

I recently became fascinated with Arks also and acquired a vintage Washita, Soft Ark and a translucent. I haven't used them on razors yet, only pocketknives. Back in the '70s I had a set of Smith's Arks in the same grits + a black hard. I recall that the black was terribly slow on knives.

Forum member Russel Baldridge has posted on honing razors with Arks here and said that it works but that it is slow and that there are better alternatives because of that. As far as knives, I like the oilstones for knives or tools because of the hardness of the stones.

I would be reluctant to use my waterstones, coticules, Thuringans or synthetics on knives because of the wear that the increased pressure would cause. Maybe it wouldn't be significant but I still wouldn't want to mess with it.

Your post has prompted me to give razors a try on my Arks and I will do that with one razor just to see how that will work for me. Up until now I haven't but you've piqued my curiosity in spite of what I've read others say about it.