Thread: Lapping a hard arkansas stone

Originally Posted by Alucard73

you shouldn't need to lap a new arkansas stone and if used properly it will take years of wear before it needs lapping mine have been used daily for nearly twenty years and don't look like they will need lapping for a long time to come

I have a large Black Surgical Arkansas (12" x 3" x 1") which I bought new a few years back from a vendor in the US. I assumed it was lapped but apparently not that well done. Left to Right across the stone is OK but it has a belly of about 0.5mm in the middle (a bit over 1/64"?)

I tried a bit with a DMT but saw that woulld be a useless exercise and gave up after about 5 min a circular movements (did not want to ruin my diamond plate).
Anyway my question is can I just ignore this amount or should I send it to some professional outfit to correct it?
(Both sides have a belly)

(the original vendor stated it was within spec)

Cheers
Anthony

as far as i know they should be flat when new i've never had to lap mine as they were flat from the start guess it's something to ask before buying i did the corners on all my stones with a tungsten tile file it looks like a square of grey rough looking mesh and finished with a cheap silicone carbide stone to smoothen it up it wrecked it but i only used it for that you can lap with one too but use lots of water just about any abrasive can be used but they are very hard stone so will take a bit a small belly wont mater that much as long as it doesn't catch the edge best way would talk to a stone mason or similar if you want it will take years of proper use before you get wear marks even the soft ones go a long time if you make sure to use the whole surface they are the best stones i've ever used and well worth the effort needed to get an unbelievable edge

Anthony i just got out a piece of my broken hard arkansas and had a bit of a go lapping it with the tile file with a wet stone and some dish detergent i had a go and the tile file did a very good job taking a bit of with just a couple strokes some of the tungsten bits came off but it lapped the stone finish wasn't rough because of the structure of the stone but it had marks so i grabbed my silicon carbide stone and wet both stones and squirt of detergent 5 or 6 rubs and it was back to normal stone surface the surgical black is harder but they're rated on density so i don't know if it would be that much harder a tungsten tile file came from the tiling section of the local hardware they're made to clean up and smoothen and file away sharp edges of cut tiles if they can do that to ceramic tiles they will do it to your stone they're cheap so it wont matter if you go through a couple

I lapped my surgical hard black with a water based valve grinding paste on glass as recommended by Onimaru55

never thought of doing it that way that's a good idea

Originally Posted by mbrando

Hi,

I'm thinking getting a 8x2 translucent arkansas stone. I have a small vintage pike but it is small 3x2 piece. I'm curious about maintaining the hone. What would you lap translucent arkansas stone with? I hear they are very hard stones.

Try talking to the vendor and see if they will check a few with a good straight edge and sell you a mostly flat one!

the stone should come flat and if you only use it on razors you will never need to flaten it ark translucent is a super hard stone . when you get the stone check it with a square to see if it is flat and if it is then you'll never need to worry about dishing it out with razors

Hi,

Since this is an experiment for me, I went with a smaller stone 4"x2" barber's hone size. It came smooth, very flat and chamfered. I also bought some non-petroleum honing fluid from bass pro shop. I think I'm set.

- Mike

Originally Posted by Alucard73

Anthony i just got out a piece of my broken hard arkansas and had a bit of a go lapping it with the tile file with a wet stone and some dish detergent i had a go and the tile file did a very good job taking a bit of with just a couple strokes some of the tungsten bits came off but it lapped the stone finish wasn't rough because of the structure of the stone but it had marks so i grabbed my silicon carbide stone and wet both stones and squirt of detergent 5 or 6 rubs and it was back to normal stone surface the surgical black is harder but they're rated on density so i don't know if it would be that much harder a tungsten tile file came from the tiling section of the local hardware they're made to clean up and smoothen and file away sharp edges of cut tiles if they can do that to ceramic tiles they will do it to your stone they're cheap so it wont matter if you go through a couple

Great! thanks for the feedback, that is definately worth a try and also the grinding paste since I already have a thick piece of glass I can use.
Cheers
Anthony