Thread: charnley forest - arkansas stones

You are correct about both of them being novoculate stone.
i have had quality charnley stone and it did put great edge to the razor.
it was slow same as Arkansas but was finer.(i used with oil )
The Best Arkansas i have is translucent brown arkansas- edge comes out fine but not as fine as fine Charnley i tested.
why i think because how they formed.
i am sure you know they sharpen ability is different then Japanese,coticule ,escher stones
Most cutting action novoculate has steel cuts the garnets .
(let me clear this a little)
lets call molecule.
when steel goes against molecule of novoculate stone it cuts molecule slowly,
when steel goes against molecule of Coticule it just takes out 1 molecule from rest and so on.
This is why their grit system is different too.
( did i express myself clear enough?)
hope this helps.

This is somewhat softer than Novaculite which is the mineral which forms what is commonly called an "Arkansas" or "Washita" stone. Novaculite is from the Devonian period and Mississippian periods (roughly about the time that ****roaches first appeared on earth 410-325 million years ago) It is a sedimentary rock composed mostly of microcrystalline quartz and is basically a recrystallized variety of chert. It is also the primary material in "Charnley Forest" and "Turkey" oilstones.

So, basically, Charnley's and Arkies are made up of the same stuff...Huh...?

Zib - I presume that they are composed of some of the same minerals and a mix of other, different minerals that modify their appearance. Novaculites can vary from 7 - 7.5 on the MOHS hardness scale (the hardest type being the rarest) which is possibly to do with other inclusions and the variable pressures under which they were formed giving rise to different densities - even this density variation is enough to modify the natural rocks cutting characteristics to some degree. Greater density (possibly due to greater pressure during formation of the rock) means that the cutting grains are closer together and therefore finer in effect than those that are further apart and separated by more of the matrix that they are suspended in.

If we were dealing with just the mineral, then it would be 100% the same no matter where it came from, but we aren't - we are dealing with natural rocks that are a mix of minerals and have different inclusions - the different types of arkansas (black, white, translucent, etc) show the effects of this.

Arkansas (and Oachita) stones are mostly formed from a type of microcrystalline quartz from recystallised chert (ie, flint) - the same stuff is found in both CFs and Turkey Oilstone.

Regards,
Neil