A thread about Surgical Black and Translucent Arkansas Stones
This will be only my 2nd post on the SRP forums, but I have been reading threads about hones and honing for days now.
Background:
I am an avid knife sharpener, and not a razor honer,...at least not yet. I am also an avid Arkansas stone user, and I have multiple Soft, Black, and Translucent stones, as well as a couple of diamond sharpening stones 750 grit and less. I use honing oil rather than water.
I have 2 Translucent stones and 4 Black stones. At least 3 of the 6 are "very" pleasing to use. These three have a little surface texture working in their favor. I also have a few Black stones with really smooth surfaces that are slower cutting, but they do work a little better after some recent attention with a diamond stone.
Bottom Line:
I don't believe the Translucent stones are worth the premium they sell for, above the price of Black Arkansas. The general consensus seems to be that the Translucent stones are better, but I don't think there's a nickel's difference between two quality stones with the same surface texture. Based upon my experiences with 6 stones of both types combined, I believe the Black stones to be a much better value.
I combined the Pyramid method that I read about here on SRP, with Edge Trailing "X" strokes last night, using a very smooth Black stone, and a Translucent stone, and I got some nice edges on several knives. I will definitely use the pyramid method again in the future. I don't know why it works, but I don't really care either. It just works.
I am really enjoying the SRP forums thus far.:rock:
I find the Belgian Blue stones interesting..........