i'm on and off with using the ark's but when i do and the blade is blunt i start with a fine indian stone soft ark hard ark then translucent strop with canvas and then leather. my translucent is fast for a translucent about 25 round trips on the stone and the oil is gray i finnish on the translucent with 200 to 300 round trips but again mine is a fast cutting stone results may vary on your translucent