Thread: Arkansas Novaculite vs. Belgian Coticule

Ok, fair enough - they are similar in that they are natural hones. I have found that any hone will cut faster with slurry, but the only natural hone I have ever found to work at different levels if you will, are coticules via the application of slurry and various dilutions. I can set a bevel with a coticule and take a razor's edge to shave ready with the same stone and no others. I have heard it may be done on a Thuringian but have neither the time nor the patience. I don't believe the hard arkansases and any novaculite stone for that matter would be able to bevel set even with slurry. I can imagine it is possible per se, but not in the average lifetime - they are simply too slow for the job.

Like the other fellows have said, Arkansas stones are "oil stones" and aren't generally used with a slurry. The soft Arkansas variety can actually cut fairly fast, but the harder varieties are prettly slow cutters and I would agree that they are better for final polishing.

I haven't used them, but I believe it when the guys who use coticules say they are faster than Arkansas stones.

washita and soft ark are great bevel setters that will leave a great bevel with out micro chipping

arkansas's are my favourite stone they may be slower than others but there are no words to properly describe the edge they give,on a trashed edge it can take a couple hours to get a super smooth edge depending on the steel and how bad it was to start,sharpening a blunt blade with no damage or flattening can take 15 to 30 minutes on real hard blades it can be longer i feel it's worth it for the smoothest edge i've ever seen

Originally Posted by Alucard73

i feel it's worth it for the smoothest edge i've ever seen

Have you felt the edge of an Escher?

comparing the two stone is like comparing apples to oranges ark translucent is much harder i cant say the ark is finer because i never felt and ecsher edge but and ark translucent leaves a very fine edge . what ever grit rating norton has out on the translucent i dont pay attention to that because the translucent doesnt cut like any other stone one of the reasons is because it is a very dense stone the denser the stone the finer the finish

Originally Posted by Alucard73

arkansas's are my favourite stone they may be slower than others but there are no words to properly describe the edge they give,on a trashed edge it can take a couple hours to get a super smooth edge depending on the steel and how bad it was to start,sharpening a blunt blade with no damage or flattening can take 15 to 30 minutes on real hard blades it can be longer i feel it's worth it for the smoothest edge i've ever seen

How many different stones have you tried? Have you ever shaved off an Escher, or maybe A Charnley, or any Japanese Natural hones. That's a bold statement, when there are finisher's out there costing thousands of dollars....

I have many hones, including a dozen or Arkies, Washita, Hard, Soft, Translucent, Surgical Black, even the Tri Hone system.
I used to sell them for Jim Hall. Arkies are great hones, don't get me wrong, but IMHO, they're aren't that great for razors, not when you have Escher (Thuringian) Charnley, Japanese Naturals, and even Coticule.

I'd be glad to do the Pepsi Challenge with a Translucent against, say, an Escher?

every butcher and slaughterman has they're own stones and nearly all use different ones i've tried more stones than i can remember and most i don't remember what they were called,even used some of the stones the proffessional sharpeners used they always had heaps of them, escher and coticule two natural japanese a heap of synthetics including two jap synthetics and one that was like orange clay very soft all were faster than arkansas's but could never get the same amount of polish,the best was the soft clay like one a very close second to arkansas though

Originally Posted by Alucard73

every butcher and slaughterman has they're own stones and nearly all use different ones i've tried more stones than i can remember and most i don't remember what they were called,even used some of the stones the proffessional sharpeners used they always had heaps of them, escher and coticule two natural japanese a heap of synthetics including two jap synthetics and one that was like orange clay very soft all were faster than arkansas's but could never get the same amount of polish,the best was the soft clay like one a very close second to arkansas though

That's twice now...

When we are talking on here (SRP = Straight Razor Place) we assume that you are talking about honing straight razors... If you are talking about knives, please, please, tell us in advance so we know where you are coming from... Not that we don't listen, but at least we understand that you are talking about two totally different things...

It will avoid "discussions" like this one,, in the future..

Thank you

cf is in the family of Novaculite