Thread: Arkansas Novaculite vs. Belgian Coticule

All of our surgeons use single-use scalpel blades with a reusable handle.

I just got a bench size stone from a reputable geologist-vendor. I was excited on the prospect of having a full size stone to make finishing easier on the translucent. Unless the surface calms down, it will be a tool sharpener and never see a razor. It has very slight inconsitancies on the surface. Vendors of Arkansas stones know little about razor honing at the level that most here understand and that makes getting one suitable for razor honing very difficult IME.
Can you get an buttery smooth edge? Absolutely, providing you have a really smooth stone. I use my smaller one with soapy water and the metal it is removing is very minimal. At that level it does not take forever and if you had a really good translucent, you should try the edge for yourself and be the judge. They can have their place for a final finish, but buying a good one for high end razor honing is a real crap shoot IME.

Kingfish i'm curious as to who you got it from as my first two were from smith's and the ones i have now are from hall's,all have been properly finished and flat all i did was round off the edges,other than that i just used them with soapy water on my razors and knives,a couple other members had issues but i can't remember the details,there are some translucents sold as seconds because they have inconsistencies in the surface and are not meant to affect sharpening don't know what that means exactly because i wouldn't buy one of them even for knives,could it be possible that's what you got

dans whetstones are the best for ark's hall's i got a good translucent but the hard / soft was trash

ark's are classified by specific gravity not grit

with the price of translucent they should be perfect in my opinion but even softs and hards should be too,if not i would consider sending them back even for knives you need a flat stone for best results and it's not like you can lapp them flat easily

Originally Posted by Alucard73

with the price of translucent they should be perfect in my opinion but even softs and hards should be too,if not i would consider sending them back even for knives you need a flat stone for best results and it's not like you can lapp them flat easily

Stone was not a second. I will hold back judment on it until it breaks in some more.