Thread: Arkansas translucent stone question

This might be obvious, but it really takes a few serious honing sessions for them to reach their potential for polishing. Make sure they are cleaned well after use and before for razors.

before lapping i would take a square or some thing you know to be square and check for flatness it will save you alot of time if the stone is flat maybe a dmt too these stones are super hard but if you have to lap the stone once your finished you should finish off two to three kitchen knives to smooth out the stone

Do I always need oil when I use those hone?? can I take water or something else?

You can use water or oil on an arkansas stone, but I've always been told that once you start using oil, you can't switch back to water.

I have used water and soapy water and I prefer the soapy water between those two, it works well, just enough soap to break the surface tension of the water a bit.

A lot of patience and time person needs to have to use Arkansas stones which i don't have.Good luck guys.

you can use water but you will get the best results using oil

Why is that?

Smith's make a non oil honing solution that is water based, but I get good results with soapy water too.

Originally Posted by TheZ

Why is that?

oil provides less resistant agaist the hone same thing can be said about the cf hone dry, water, and oil all three will give a different looking edge under magnification ime oil always beats water in oil stones