Thread: Norton Translucent Arkansas

smgunn i have read the above post the trouble i'm having is you said sharpnees went down but the keenness went up sharpness and keenness are the same a keen razoe is a finely sharp razor any way when i finish on my translucent it jumps in sharpness i have to use a very lite touch when shaving or i'll have weepers all over the place comfort level with the translucent is a hair under a coti with my stone better sharpness but some loss in comfort to me

I think what smgunn is saying is that the arkansas doesn't pass his sharpness test as well straight off the stone as opposed to the coti, but after stropping seems to give a noticeably better result than the coti does after stropping. With my stones, I find the test straight off the stone is not of the utmost importance to the ultimate shaving edge, but if I have a good result at that point it generally means that I have done a good job of using a very light, even touch on the final strokes, leaving a very even edge that needs little stropping to straighten things out. At least that's how I visualize it, who knows what's actually happening. Shave test is another matter, I do agree eleblu that my translucent leaves a noticeably keener edge than the coti, which can slice off acne/skin bumps if used injudiciously. Not to say that the arkansas edge is harsh by any means.

Thez has it right. After the 70 laps on the translucent the sharpness test seemed to decrease from what it was off of the hone just before (12k Nani SS). I went straight to the strop after Arkansas and after 60 laps on plain linen and 60 leather I had a big increase in sharpness (as indicated by tests). I'm sorry for the confusing change in terms. I was probably switching between the terms keenness and sharpness but I meant the same thing whichever I used. My entire honing progression for this razor was 5k, 8k, 12k, then Translucent Arkansas.
I'm not dissuaded by this at all. I know that sharpness tests are meaningless when it comes to the quality of shave. Also, every one of these Arkansas stones are brand new and this is the first time this stone has ever been used. As these stones become finer and finer finishers the more they're used I'll be very happy if this shave turns out to be as good as the 12k. I wonder if I should have lapped the stone past 600 grit.
Thanks for the interest in this. I'll shave in A.M. too tired tonight.

Sean

smgunn when i sharpen my razors when new or really blunt i progress from soft to hard to surgical black and the edge will split hairs straight of the stone and i only give a few laps on the strop brfore use which increases the sharpness even more,i only ever give my razors 20 laps before i shave 30 if i've done a lot of shaves with it,try doing some more work on the stone as it will get unbelievably sharp if you put in the time and effort,they are slow especially when you have to start from blunt but progressing makes it faster and once it's razor sharp touchups aren't too slow

smgunn your right about your stone getting finer after more use's thats the great thing about arks they cut and polish at the same time if you want to smooth your stone out faster and if you have two flat translucent's rub them together i used my pocket translucent on my bench stone to smooth it over ,before that i used a two inch piece of steel i would use as a prep stone to smooth out my stone

I have one side of my surgical black lapped to 600 and the other side lapped and dry polished to 2000. The 600 side gives it the hair splitting sharpness while the polished side gives it smoothnes without degrading the sharpness of the razor. My old barber taught me this trick.

i like that trick the 600 lapped grit side is it a little faster then the 2000 lapped side ?

Originally Posted by eleblu05

i like that trick the 600 lapped grit side is it a little faster then the 2000 lapped side ?

Yes, the 600 side is faster than the 2000 side. The 2000 side acts almost purely as a polisher compared to cutting with the 600 side.

i really like that trick too how did you do the dry polish and what sort of progression did you use,i'll take a guess that it took a while but i think it would be worth it

Originally Posted by Alucard73

i really like that trick too how did you do the dry polish and what sort of progression did you use,i'll take a guess that it took a while but i think it would be worth it

It did take a long time. I started out using the back side of a Norton lapping plate to do most of the grunt work. Once relatively flat, I went through a progression of wet/dry paper starting with 220 and going through 600 grit, all wet. Then quite a bit of time using 1000 and then 2000 grit wet/dry, using it without water. Occasionally I'll use some auto polishing compound on it in order to keep the smooth finish. Be prepared to have very sore arms.