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I have been thinking about getting some Arkansas stones. I'd like to get a full set of them, but can't afford it right now. So I was thinking about just getting a Hard ark. For those that have all three, soft, hard, black tell me about your stones and how they preform to help me decide. Any help from hands on experience with the different types would help a lot and would be very appreciated. I basically just want to try something different that won't cost much.
where do you think your honing skill's are at ? it is hard to get a good edge off the translucent or surgical black if your not patient enough.I like to come off my sgs16k to my trans or surgical black . doing a honing progression on a full set of arks is very possible but they take along time because the ark's cut as they polish.i have done two wedge's using this progression indian fine stone to set the bevel then to a washita ,soft ark ,hard then to the trans or surgical black . the best way is to use synthetic stones and finish on the translucent or surgical black. imo
Let me give a comparison on to different honing progression's with arks. The synthetic route 90% of your time will be spent on setting the bevel. my synthetic progression looks like this 1k, 2k, 5k, 8k, 16k, then finisher. in-between 2k-8k is around 35-40 laps inbetween each grit level and 6-8 laps on the 16k.Then the finisher they are natural stone's so laps will vary. On my ark finishers its around 150 to 200 laps. The ark natural progression route . After bevel setting ,soft ark 50 laps then hard ark 100-125 laps. Then on to the your translucent or surgical black looking at around 150-250 laps on this stone .Thats why i like the 16k it really helps to cut down the lap count on the translucent or surgical black.One important note at the bevel setting stage once the bevel is set it should cut arm hair above skin level. And these stone's work much better on hard steels !
Best bang for the buck is a Hard Ark. You can finish on one if it's borderline 'true hard' - I had one of them and it was a really sweet stone.
Yeah I started getting that feeling of wanting to try a different edge and the Arkies have been on my mind. My progression has been King 1k Norton 4k King 6k Norton 8k then finishing with my c-nat (it's a really good one). Have been getting awesome shaves, I think I may just get a Hard Arkie from Naturalwhetstones.com as they seem to have some of the best prices. Just been itching to start another romance with a stone and try a different edge.
Naturalwhetstones.com has some of the cheapest surgical black ark around !
They had a 10 x 3 x 1 Hard Ark on ebay for 39.00 recently.
How big is the difference between the hard ark and black? Because some have told me depending on your luck some of the hard arks are really fine.
The hard Ark I sold was capable of finishing a razor. But my Black was significantly better. Two other stones minght have a greater, or lesser, amount of disparity.Quote:
Originally Posted by xMackx
I'm the guy that thinks the new arkansas stones with the exception of some of the translucents, are terrible quality compared to the old stones. If you ever get a chance to experience an old Pike or Norton compared to the new generic stones, the difference becomes obvious right away.
I have 6 black Arkansas stones. The new ones you get from Natural whetstones are only lightly polished. I have the 10 x 3. I rubbed it with a small black Arkansas stone to "glaze" or polish the stone. After many hours the stone is now getting a "shine" to it. I have an old blue/black Arky that I bought back in 1971 that was highly polished when I bought it. I flattened it one time and have used it on knives and razors with good results. Again, the new stones are rough.Quote:
Originally Posted by stonehenge
Polishing natural stones and even some synthetics does make a huge difference between mediocre and great. Plus I am a believer in vintage naturals being better, not because the stone has degraded over the last 100 years out of it's 100 million year old formation but because of the invention of synthetics. There was a booming city a few hours from me called Grindstone city that thrived on the natural whetstone industry, now it's a ghost town and the invention of synthetic abrasives is to blame. There are great whetstone material all around us, it's just cheaper to make synthetics than to cut up a mountain into tiny bricks.Quote:
Originally Posted by drwextra