Thread: Anyone ever heard of a translucent black arky?

I was recently messaging back and forth with an eBay seller regarding purchasing a surgical black Arkansas hone. During the conversation, he mentioned having a slab of translucent black novaculite (his words, not mine) that he could cut me a piece of. I decided to go ahead and take the chance and purchase one. It hasn't arrived yet, but I should have it by the end of the week. It may be worthless as a razor hone, but it should work great for my kitchen and pocket knives. I'll post more info about its traits once it arrives and I have a chance to use it a time or two, but I was just wondering if anyone has ever heard of a translucent black arky?

i have never heard of a translucent black . surgical black colors are black and blue, translucent come's in gray white yellow brown and pink. also theres a multi colored one and heres a pic of one !

Translucent Arkansas is very possible. Deep water springs brought a lot of minerals on the surface of the primordial sea. The result is that microscopic animals such as glass sponges, diatoms, spongespicula and radiolarian (plankton) develop explosively.
If these die the skeletons drop down to the bottom, recrystallise and form a thick "bedded chert".
Because how the stone is formed fossils are often found in the deposition.
The carbonates are chemically replaced by silica (SiO2). The color varies from white through light grey to black. In principle, all the silicon crystals same size. By compressing the space between the crystals and the crystals are reduced in size sintering to each other so that the grain size is smaller, and apparently the result finer grinding. One is inclined to trace quality to the colour what is not right. Better is to look at the density.
Quartz has a density of 2.65 kg / dm ³. The density of Novaculite ranges from: 2.25 to 2.68. See the differences in color in the picture.

Maybe the surgical black was cut so thin that you can look through it!

Heard of it. It's said to be the hardest of the Arkansas hone stones. Read that it should work with straight edges. May be a great find! (may be not)(:-).

I just got the shipment notification from the seller! Should have it by Wednesday or Thursday... got my fingers crossed that it's what he says it is.

Please show us the pics when she arrives!

I have never heard that term, but here is a photo of a 1X3X.25 Black Ark slip I purchased many years ago. It is very hard and leaves a hazy finish.

The small scratches shown in the photo are not worth getting out, the stone is super smooth and feels like other Surgical Blacks and Translucents I have. I cannot feel the scratches with a fingernail. Blacks will trash a diamond hone in a minute.

The round circle is the light from a flashlight. If yours is anything like this I believe you will have a good finisher. I do like the Blacks and translucents with tape to micro bevel.

I sure hope that this turns out to be a good stone. Euclid, can you elaborate on your honing progression and how you use the black Arks? I'm looking forward to trying out an Arky edge, but the info about using them with razors is hard to find. It would definitely be interesting to read about your pre-arky honing and then how you use your Arks once you get to that stage.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]95551[/ATI used to use Arks exclusively many moons ago, when naturals were all that was available.

I have some old 10X3 in Arks, Washitas and Blacks. You can bevel set on soft Washitas, then go to a hard ark and finish on a translucent, tape and micro bevel on a Black.
I have found Arks very responsive to pressure. Something I believe was common to Arks, all naturals actually which is why you see many dished out old arks.

Now days I use the Nortons to bevel set 1K, 4K, 8k, then 12K Naniwa or Coticule, then Translucent or Thuringen.

Add another layer of tape, then I sharpie the edge. Run the sharpie on the edge of the blade cutting ever so slightly into the sharpie, so you get a thin line of ink on both sides of the bevel, about 1/32.

Colored sharpies are easier to see, I buy red by the box. Then start with circles 4-5 on the Black then flip and the same on the other side. Check the ink and finish with long light laps. Blacks respond well to pressure, start with light & end with just the weight of the blade. You should have a very thin, even shinny micro bevel. I use just water with a couple drops of dish soap on all my Arks.

Shave off the stone or strop on nylon with Chrome Ox and leather. Pressure is the key for me and you will just have to experiment. It will also differ with each blade and the hardness of the steel.

I have slurried Blacks & Translucents with a diamond credit card plate and it cuts a bit quicker. But usually just clear water, the slurry is thin but they will slurry some, nothing like a Coticule. A Diamond plate will freshen the surface, 6-8 laps. They do clog/glaze rather quickly. You can feel the difference.

Most of my Arks I have owned for 40 plus years. The Black in the photo, I have had over 40 years, notice it is not perfiectly flat, check the corners. It’s not worth the effort, it is smooth and flat in the middle, where it counts.
TACH]