Thread: Help with history on Arkansas stones

Here is a Grey or Black Translucent I just got in. It is 2X4 mounted on a block of wood. You can see the veins of Translucents and Black splotches.

The others are of a 10X3X1 in. old Black Surgical, I have had this stone over 35 years. It is quite the finisher it was my only finisher for many years.

Love those Arkie edges, try a drop of Smith’s oil on a wet stone. Those stones get better the more refined the face is. I like to hone a couple of kitchen knives with pressure, on newly lapped stone to really smooths the stone face.

A good ark will give you a nice hazy, kasumi bevel and very crisp, shaveable edge, right off the stone.

Originally Posted by 1KnifeGuy4U

How's that for a reply?

Its true, she also owned and operated buffalo stone. If anyone would like information on either companies, i would be happy to answer any and all questions

Originally Posted by TheMountainGoat

Its true, she also owned and operated buffalo stone. If anyone would like information on either companies, i would be happy to answer any and all questions

is buffalo stone still around ?

Jimbo7

That stone looks very similar to mine in terms of colour and translucency.

Here's an image of mine.



It's a good stone, If you run a specific gravity check you will probably find it's about 2.9 SG.

Funny that large Arkie looks like a kind of schist from the pattern, though i know its not one....

Hello, I was wondering whether Indian Mountain quarried stones that were considered to be "Washitas" I'll go ahead and make a separate post with photos in a bit.

All the washitas were mined from one quarry near Hot Springs and if I recall Pike owned it. That vein has been mined out for decades, and the washitas are commercially extinct, unless of course you want to count the recent stones that surfaced being called washitas. I haven't used one but I have it on good authority that they are actually a washita-ish soft ark.

Edit: IN FACT, it has been argued that even back when they were still being mined the "washitas" sold by other companies were, in fact, soft aks. The difference being the porousness? porosity?