Thread: Help with history on Arkansas stones

that stone looks like a finisher when you do hone on it let us know how it feels. slick like glass or does it have a grip when you run your razor down the stone ?

Originally Posted by eleblu05

that stone looks like a finisher when you do hone on it let us know how it feels. slick like glass or does it have a grip when you run your razor down the stone ?

Will do. Hopefully I'll be able to report back Monday if I can finish lapping it by then; 48 hours could be pushing it!

heres some advice on how to prep a hard or translucent/surgical black. i lap them with a 325 dmt(use water) after that i use a 3x1 translucent pocket stone to rub down the stone to smooth it over(first dry then with oil ) for the last step i use a steel block(or a knife ) and rub the stone until there is swarf all over the stone(use oil) i repete this three times to get the broken in feel after this process the stone should have a smooth reflective surface and will deliver the best results thats with in your stone ability. i just finished a 10x3x1 surgical black ark

I would love to get my greedy little fingers on an 8" surgical ark. All I ever come across are 6 or less. I recently picked up a small one on the bay that I THOUGHT was a translucent that was saturated with oil and grime. Turned out, the stone is both black AND white! I had never seen that before. Stupid HAD, Stupid RAD, Stupid empty wallet!

Originally Posted by Magpie

I would love to get my greedy little fingers on an 8" surgical ark. All I ever come across are 6 or less. I recently picked up a small one on the bay that I THOUGHT was a translucent that was saturated with oil and grime. Turned out, the stone is both black AND white! I had never seen that before. Stupid HAD, Stupid RAD, Stupid empty wallet!

dans whetstones have all sizes !

Oh, and back to the original posting..... (duh!)

I have a knife sharpening kit from the same company that I have owned since it was new (1978?), and the included hard ark stone is exactly like yours, only smaller (sigh) I would guess that the stones they mined from where ever they were digging, were all like that with the grey/blue tone instead of true black. But they work very well indeed.

Originally Posted by eleblu05

that stone looks like a finisher when you do hone on it let us know how it feels. slick like glass or does it have a grip when you run your razor down the stone ?

Well I took my worn out dmt to it and thank goodness it was barely used as only a few minutes of work ensured me it was flat and smooth enough to use as a finisher. I took a Torrey to it and it felt very much like glass with almost no perceptible tugging of the stone on the razor. Beautiful results, too. I like this stone very much.

just finished my first razor on my ark. it put a very nice edge on my razor all in all a great shave. 200 strokes on the stone 25 on the linen and 200 on leather.