Thread: Sugical Black Arkansas as Touch up Hone

Concerning inconsistent success, I found that there are a few things that get in the way when using a true hard Ark.
Superhard steel - like C135. - I needed a bizillion laps to finish one Ti. The edge and bevel 'seemed' to be good, based on feedback and visual inspection, but that blade needed 3x more work. Dame fore Swedes, or any very- hard steel
Trans/ SB arks dont cut, they polish. And they are super hard - even a slight rounding of the bevel means the edge will not contact the stone. Thats why theyre not ideal for touchup stones, 4-5 sessions on leather could mean needing to go to an 8k to remove that curve.
Mid-range honing has to be spot-on. Not just 'good-enough'. Very hard Arks are unforgiving - I akways feel like I need to slmost 'over-hone' (as if there is such a thing) at the 5-8k-ish range to get 'that' Arkie edge.

Normally - I woulg go 1-10k Chosera, then y/g Escher, then S/B Ark. The Escher isnt mandatory, But I found that it helped.