Thread: Found this at an estate sale

Heck of a deal for two bucks!


Mike

Originally Posted by nuggetz

Regarding Ark stones in general, why do people recommend to break it in with a chisel or whatnot? What's wrong with just the regular surface texture? I wanna at least flatten this little booger but I'm debating on what grit to use.

There's a trade off. A rougher surface will cut faster, but not as fine. The smoother you burnish/polish the stone, the slower it gets but it also becomes increasingly fine. So there's nothing wrong with the surface texture, it just depends on what you're trying to achieve with the stone.

My suggestion is check to see how flat it is with a straight edge first. Flattening a Translucent Arkansas is a nightmare. I spent countless hours working a 12" x 2.5" stone over with just about every flattening method imaginable. I even transitioned over to loose grit SiC starting at 80 on a glass plate for a few hours. Eventually I gave up, called it flat enough and proceeded to burnish and polish the stone. The stone still has a convex surface, but it's close enough to flat and still imparts a hell of an edge. Loose grit SiC from gotgrit.com is the way to go with Arkies. They eat diamond plates and sand paper alive.

Originally Posted by nuggetz

Regarding Ark stones in general, why do people recommend to break it in with a chisel or whatnot? What's wrong with just the regular surface texture? I wanna at least flatten this little booger but I'm debating on what grit to use.

Arkansas stones are really a bear to flatten, especially the hard ones like yours. Don't use a diamond plate or lapping stone as an Ark will wear it out really fast. Do a grid pattern test first to see if it even needs it

Thanks Marshal. Since the stone is so small I think it would lap up quite fast. I lapped a similar sized SB Ark and I know it can take some time. I can tell it's not perfectly flat but its very close. I have every grit of wet dry sandpaper and one of those granite lapping plates.

One thing that I've always wondered is how did Norton decide on how smooth or rough to make the factory surface? I'd like to match what it feels like now after a lapping. This stone is totally new. Looks like it's been sitting in that box all this time. No oil, no scratches - nothing.

Still need to decide on what I wanna do about the sticker.

Originally Posted by nuggetz

Thanks Marshal. Since the stone is so small I think it would lap up quite fast. I lapped a similar sized SB Ark and I know it can take some time. I can tell it's not perfectly flat but its very close. I have every grit of wet dry sandpaper and one of those granite lapping plates.

One thing that I've always wondered is how did Norton decide on how smooth or rough to make the factory surface? I'd like to match what it feels like now after a lapping. This stone is totally new. Looks like it's been sitting in that box all this time. No oil, no scratches - nothing.

Still need to decide on what I wanna do about the sticker.

If the stone is close then an option would be just to leave it with the factory finish and begin to use it. I am not sure about how Norton did it back then but I know that Dans will take the grit that has been broken down on other stones and use that to flatten their true hard stones. So it isn't a known grit. Just a loose grit that is progressively broken down.

As for the sticker, it has been suggested that you could seal it on like a Jnat and another option I have seen people use is to lift it and put it on the inside lid of the box. Just another option.