Thread: Dipping my toes into naturals. Thanks to JP5

There are many very informative posts on our site about Arkie's. But thought I would add my experience so far with my new stone. In the hopes that it adds to the site in a positive way.
I have been very happy with my results thus far with my Gokumyo 20K and Norton 4/8K setup. They allow me go from bevel set to a very nice edge. And it is very repeatable/reliable for me. An accomplishment which would not be possible without this site and all of the many people that fill it with priceless tips, tricks and knowledge.
But like many of us. We get to reading and thinking about that "perfect for us" edge. Sharp and smooth. That just melts the whiskers off our faces. And leaves us with the feeling that we have achieved shaving nirvana.
With the purchase of my Korrat 14 2.0 . My RAD has been for the time being, been satisfied. My Razorock Rubberset replica. Has become my go to brush. And from the first stroke my SRD Red Latigo strop has been a joy to use.
Soaps and aftershaves are also at a point that I have a good variety that check off all my boxes.
Then browsing our forum. I see JP5's post for a Arkansas Translucent for a very fair price. So as a Fathers Day present to myself. I fire off a message to Joshua. And a couple of days later it's on my front porch.
His pics and post were 100% accurate. The stone was new and unused. Dead flat and both sides had a "frosted glass" type finish to them. So I set about burnishing one side, with a 1 inch chisel. Using moderate/heavy pressure. It took about an hour of elbow grease to get to where I thought it was ready to try using on a razor.
My Koraat after a couple of weeks of daily use was starting to pull slightly. And after about a 1/2 hour of steady strokes with water and little lather. Felt it begin to stick to the hone. Shave test was improved over previous shave. Smooth and comfortable. But not as sharp as the 20k but still very good.
I am going to burnish it some more and have another go with the Koraat. Don't think I have found the full potential with this stone. And my quick success is a testament to the post on here that I read and used to good effect. Thanks JP5 and the forum.
Ken

Very good Ken. I too picked up the trany from Joshua. Im going to spend some time next weekend burnishing/lapping. Want to make this sucker smooth as glass if i can. I used mine once with the factory lapping and yes it was flat, but not as smooth as i thought it should be. I had a good shave but not as keen as i like my edges to be. So a couple hours next week will be working the devil out of this stone to get the most from it. Thanks to Benz for the info he sent me on working this stone. I got a good feeling about the Arkie, Trany!

Ok second go round with the Arkie was an improvement. The blade feels sharper. While still retaining the smoothness. It is a keeper for sure. Have a feeling the learning curve while steep to begin with flattens out quickly. It will be difficult to exceed the comfort I felt this shave. If any of you are thinking about getting a translucent from Dan's. I would say it is worth it. If this stone works as well on my other razors as it did with the Koraat. Then I will be very happy with it.
My $.02 Ken.

Not many naturals can match the smoothness AND keenness of an Arkansas edge. They can be difficult to master but worth the effort in order to get consistent edges quickly. For example, you can use pressure and “half strokes” to speed them up considerably but too much pressure and it is counter productive to say the least.

Actually after thinking about all that I had read about them. Being very slow. And from my first attempt. I thought I would do a bunch of circle laps to see what it would do. As I would normally do to set a bevel. I try to stay away from pressure during honing as most of my razors are extra hollow.

Thanks for posting your results! I'm glad you like it. After reading Steel's past posts on Arks I've become interested in them as hones. Especially how he hones some blades using only Arks. The fact Arks are a "local" resource is something else I find appealing.
If you have a meat cleaver that needs sharpening that would be a productive way to get some more burnishing done.
Please keep us posted on your progress with the stone.

https://straightrazorpalace.com/hone...true-hard.html

Something to ponder.

That thread came up on my searches. Good info on there. Helped me to pull the trigger on Josh’s stone. I was on the fence as Dans site lists the black trans as “ultra fine”.
I believe this stone will do just as well as a black one would.
Ken

Steve Kirschmann told me at my field trip visit there 1) for our purposes with straight razors, or knives, there is no distinguishable difference between the three categories of True Hard, Hard Black, Translucent; 2) other scientific industries use the Translucent or Hard Black and require those technical differences. As Steve said, the only real difference is color.

Enjoy and don’t break your wrists burnishing. Ain’t necessary for even the best razor results.

Think I’m done burnishing the one side of the hone. Basically it’s shiny and has a smooth “waxy” feel when running a razor down it. I left the other side alone. None of my razors need major work. But sometimes guys at work come across razors and bring them to me. A month ago I was given a Felt Pad Razor Works Razor. In fair shape. But i already honed it up.
Whenever something needs more than a touch up. I’ll try that side out and see how it does.