Thread: tried out a new dan's combination soft/black ark :}

Boz-I remember reading about some version of it on a thread not too long ago, and just started playing around with my own take on it I guess. Others do variations of it. Personally, I am not enough of an expert on any stone to say that I have THE definitive take on it, but the "thin to thick" regimen is giving me my best edges ever. But there's always that last little bit of perfection one can chase with any stone, right?

That said, I also get bored easily, and have pretty much zero attention span (which is why I don't get mad at my day-dreamers in class). I'll get another JNAT or some other stone, and wring all I can get from it, and then keep playing and experimenting. That's most of the fun of honing for me

shaved again this morning with the ark edge, and though I was trying out a new soap that I didn't really care for, things went really well. after the 10 laps on linen after yesterdays shave to dry the edge out, and the 20 laps on English bridle right before the shave, the edge has already settled down and feels really good. I think im going to keep that black ark the way it is, and then lap and burnish one side of my dans translucent so it will be a small set, soft, black, trans, lapped and burnished trans all in matching 8x2"s.


I also lapped both sides of a new natural whetstone co 10x3x1/2" trans black today to 600 grit, and then took one side to 800 paper, and then burnished it with a big chopper and a smaller trans ark pocketstone. did a quick test with a noname vintage shefield and it looks like we will get along pretty well. the 600 grit lapped side is just aggressive enough to bring up a tiny burr and then smooth it out, and the burnished side cleans it up with straight mineral spirits and then finishes with straight mineral oil, a quick palm strop and it was dropping arm hairs easily with the edge 1/2" above the skin. total time from dull to finish was about 10 minutes. found a new stroke that I like which is kind of like reverse stone stropping with the stone sideways on the edge of the bench that really lets me rack up the strokes, while maintaining good control and staying smooth.


and wouldn't you know it, but right after I got the trans black all finished up and ready, and was getting excited to try it out, but I get a call and I have a friend coming over on Thursday to hone her first razor ever on video, heck I don't know if she has ever even picked up a straight. and so I need to grow some whiskers for the on camera shave after she is done. so it will have to wait till Friday.

I don't think there is anything wrong with pastes and sprays either, and will continue to use them. but its cool to have another honing progression.

after just a couple shaves with the arks, I do like them a lot. I also like the oil as it is handy to wipe the scales and pivot area with after I am done honing as most of my scales are the one piece style like what livi makes, and are made from wood, so they can use some mineral oil now and then anyways.

boz, I have one of those little veho's, and for the money they are a great little scope. I think gasmans must have some upgrades in it, as his pictures are much clearer than what mine takes.

the only problem with the arks is that I am now thinking of going stone hunting. we have a ton of rock here in Wyoming, and I hunt and fish a lot. and with the sic powder and being able to lap stones, and I have a diamond wheel for my 4" angle grinder, and a wet tile saw already to cut them, it may get into yet another hobby :} in fact im really thinking about heading to a spot I hunt deer in that has an old abandoned mine and some rocks that I remember looking a lot like a white hard ark and having a looksee. I found it on the web and it was a mine for fieldspar, but im not sure if I can get to it this late in the season, so it may have to wait till early summer as they close the roads down in the spring to prevent damage to the roads there.

If you like the Arkansas line, there also is a so-called Canadian novaculite quarried in Alberta.

Joe some reading for you
https://www.motherearthnews.com/natu...e-zmaz83mazraw
https://books.google.com/books?id=y7...0hones&f=false
I have though about looking around Colorado for stones but I just don't have the energy anymore.

I too looked into Colorado for some Rocks to cut, but I found the only place to find a decent stone was around Crested Butte. A place called Wetstone Mountain. I bet there is some decent rock but I just dont go that way unless I'm in the big truck.

If you find a Rock and cut it up Joe, I'd ba happy to help ya test one. Hook me up man!

A female honing? Hope shes a looker. I will be waiting for that vid.

BTW, No upgrades on my Scope. It has no name on it, but I looked it up on Amazon where I bought it. Its a
eBoTrade 5MP 20-300X USB Digital Microscope Magnifier Video Camera with 8-LED, Base Stand,Software for Windows, Mac, Vista

But I see its been replaced with something else. So mine if no long available.

thanks boz, ill read those tomorrow!

gasman,

if I find any good ones, ill be sure to bring them to the next meet. just ordered a rock hammer, and a king 1/6 to play with, maybe Ashley will help me break it in on the video.

I didn't mean that you had upgraded your scope, but that it was nicer than the one that I had. kind of like if you buy a top of the line laptop today, in 6 months its just a normal one, and in 2 years its a dinosaur as fast as tech moves. but I think mine only has a 2mp, and yours is a 5, so that would explain it.

Ashely is a looker I think. even more so as she is a great person, very strong and with lots of talent. her husband is a good friend also and she has 2 pretty cool kids. here is the first vid we shot last week I think, where she sharpened her first knife ever. ive been looking for someone to shoot that video for awhile as I hope it will give folks the confidence to start sharpening, as you can tell that she has never done it, and if she can, then anyone with enough coordination to brush their teeth can. now we hope to do the same thing with honing a razor :}

https://youtu.be/vyr-4N8k3pU

Nice vids Joe. I watched them both. Maybe I now need to buy some stones for my pocket knifes and kitchen knifes. I only use the DMT right now. It gets the job done. Thanks for posting them.

gasman,

thanks!

the dmt's are great stones, for knives about the only thing you would need other than them would just be a coarse shaping stone for setting edges and repairing damage. the reason I pushed the Norton coarse fine in that video so much is because its really tough to beat that kind of sharpening power for the $20-$30 that they cost.

Originally Posted by ScoutHikerDad

When I use my Arks as finishers I come off the 12K Nanawa to the Ark and then do what I call a lubricant progression. I hone on the stone dry until it starts to bog down then continue with water, then soapy water then oil, each time hone until the stone tells you it is done. This could well be hundreds of laps. Not very efficient. I do prefer the edge over that provided by the 12K

Boz-I think if you really dig around on here, you will find more love for Arkies than you think; there is quite the Arkie fan-club, in fact. It's funny how over the years you see different hones come and go in popularity in favor of whatever the cool kids are honing on at any given moment: Norton 4/8's, coticules, PHIGs, Zulu Greys, Eschers, the various purple slates, SG 20k's, JNats, etc.-all have had their moment. I think a lot of us just like playing with different naturals.

By the way, that is exactly my current default honing regimen: Nani 12 followed by the 4-stage Arkie progression; I really don't think you can go wrong with a well-done Arkie edge from a well-burnished stone.

Now if I can talk my buddy out of his Deep Rock coticule, I may have another obsessive rabbit hole to fall down!

Mention Arkies and we tend to pop out of the woodwork.

I've got a good number of the hones mentioned above. Jnat, coticule, slates, sundry barber hones, a PHIG and other Chinese stones, Norton 1, 4, and 8k hones, Shaptons...I've shaved directly (zero stropping) off every stone in my collection. Yes, this includes the Norton 1k and Shapton 2k. Each creates it's own unique edge. And that's something that's much harder to discern if you're chasing the edge with paste. As you discovered OP, pastes are not a necessity but some do prefer it. Nothing wrong with it, but the fact that it masks the edge created by a given stone is a big part of why I don't use them often.

Anyway, of them all Arkansas stones are probably my favorite. Using Norton hones for example, I use those almost exclusively for razors, and maybe knives if I feel like being delicate. But if I were to slap a chisel on them like I do my Arkansas stones, it would put a gouge in them with a quickness and scratch up the surface to the point I wouldn't take a razor to the hone without re-flattening the stone and washing a solid chunk of it down the drain every other use. Arkies are so hard that is NOT a concern. Water, soap, oil, knives, chisels, razors, just a plain stone or with slurry so you can use a Black or translucent from bevel set to final polish...the only downside is not having enough time in the day (or dull blades that need a touch up) to play with it all.

Originally Posted by Marshal

Mention Arkies and we tend to pop out of the woodwork.

I've got a good number of the hones mentioned above. Jnat, coticule, slates, sundry barber hones, a PHIG and other Chinese stones, Norton 1, 4, and 8k hones, Shaptons...I've shaved directly (zero stropping) off every stone in my collection. Yes, this includes the Norton 1k and Shapton 2k. Each creates it's own unique edge. And that's something that's much harder to discern if you're chasing the edge with paste. As you discovered OP, pastes are not a necessity but some do prefer it. Nothing wrong with it, but the fact that it masks the edge created by a given stone is a big part of why I don't use them often.

Anyway, of them all Arkansas stones are probably my favorite. Using Norton hones for example, I use those almost exclusively for razors, and maybe knives if I feel like being delicate. But if I were to slap a chisel on them like I do my Arkansas stones, it would put a gouge in them with a quickness and scratch up the surface to the point I wouldn't take a razor to the hone without re-flattening the stone and washing a solid chunk of it down the drain every other use. Arkies are so hard that is NOT a concern. Water, soap, oil, knives, chisels, razors, just a plain stone or with slurry so you can use a Black or translucent from bevel set to final polish...the only downside is not having enough time in the day (or dull blades that need a touch up) to play with it all.

Good to see your post!! 100%