Thread: Any general advice for using Arkansas stones?

A lot depends on your stone and how it is finished. A lot also depends on your bevel and edge and how it is finished.

A burnished Ark will be a slow cutter, so if your edge is not finished to a near mirror with a very straight chip-free edge, you will be doing a lot of laps on a burnished ark. If your hard ark, Black Surgical or Translucent are not properly burnished, you will not get the full effect of an Ark edge.

Start with a pristine well shaving 8k edge, stropping on Chrome Oxide will help to eliminate the bevel and edge as a variable. Then experiment with a 600- grit side and a well burnished side, use your shaves as the arbitrator.

With Arks, you will start by using a bit more pressure, than finishing with a synthetic, lighten up on pressure as you finish. Smiths, Ballistol, soap all work as does oil. Once clean, Oil can easily be washed off with Dawn dish soap.

If you are not getting smooth shaving 8k edges, an Ark probably will not improve your edges, (It’s not the stones). Arks are not magic, but once dialed in, are smooth crisp shaving edges, unlike any synthetic or other natural stone.