Thread: Arkansas

My True hard Translucent, Black and Blue Black are all double sided.

Originally Posted by boz

My True hard Translucent, Black and Blue Black are all double sided.

What do you lap the two sides of your trans to?

I lap my Ark finishing stones to 220 on rough side and 1K on smooth side. As 001 mentioned using the stones will burnish them so you will have to relap them periodically. I redo mine every 6 months, because its easy to remember June & Dec.

220 is what I use too but 220 SIC. Is it just me or have you noticed that 220 w/d does not finish the same as 220 SIC?

I prefer SIC. Never tried using 220 w/d. What do you perceive the difference to be?

The W/d seems to finish finer than the SIC. I do lapping on the back porch to avoid making a mess with it in the house and because the garden hose is there for rinsing etc. One evening I needed to lap my trans to use but the mosquitoes were pretty heavy so I decided to use some w/d on the granite top table instead. I figured it should be the same since the grit rating was the same but it was noticably finer than what the SIC left it.

Originally Posted by PaulFLUS

220 is what I use too but 220 SIC. Is it just me or have you noticed that 220 w/d does not finish the same as 220 SIC?

Originally Posted by boz

I prefer SIC. Never tried using 220 w/d. What do you perceive the difference to be?

If you look into abrasive methods you'll see that loose grit cuts in a completely different way. The particles roll and scoop out material rather the shear the material off like a machine tool. My perception is that the scooped out surface leaves the fixed abrasive of the stone sharper where W/D tends to dull the edges of the stones fixed abrasive.

I once flattened a coarse Crystolon with W/D and the surface wouldn't cut at all until I prepped it with loose grit. For soft stones it doesn't matter much as they shed material fast enough that they revert to their inherent surface condition.

That makes sense. I just re-upped on my sic powder and got more grits. Now I have 80, 180, 220, 400, 600, 800

Originally Posted by STF

I have an F A Koch & Co, Faultless No 20 that had started to pull a bit and had been put aside for some love.

I got it out this morning and taped the spine with kapton, I then added a layer of electrical tape so I would have a micro bevel. I like micro bevels when I experiment because it's easiy to change to something else later.

I just reread this post Steve. Kapton is much more durable than electrical tape. Would it not make more sense to put the electrical tape on first followed by a covering layer of Kapton?

Originally Posted by DZEC

I just reread this post Steve. Kapton is much more durable than electrical tape. Would it not make more sense to put the electrical tape on first followed by a covering layer of Kapton?

I agree David, I always hone with Kapton so I'm honing close to no tape but still protecting the spine, I add a layer of electrical to finish on whatever I decide so that I get a micro bevel that can be changed easily to a different finisher if I want to.

If I don't want to make changes to an edge later i don't add electrical tape because I don't need a micro bevel.

If i were doing a full progression with electrical tape too I would as you said put it under the Kapton.