Thread: My hone: is it suited for straight razors?

Hi there!

I bought, some time ago, a little kit made of a straight razor (a Dovo 5/8 "best quality" half-hollow ground, i presume), a strop and a hone.
No problems on the razor or strop departments. And, so far, I've had some great shaves with this little razor, plus the strops I make for myself and others (free of charge, but tradable for items of equal estimate value... ).
Now, the hone is a different thing. I've read a great deal about the Norton 4K8K and the coticules. But my hone is neither one of those. It's a Col. Conk Arkasas. It is a very smooth to the touch stone mounted on a woden paddle that, on the handle, reads, in red print "Col. Conk Surgical Arkansas". I don't know the grit of this thing... does any of you know these hones? Do you know the grit of it? Is it suited for straight razor honing? Do I need to lap it? And if I do need to... how do I do such a thing?

Thanks for the help, guys!

Always check any new hone for flatness. The most economical and efficient way of lapping, used by many, is generally to use a DMT D8C 325 coarse plate with water and light pressure. The D8C also has other uses. Check Hone lapping 101 for detailed instruction on lapping.

I've never used the Col. Conk hones so someone else will have to answer about it's grit, etc... , sorry.

Originally Posted by fpessanha

Hi there!

I bought, some time ago, a little kit made of a straight razor (a Dovo 5/8 "best quality" half-hollow ground, i presume), a strop and a hone.
No problems on the razor or strop departments. And, so far, I've had some great shaves with this little razor, plus the strops I make for myself and others (free of charge, but tradable for items of equal estimate value... ).
Now, the hone is a different thing. I've read a great deal about the Norton 4K8K and the coticules. But my hone is neither one of those. It's a Col. Conk Arkasas. It is a very smooth to the touch stone mounted on a woden paddle that, on the handle, reads, in red print "Col. Conk Surgical Arkansas". I don't know the grit of this thing... does any of you know these hones? Do you know the grit of it? Is it suited for straight razor honing? Do I need to lap it? And if I do need to... how do I do such a thing?

Thanks for the help, guys!

Lapping an Arkansas is an endeavor in itself. The good new is you don't have to!

The bad news is that if it is a white hone, or white with grey flecks it really isn't fine enough for your razor.

It would be fine enough to use for chip removal, but the Arkansas cuts so slow it would be easier to do it with a 4000 Norton.

If it is a Translucent pink or a solid black it is fine enough for your razor, but again it will cut sloooooooooow.

I use a white hard Arkansas on all my kitchen knives and does a really nice job but they are all soft carbon steel and don't need a razors fine edge.

A "Surgical Arkansas" is usually the black stone that is about on par with the Translucent Arkansas. Is yours black?

Those stones have a pretty wide range of grits, some report as much as 10k other say more like 6k. So that stone might be suitable, but it might not be. Just depends on the stone.

Lapping should be unnecessary because the arkansas stone is intended to be an oil stone, which means it doesn't form a slurry at all, and doesn't wear down like a water stone.

Thanks for the replies, guys.
The thing is I'm no hone expert and the grit thing is something I cannot recognize since I have no point of reference such as holding and feeling a stone that I can be sure of the grit. This stone was sold to me as part of a second hand kit I bought.
The stone I have is grey... light grey. I don't know if that makes it a "grey" stone, bu I'll post some pictures and, if you would be so kind as to look at them, maybe you can help me out a little more.
Thanks again.

A gray Arkansas stone is possibly a Translucent Arkansas, put it up to a light source to see if it lets a little light through instead of completely blocking it out.

If it is a Translucent then it is probably a good stone for razors, again the grit is variable, so you'll probably just have to try it out.

This link has a picture of a Translucent stone: NORTON Hard Translucent Arkansas Stone - Woodcraft.com

Attached is a picture of mine.

well, russel... I setted the controls for the heart of the sun (pink floyd fan here...) since the sun is the shiny... and it seemd that no light passed though the hone. It is mounted on a paddle and I didn't pull it out, so...
I took some photos and this is what it looks like:
This a picture of it... I'm the one holding it and the light probably isn't the best.


This is a close-up so we can figure out the grit...


Maybe I can post some better pictures some time soon. But let's hope this helps out.
Thanks!

No, that is not a good choice for finishing razors.

Looks like the hard white to me.

Also should have said earlier, but if its a col. Conk it is the white Arkansas. I've seen that brand in person.

Originally Posted by fpessanha

This is a close-up so we can figure out the grit...


Maybe I can post some better pictures some time soon. But let's hope this helps out.
Thanks!

FWIW you can't figure out the grit of a stone by looking at a picture of the surface.