Thread: What is the best honing stone available?

Hello Hal,

You're quite right there. With the advice of some of the honemasters I now know what I have been doing wrong all those years. So much so that I am getting great results with my Arkansas medium and extra fine stones which I use with water and not honing oil as the latter tends to clog up the pores. Even after use with water I occasionally brush them clean with alcohol because even traces of lather and stropping paste left behind on the straight's blade cause some shine on the stone after a while which I suspect does adversely affect the honing quality. Has anyone else out there any experience (good or bad) with Arkansas stones? I would be interested to know as I get the impression I am the only one on this forum that uses them. Arkansas oilstone after all is known to geologists as novaculite. Novacula is Latin for razor! So someone at least must have thought these stones are good for honing razors.