Thread: Arkansas for touch ups?

Just because I want to try for myself. I was wondering what to go with? Hard translucent or hard black? Is there a difference between black Surgical and just hard black?

Typically, most of us don't recommend Arkies for straight razors. Good for knives, but very sketchy for straight razors.

For your first touch-up stone I would recommend a barbers stone, Naniwa 12K, or Shapton GS 16K.

I have been using a Nani 12K for about 6 months now. I just want to get one to experiment with for myself. I have no aspirations of honing for living its just for me. I know some people swear by them and some people swear at them. Its a "curiosity" for me. And if I am unable to produce a shaving edge I will add it to my knife sharpening kit. Working a 4 on 4 off schedule I have the time to use the slow as molasses stones.

If I'm not mistaken, there are hard blacks, surgical blacks and translucent. The hard blacks are basically the same as the hard whites, maybe a little finer. Surgical blacks are dark colored translucents. Translucents are, well, translucents. Surgical blacks or translucent arkies will work quite nicely with straight razors if you have patience. They take a lot of laps. You can use soapy water, honing solution or thin oil on the stones. I personally find that sewing machine oil works best with arkies but YMMV.

There's nothing sketchy about using an Ark for touching up or honing a straight. Like any other natural stone - there will be subtle differnces between one stone to the next; but if you buy a quality stone it'll work just fine. Translucent, Black, and True-Hard (usually, but not always, white) are fine for touching up. So are some of the harder 'Hard' Arks.
As stated - soapy water or oil of your choice is going to work fine as a lubricant. Don't use off-the-shelf mineral oil though.. like the stuff in CVS or Rite Aid. I find that stuff to be too thick.. Tree Spirit mineral oil is good, food safe, and it's thin enough. I use water with a tinge of dish soap.. works fine for me. Some get better results with oil though.
Yes - they're slow. But I'm not in a rush so I'm ok with that.
Lapping them flat is hard work - but very satisfying...

I have a hard white that I use. Seems to work fine. My best for touch ups has been my old hone (my first one). An Enders oak leak.

Thats what I was looking for. I think I am going to try to find a Translucent and see how that goes. Thanks guys.