Thread: Arkansas Grit?

Where would the hard white Arkansas stone fall on the grit size scale?

I have read anywhere from 1200 to about 4000, but would like to know from someone with practical experience what it actually performs like.

Also what is the practical use of a Swaty in the sharpening regime, is it roughly equlivlent in use to an 8000 grit or a finer finisher?

I have both the hard white and pink translucent arkansas.

The hard white gives a finish roughly comparable to the 4k norton, but is *much* slower, so it rarely gets used unless I'm just in the mood.

The pink translucent gives a finish comparable to somewhere between 6k and 9k, depending on what you use as a lubricant. It's also slow, but gives a lot of feedback about how the bevel is developing. It doesn't work very well on really hard razors, but generally works well on vintage carbon steel razors.

Thanks for the info, About 4000 was my impression too but Nortons site would put it as low as 1200, of course they want to sell waterstones, so. Iwas really intrested as, though I don't yet have a razor to sharpen but I do own a couple of white stones for my chisels and kitchen knifes. I have also never really been a fan of waterstones for some reason. Maybe I just like to hone and the slow even strokes on a Arkansas just seem right.

How about the grit size on an old Swaty about 8000, or do I have to hunt up a translucent to have a complete sharpening system.

Norton rates the translucent at about 5-6k. Changing the lubricant doesn't affect the grit size, but it does affect the cutting speed which affects how sharp an edge the stone can achieve. This what I meant when I said the translucent can be equivalent to the higher grits -- it can achieve an edge comparable to the edge produced by those grits, but it does it by cutting shallower grooves not by cutting narrower grooves.

If you go for a translucent arkansas, make sure you get a first-quality stone. The occlusions in a second-quality stone don't affect knives much, but make the hone useless for razors. If you've used arkansas stones, you know they need to be broken in some before they get really good, but you'll also need to lap your stone to get it perfectly flat -- they come from the distributor flat enough for knives, but not for razors.

I don't have a swaty, but my impression is that the 2-line swaty is about 8-9k and the 3-line is about 9-10k. But they were never officially rated for grit.

You may also want to get a pasted paddle, you can make your own out of a piece of balsa or poplar board lapped flat, and paste it with boron carbide or diamond paste.