Arkansas Love...Let's see those Arks!

[Frank Shaves]

For what it's worth, I have started keeping logs for what I have lapped and honed - like this:

2020-10-10. Vermont Green Slate. P220 > P600 > P800 > P1200. P1200 did not do much.

Pretty handy and, hopefully, it will save me time and effort figuring out where to start next time.

 

[Biglo13]

The smaller stones can be had dirt cheap and Smiths produced some very high quality stones. As a user and not a collector I don't have anything against the 1/2" stuff either.

I have less trouble with skipping and sticking on smaller hand held stones. The sticking is much more subtle on arks but I can feel the blade going harder into the stone.

This little black ark just came in the mail today and I would call it a translucent. It doesn't pass much light but some. It's a 2 x6x1/2 with what I suspect is one good side. Perhaps a second quality from Natural Whetstone Co?

both sides are good!!
I pretty sure your stone is transitional hard,black, translucent
maybe even some blue/surgical
aka ”hybrid”
if the stone colored part is softer/ coarser. Use that to prefinish it will speed up your time on ark
i’ll bet there is some denser blue/surgical mixed in !

 

[SliceOfLife]

For what it's worth, I have started keeping logs for what I have lapped and honed - like this:

2020-10-10. Vermont Green Slate. P220 > P600 > P800 > P1200. P1200 did not do much.

Pretty handy and, hopefully, it will save me time and effort figuring out where to start next time.

You should make an excel sheet or database to track what you've honed and the results. Even with dozens of experienced users; almost all advice on how to polish/finish stones is based on hearsay and a few peoples impressions, often with very small sample sizes. It'd be neat to get a bigger database up that people could contribute to and we could see if a consensus formed.

 

[Frank Shaves]

Yeah, I am actually keeping my logs in Excel, but the idea of enabling people to upload them to a central repository would be great - like how people who build PCs use https://pcpartpicker.com/.

 

[Frank Shaves]

I actually started reading through What did you hone today? last night. There's some good stuff in there!

 

[Bowmaker]

both sides are good!!
I pretty sure your stone is transitional hard,black, translucent
maybe even some blue/surgical
aka ”hybrid”
if the stone colored part is softer/ coarser. Use that to prefinish it will speed up your time on ark
i’ll bet there is some denser blue/surgical mixed in !

The off color stuff has cracks that catch an edge.

 

[Biglo13]

The off color stuff has cracks that catch an edge.

have you tried lapping it? usually that stuff is true hard or better. and is a regular part of my ark progression. Stone in picture 2x6” top left is true hard, other side and corner is trans black. It took some elbow grease / lapping !! This is a Dan’s second.

 

[Bowmaker]

have you tried lapping it? usually that stuff is true hard or better. and is a regular part of my ark progression. Stone in picture 2x6” top left is true hard, other side and corner is trans black. It took some elbow grease / lapping !! This is a Dan’s second.

View attachment 1168488

Yes, it was lapped. Not to the extent as the other face though after I discovered it could catch edges.

I took a single razor and honed it on that stone, a Dan's black and a vintage translucent with oil and again with soap and water to compare results.

 

[Bowmaker]

There is a difference in feed back between the three stones that I tried but only on soap and water. If there is a difference between any of the Ark finishers it would be very hard to prove. I suspect that the translucents are faster but I can't prove it and I wouldn't argue one way or the other either.

 

[Biglo13]

IMHO
the true hard is fast but not a finisher
trans is faster than blue black.
trans with diamond slurry is even faster.
blue black is best ark finisher
true hard and trans with diamond slurry for a faster finish after 1K or vintage washita

 

[Frank Shaves]

With new stones like that at the very least you will want to go over them with a hard steel, loose grit will be rolling around on the surface if you don't. Both stones will have a break in period and be coarser than they naturally are which may be OK, but if you are thinking of doing an ark progression I would lap them both.

I lapped both the soft and the hard with P220, P400, P600 and P1200 - came out very nice and smooth. Not sure the P1200 did a whole lot. I did not have any P100, but next time I will.

 

[Tomo]

Gents, I have a black Ark on order from Dan’s. Do these stones come flat enough from the factory to lap with WD and Atoma plates or should I stock up on some SIC powder before it arrives? I did let them know that I was looking for a flat stone for razor finishing.

 

[Frank Shaves]

Congrats on your order! I recently bought a Dan's hard black from Sharpening Supplies and it was flat and I mean flatter than flat, so I just used it as is. I also asked for a flat hard black and (unlike the soft and hard stones I bought next) the hard black was not sealed in plastic. These hard blacks are nice stones, BTW.

 

[timwcic]

It is unpacking day today. It’s not big but I hope it’s mighty. Don’t know what’s under the cover but the seller told me it’s like new. Let’s find out.

Not bad, looks NOS, some interesting veining and personality. Now to find its big brother in 8 inch

 

[Nathan Jarvis]

That's a really cool stone.

View attachment 1083898
Here’s a new one, a massive piece of black hard Arkansas. 12x3-1/8 and 1 inch thick. Light penetrates about 1/2” deep and it literally sings while you’re holding it in your hands. It’s lapped flat up to 400x SIC and ready for a test drive. I believe this is a Norton. It has a stamp on the side that reads:
Hard Arkansas-Made in the U.S. of A, the stamp is identical to the ones used on the later mined (70’s-80’s) Norton’s.

 

[Tomo]

This 8x3x1 Black Ark just arrived from Dan’s. It arrived pretty flat but I put it through a wet dry sand paper progression anyways. These stones really do eat sandpaper. After 3x180, 2x400 and 1x600 sheets I had wiped a few pencil grids and the stone was looking pretty good. I then worked the surface in lightly with a chisel which gave some shine to the surface.

The stone weighs in at 1036g and 389ml giving a specific gravity of 2.66. 220 laps put a wicked edge on my Ralf Aust SR which shaved very nicely. There’s an interesting feel and sound to the stone. It almost feels like a piece of crystal.

 

[timwcic]

This 8x3x1 Black Ark just arrived from Dan’s. It arrived pretty flat but I put it through a wet dry sand paper progression anyways. These stones really do eat sandpaper. After 3x180, 2x400 and 1x600 sheets I had wiped a few pencil grids and the stone was looking pretty good. I then worked the surface in lightly with a chisel which gave some shine to the surface.

The stone weighs in at 1036g and 389ml giving a specific gravity of 2.66. 220 laps put a wicked edge on my Ralf Aust SR which shaved very nicely. There’s an interesting feel and sound to the stone. It almost feels like a piece of crystal.

View attachment 1178302View attachment 1178303View attachment 1178304View attachment 1178305View attachment 1178306

Nice Ark, nice size and SG number in the sweet spot. If you got good results after 220 laps, wait till you try 440 laps.
What is you lube of choice?

 

[global_dev]

What is you lube of choice?

The ultimate question for honers everywhere. Cant wait to hear! Lol

 

[Tomo]

Nice Ark, nice size and SG number in the sweet spot. If you got good results after 220 laps, wait till you try 440 laps.
What is you lube of choice?

Thanks Tim. I’m really enjoying getting to know these naturals lately.

I’ve found that a tiny speck of dishwashing liquid rubbed in the water keeps the blade sliding around nicely. It also seems to cut the surface tension and aids the undercut. Plain water tends to stick and stutter a little which doesn’t feel like it’s doing the edge any favours.

I’m not sure how good this is for the stones. I only use the tiniest among and rinse it clean after use. Someone recommended a drop of Jetdry but this didn’t do much for me. I might not have used enough.

 

[global_dev]

just picked up a Dans 8x2 SB w/ SG of 2.65. crazy how the stone grabs the heat and natural oil off my hands. literally made me feel like i was diirty. (and I've washed my hands no less than 6x today between dishes, packages, and other)