An Awakening of Sorts

[jgkeegan]

For one reason or another, I had never shaved off an Arkie finish until earlier this week.

Now I have two such experiences: one finished by a friend, the other by me.

I am wowed. Both blades were comparably sharp those I honed with my regular routine but the Arkie finish was significantly smoother; not that my regular finishes are rough, but the difference was absolutely clear.

I need to look into this.

--James

 

[Gamma]

Sounds about right. Well done Ark-finished edges are superb.

 

[oakeshott]

Don't encourage him. He's slowly falling down the natural stone rabbit hole.

 

[jgkeegan]

Sounds about right. Well done Ark-finished edges are superb.

That they seem to be. For my first Arkie try, I did 200 laps, lightly, weight of blade. No noticeable sharpening improvement (none needed really) but significant smoothness improvement.

I will try 300 next time.

 

[jgkeegan]

Don't encourage him. He's slowly falling down the natural stone rabbit hole.

And who would be to blame for that, Hmmmm?

 

[SliceOfLife]

Arks cut like a cheese grater. If you use them with a lot of pressure, they will actually cut pretty rough patterns, but use them lighter and they seem to almost have the effect of narrowing your bevel by cleaving off the peaks left by previous stones (viewing the edge facing it it would appear to be the meeting of a top mountain range with an inverted bottom mountain range: The ark would be shaving the tops off the mountains).

I don't like sharpening on an ark and then transitioning to this refinement. It's definitely possible, but truth be told, arks aren't particularly well suited as a sharpening stone for razors in my opinion. They can work, but I have better options available to me. But there is something to be said for taking a finished razor for a handful of very light passes on a well worn Hard Arkansas.


Honestly, even 200 passes is massive overkill in my experience. At least with hollow ground razors, the effect I use Arks for can be had in a dozen or so passes on a 6x2". I wasn't doing many more than 30 or 40 or so even when I was using a 3x1.5".

 

[oakeshott]

Arks cut like a cheese grater. If you use them with a lot of pressure, they will actually cut pretty rough patterns, but use them lighter and they seem to almost have the effect of narrowing your bevel by cleaving off the peaks left by previous stones (viewing the edge facing it it would appear to be the meeting of a top mountain range with an inverted bottom mountain range: The ark would be shaving the tops off the mountains).

I don't like sharpening on an ark and then transitioning to this refinement. It's definitely possible, but truth be told, arks aren't particularly well suited as a sharpening stone for razors in my opinion. They can work, but I have better options available to me. But there is something to be said for taking a finished razor for a handful of very light passes on a well worn Hard Arkansas.


Honestly, even 200 passes is massive overkill in my experience. At least with hollow ground razors, the effect I use Arks for can be had in a dozen or so passes on a 6x2". I wasn't doing many more than 30 or 40 or so even when I was using a 3x1.5".

Are you saying 200 is too much even on a translucent? On oil? I've been getting great results with that many or more on my 4x2 and 5x2 translucents, but I haven't tried fewer laps.

i just finished honing a nice jnat edge. I'm gonna test this.

 

[Gamma]

My SB Ark is the best or one of the best finisher/s I own.
Truthfully - I need at least 100 laps to get there. It's 10" long too. I've watched the haze develop, but never really nailed down the point of diminishing returns. I usually just hone until the blade doesn't want to move across the stone any more.

IME - the jump is critical - Coti to Ark doesn't cut it for me, I need a more refined edge before I go to that finisher.
Then, and only then - do I get 'the' edge.

 

[jgkeegan]

My SB Ark is one of, if not - the best finishers I own.
Truthfully - I need at least 100 laps to get there. It's 10" long too. I've watched the haze develop, but never really nailed down the point of diminishing returns. I usually just hone until the blade doesn't want to move across the stone any more.

IME - the jump is critical - Coti to Ark doesn't cut it for me, I need a more refined edge before I go to that finisher.
Then, and only then - do I get 'the' edge.

Previously, my finishing stone has been a Shapton Pro 15000. The Arkie I am using after the Shapton is 4" x 2" , relatively small, and short strokes with no pressure.

 

[SliceOfLife]

Not too much, just more than needed.

 

[oakeshott]

It could be my imagination, but I thought I saw changes in the "polish" of the edge at 50 laps that I couldn't see at 10 or 20. Then I took it up to 100 and again it "seemed" to be different again. I used to have an iPhone case that held this little camera attachment but I couldn't find it so there are no pics. I'd like to document this.

 

[jgkeegan]

It could be my imagination, but I thought I saw changes in the "polish" of the edge at 50 laps that I couldn't see at 10 or 20. Then I took it up to 100 and again it "seemed" to be different again. I used to have an iPhone case that held this little camera attachment but I couldn't find it so there are no pics. I'd like to document this.

I'd love a USB camera or some of the setups that take the photos I see here, but my scope is a small $24.00 model, 100x.

 

[Gamma]

I don't know that it's important - feedback indicates when the edge is 'done' fairly well.
The laps go very quickly unless I've got a big wedge or something. So I don't feel pressed to shorten the cycle.

Done is done - when the blade doesn't want to move past the first 1/4-1/3 of the stroke, it's done.
I use water with soap on that stone - oil or honing solution would probably change stuff. I've been meaning to get some of that water-based hone solution to play with, but it's not a priority since the dishsoap/water combo works perfectly for me.

That's just my preference for the finished edge though - anyone else may/will want to handle it differently.

 

[jgkeegan]

I don't know that it's important - feedback indicates when the edge is 'done' fairly well.
The laps go very quickly unless I've got a big wedge or something. So I don't feel pressed to shorten the cycle.

Done is done - when the blade doesn't want to move past the first 1/4-1/3 of the stroke, it's done.
I use water with soap on that stone - oil or honing solution would probably change stuff. I've been meaning to get some of that water-based hone solution to play with, but it's not a priority since the dishsoap/water combo works perfectly for me.

That's just my preference for the finished edge though - anyone else may/will want to handle it differently.

I really like to look at the blade in the scope before moving to a harder abrasive.