Arkansas finishing am I doing something wrong.

[croyleje]

Hello Everyone,
I have posted a question or two about Arks and all the help has been greatly appreciated. I am using a Dan's hard black lapped to 600 with SiC powder. I recently had asked about using oil and gave it a try over the weekend I was hoping it would give me better feedback then the Dawn or Williams but if I add anything to the water weather it be soap or oil (Ballistol) its like honing on a sheet of glass. Basically no feedback is this normal or is it something I am doing wrong. I have been able to produce some of the best shaves I have ever had with just plain water and honing until the blade sticks then running water until it sticks. Was also able to produce a great shave off the soap and water also but just went through the motions for 10 mins couldn't tell I was doing anything. I prefer having some way of knowing I am done if the no feedback is normal do most people just go by number of laps or time?
Thank you

 

[SliceOfLife]

An Arkansas with a razor will have minimal feedback. Ark feedback comes from pressure and angle. You don't use angles when honing a razor and using enough pressure to get obvious feedback is rare. Is there feedback? Yes. Is it always noticeable? No. If you've got great control and very sensitive fingers, you can read it on some razors... but I doubt anyone is going to have an easy time reading every razor on a hard ark... unless they keep it sanded to 300 grit or less or use a technique with a lot of pressure. But keep at it, you'll eventually start to get a feel for it on some razors if you pay close enough attention. But still with a lot of razors I'll just guess at when I've done enough on the ark and sometimes it takes a second go at it after a shave test to really get the razor "there".

Caveat, If you jump to the ark off something super coarse like 1k or less, you'll get pretty obvious feedback FROM THE RAZOR's "grit"... but it'll go away LOOOOOOONG before you get the razor shave-ready, as the 1k channels on the bevel get chopped down, but the edge isn't brought up yet.

 

[Wid]

I’ve never been able to read my ark finishers. Under cut is the only sign I can use while using them. Normally I’ll do 50 laps and start HHT testing. More often than not I’ll have to make more than one trip back to the stone.

 

[Bowmaker]

I don't get any feed back on hard arks and oil. It's subtle with soap and water but it's there. Probably depends on how much soap is in the water. Feed back is more pronounced with my translucent stones than the hard blacks. The hard blacks have the least amount of feed back for me and I think they are slower. Maybe it's just my particular stones but that is my experience.

 

[croyleje]

Thank you everyone it is truly appreciated the edges have been amazing and I see why people say arks are so great for finishing just thought I was doing something wrong. I guess I’ll just start timing or counting laps it’s amazing that the stone does anything considering how smooth it feels with soap or oil. But once again thank you all, everyone has been so helpful and nice on the forum it is rare I encounter such nice people anymore in my day to day life.

 

[Empire straights]

Thank you everyone it is truly appreciated the edges have been amazing and I see why people say arks are so great for finishing just thought I was doing something wrong. I guess I’ll just start timing or counting laps it’s amazing that the stone does anything considering how smooth it feels with soap or oil. But once again thank you all, everyone has been so helpful and nice on the forum it is rare I encounter such nice people anymore in my day to day life.

Watch a 30 min TV show while doing laps and when it's over strop and check hht. You'll be happy.

 

[H Brad Boonshaft]

As said a lot depends on where you start with an Ark finisher. I like a near mirror, 8 or 12k bevel.

Feeling is something you pick up in your hands, like feeling a smooth bevel long before you get ringing, stiction. It is good that you are at least thinking about it, most just hone by formula. You are polishing not removing lot of metal.

Once you are getting consistently good shaving edges, you can experiment with the other side, finish on different grits of wet and dry, burnish or try different lubes and oil. (I like Smith’s, 2-3 drops on a wet stone)) or micro bevels. You can always go back to the 600 side. Mark the edge with a white sharpie so you know which is which.

The good news is, if you think your shaves are good, wait a year from now when you have learned your stone.