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

Early Xmas present arrived today!
Huge roughly 13 1/2” x 3 1/2 primitive translucent Ark from Dan’s. I may take it to the tile saw to clean up one edge, but for now she stays as is.

I think I just had an ark gasm !!!

How does it hone? Are the edges beveled?
 
I think I just had an ark gasm !!!

How does it hone? Are the edges beveled?
I beveled the edges with wet/dry on a flexible form. It worked like magic and there is nothing for an edge to catch on.
Honing on it is a dream, the very long track makes finishing very quick, easy and effortless.
 
Yeah my primitive black is 9.3 x 3.3 and I thought I was living beyond luxury in some kind of bliss. I even went so far as to tell people 100 laps on an ark is PLENTY for an average tempered blade.

Then I got a little 4x1x3/8 vintage trans norton and realized the 99% living in squalor actually need 400 laps sometimes to finish an edge!
 
I just got a 8x2 combination stone. So far I really like it. It’s great for honing kitchen knives
 

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timwcic

"Look what I found"
This is a interestingly found stone. Depending on light and angle, a vintage black or blue-black hard Arkansas from Norton. It was a gift from a old-timer Doctor at the teaching clinic. Always angling to find a CG, we were talking about antique medical equipment with hones part of the conversation. During my last visit, this was gifted to me from his medical collection with the promise I would give it a good home. He stated it was used by him “to give the final edge conditioning to his medical knifes”. Very cool and unexpected. What I received is a 5 x 2 x 1/2 stone with the oak case in a low mileage condition, a bonafide surgical-surgical black. I have a few hard arks, but this is the darkest in my collection. I lapped and it was a bear. I lapped a 8x2 trans at the same time. The trans, with 160% more surface area was finished in half the time. I little sucker is hard. When done, I gave it a few test drives and has been giving great results. I always considered my translucent’s to be my finest but this one is rewriting my understanding. It is small but mighty. It feels, if this makes sense, to be less toothy with the smoothest feedback. Like honing on greased glass. After a few hundred strokes, getting a smooth shaving edge that is as good as anything I have

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I beveled the edges with wet/dry on a flexible form. It worked like magic and there is nothing for an edge to catch on.
Honing on it is a dream, the very long track makes finishing very quick, easy and effortless.

What flexible form? More details please
 
Picked up two lots from a seller last week. There were a couple barber's hones, a few india/carbo... and these:

One on the left is not an Ark. It was glued in a preen box. Looks like a Queer Creek but significantly heavier, harder and a little finer. I've had several of these. They seem fairly common. Possibly Magog/Mikado/Canadian Oilstone (very similar to my labeled Mikado). I'm sure there's a thousand old woodworkers out there who know exactly what these are, but I've had several and they are just harder/finer QC's as far as I'm concerned. Never had one labeled and clean (My Mikado is very dark and dirty).

Then Left to right.

Washita: Similar to my WW Friend stones.
Most likely Washita: Likely a lower grade from the patterning. Feels like a good LW or #1, but definitely not one based on looks.
Possibly a Washita, but honestly feels more like a Hard Ark to me. I may try and get a SG eventually... but frankly running a few knives over it when I get time will likely give me as much info. Definitely much glassier with a higher tone when tapped than Washita tend to have.
 

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duke762

Rose to the occasion
Nice stuff permafrost! Love that golden glow, it trips my trigger! I don't have a butterscotch yet. Maybe someday.....
 
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