Saw your post over on the FB Arkansas forum. Nice stones.
Arkansas Love...Let's see those Arks!
- Thread starter David
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Saw your post over on the FB Arkansas forum. Nice stones.
Right in the sweet spot.
What are you using for lubrication?View attachment 1301884View attachment 1301885View attachment 1301886
This thing is so fine it barely worksBut nice little butterscotch translucent. This one came with its box and I put a little strip of suede to level it off for non-slip type uses. But like I said, this this is so fine I almost have no uses for it. I guess I could scratch it up and give it some bite but I have plenty of stones so not much point in that either. Somewhere I have a more contemporary black trans mounted similarly so it is flat in the box but can find right now.
I am of the belief that if it's oil it must be very, very thin and it's part of the reason hard arks have a reputation as being so slow with zero feed back.
You have probably already been down this road but my translucent arks seem to never quit cutting on water with a few drops of soap added and I get feed back too. I don't use the soap to approximate oil viscosity on a hard ark, the soap acts as a surfactant, a wetting agent to better cover the surface of the stone.
On my translucent slip stone i oil it with mineral oil then rub up the swarf then wipe it clean. Then reapply oil and wipe it off so the is just a little residue. It'll keep it from clogging but not really lubricate it and it'll keep cutting like a champ. The only ark i use soap and water on for lubricant is my fine washita, I've never heard the problem i hear about around the net and irl with just straight pharma grade mineral oil. I hate honing oil with kerosene. I got gallons of veg glycerin and propylene glycol.
I actually use ethylene glycol most of the time on arks and diamond. When I use oil I like lanksy for some reason but have many others like balistol, mineral, smiths etc. I never use water on arks, soap or glycerine or not, because I don’t think it removes swarf well and clogs….but that is just me. My understanding is that ethylene glycol (pretty sure that is primary ingredient in Trend’s product) allows you to get closer to your cutting stone than water but with better swarf removal and lubrication. You should try it if you never have.
That little translucent slip I posted though, it is finished so fine. I think it is (a) super dense stone and (b) so finely finished that it just burnishes metal more than cuts. I figured it was a watch maker or part maker or someone’s since it is so fine and they went to the trouble of a nice box. It’s so fine you can polish brass without major cutting LOL.
I use WD40 on my arks with excellent results. If they stop making WD40 I'll probably start shaving with an electric......well maybe not.
You should try to touch it up with 600 sandpaper or SiC powder. When arks get glazed just lap it and it should fix it no problem.
Wd-40 is most krill or fish oil. Easy replacement. Deep water fish will stink less. Sperm oil is what was favored long before, it's no surprise your favorite is also mostly deep sea creature oil! It really surprised me when i first found out wd-40 was made from that, i didn't believe it until i ran it down.
You can probably just spray it in that general direction.
If you have WD40 aerosol just use the straw and spray it into a dropper bottle and dispense from there for more control. I buy it by the gallon.
Man does it ever lift swarf from Indias and softer Arks too.
Man does it ever lift swarf from Indias and softer Arks too.
I am aware, but it is not a problem with this little stone. I have more trans arks than I can remember where they are, so this is just a novelty stone for me.
Well, this is not actually true but it is commonly repeated misinformation unfortunately. I used to believe the same until I actually looked into it. WD40 folks continue to debunk this but it is still “widely known mis-knowledge”
I like soap and water for Arks. It seems faster and smoother to me. I do like oil on Coticules though.
Got some new pocket arks. Little washita has got teeth.
WD40 is made from petroleum distillates. Not sure where you got the idea it was made from fish oils.
Something I read in a factoid book 25 years ago most likely. I don't know I've had a pretty server head injury since then so I have trouble making connections between memories and with timeliness.
I used that little black one from dans straight out of the box and it's flat and smooth. I touched up 4 razors on it and it's kicked up swarf pretty quick(10 strokes aprox). I'm so glad I bought that stone. I think that width, 1 5/8" at 5" long is my favorite razor hone size. Next one I buy from them I'll have them cut it at that size and 1" thick.
