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

Is that washita that's labeled a soft ark so rare that it's be a crime to try to remove the label so I can use that surface that's still factory flat? Or should I just suck it up and lap the sway out of it? I've got a couple pinched nerves in my back and I know it's going to be rough and in going to pay dearly for that pristine flat washita that I love so much.
 
Is that washita that's labeled a soft ark so rare that it's be a crime to try to remove the label so I can use that surface that's still factory flat? Or should I just suck it up and lap the sway out of it? I've got a couple pinched nerves in my back and I know it's going to be rough and in going to pay dearly for that pristine flat washita that I love so much.
It’s lapping time. No pain no gain. I hope you have plenty of Silica Carbide!

It would be a crime against honing to destroy that label but you know that already. Removing it and mounting it into a nice storage box would be ok.
 
Some post dip pictures

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It’s lapping time. No pain no gain. I hope you have plenty of Silica Carbide!

It would be a crime against honing to destroy that label but you know that already. Removing it and mounting it into a nice storage box would be ok.
I didn't want to destroy, I just want to take it off but I haven't foggiest to go about it. I can do it with a blade it'll shred. It's falling apart from sg that wicked up into the stone and saturated it from underneath, the label wasn't under the solution.
 
I didn't want to destroy, I just want to take it off but I haven't foggiest to go about it. I can do it with a blade it'll shred. It's falling apart from sg that wicked up into the stone and saturated it from underneath, the label wasn't under the solution.
@timwcic is the expert in stone and label preservation. Labels are always nice to keep where you can. While it might not be the prettiest label it’s enough to let you know what the stone is.
 
@Tomo The other is like 5 mm, and I got one I need to lap chips out of.
Oh yeah. That’s going to take a while. My wife got me onto a stone mason she uses for work. He cut my granite lapping plate down to the size is a standard sheet of wet dry sandpaper for me.

If you have a few like that, it might be worth reaching out to a stone mason. He might be able to slice the top off flat. They have a lot of tools for working hard stones. My guy trimmed the granite plate and mitred the corners in no time. It was so easy he refused to charge me. He really wanted to polish the top and I had to be quite specific not to touch it. He did polish up the sides he cut though.

A stone mason could save you a lot of time if you can find one. You will also wind up with parallel faces which will be tough to achieve with lapping. The final lapping and surface prep will be a lot easier.
 
@timwcic is the expert in stone and label preservation. Labels are always nice to keep where you can. While it might not be the prettiest label it’s enough to let you know what the stone is.
It's a pike washita with a pike soft arkansas label. Appparently, im told, soft arks were worth more than washitas when they were first sold because they were considered razor stones, crazy because I consider the opposite true.
 
Oh yeah. That’s going to take a while. My wife got me onto a stone mason she uses for work. He cut my granite lapping plate down to the size is a standard sheet of wet dry sandpaper for me.

If you have a few like that, it might be worth reaching out to a stone mason. He might be able to slice the top off flat. They have a lot of tools for working hard stones. My guy trimmed the granite plate and mitred the corners in no time. It was so easy he refused to charge me. He really wanted to polish the top and I had to be quite specific not to touch it. He did polish up the sides he cut though.

A stone mason could save you a lot of time if you can find one. You will also wind up with parallel faces which will be tough to achieve with lapping. The final lapping and surface prep will be a lot easier.
There is a place near me called "the rock store" that polishes, cuts, and sells minerals and gem stones. i considered talking some to them since they do gemstone work I figured they'd be pretty detailed and be able to get things pretty precise.
 
@Tomo it still work fantastically for pocket knives and I got these two headed my way soon and they look pretty flat, I might just leave it but if that label falls off at any point it's game time!

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Enough to be a huge pain, I've got a couple I need to do. It's got the x stroke cutting out so the dip is triangle shaped.

Dude, start with 60 grit SiC powder. It's your friend. If you don't have any, order some and let your pinched nerves rest until you receive it. You'll thank me later.

Start with 60 and work your way up. Same idea as a stone progression for razors...
 
@Tomo it was much softer than I expected, I figured it'd be really hard since it's semi translucent. The other stone fell off the lid, I just glued it back on. Wish I knew what it was, looks almost synthetic but I don't think so.

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I'm
Dude, start with 60 grit SiC powder. It's your friend. If you don't have any, order some and let your pinched nerves rest until you receive it. You'll thank me later.

Start with 60 and work your way up. Same idea as a stone progression for razors...
Already done, it was much softer. Never seen a soft stone that was semi translucent.
 
Got the black stone back on the box(pretty coarse, it may be a synth or rough sandstone with mica sparkles in it. Kinda feels like a rougher queer creek, eats steel. The washita was the fine stone of the 2, I bet this was someone's razor/ pocket knife(from the type of wear) hone for years and years. Im happy and grateful to have gotten a piece of shaving history and a useful, fairly rare tool, no longer in production that I'll be able to pass to my son.
 
Dude, start with 60 grit SiC powder. It's your friend. If you don't have any, order some and let your pinched nerves rest until you receive it. You'll thank me later.

Start with 60 and work your way up. Same idea as a stone progression for razors...
You know I never lap past 600 for finishing stones(I'll do a quick buff with a worn out 1k diamond plate real fast at the end) and I usually got 220 out 400 for coarse/ mid range stones. Pre finishers get the fine India polish. After I did the 1k buff on this one it was still feeling a little gritty and grainy so I put oil on it and lapped it with my hard white washita so those particles would break down and polish the face. It feels right now on a pocket knife, but not aggressive as I expected, which will make it more suitable for a razor id expect. Once I take some time on honing one right on it I'll report back how it was. The shave off the translucent/ rusty looking one I have was pretty nice honestly but I would ALWAYS rather finish any razor with sb ark regardless of what I did all the rest of the work with. I've yet to find a finisher I like better, but I'd sure love to. To me Dan's blacks straight out of the box are perfect.
 

timwcic

"Look what I found"
@timwcic is the expert in stone and label preservation. Labels are always nice to keep where you can. While it might not be the prettiest label it’s enough to let you know what the stone is.

I don’t know about a expert, just get lucky every now and than. That Pike label is a tough one. Its way over 100 years old and looks to have no signs of the bond being broke. If I was to attempt, I would put in the Florida sun for a day or two to let oil rise under the label and hopefully mess with the glue bond. Sun will also warm the label to give some flexibility so when it is scraped with a new single edge blade it has some give. When the label is removed, I would glue it to archival paper using archival glue to give some substance and thickness to it. I did a removal on the same label earlier this year but it was in much worse condition than yours. I did all of the above to remove and preserve
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During the first month of my now one year journey, I bought soft, hard and hard black 6 x 2 arks from Sharpening Supplies, and only used them a few times before moving on to synthetics and JNATs. BTW, I bought the Norton Washita about a month later.

My Henckels 17, that I had last finished on my Nakayama Asagi, was beginning to tug, so I pulled out my hard black and put a hair-popping finish on the Henckels. I used a little food-grade mineral oil, and the stone felt really comfortable being handheld. Can't wait to "see" how it shaves later this afternoon.

I have to say that I really enjoyed using a stone that is affordable and readily available, and the use of oil was no biggie.

What I will call my inexpensive Arkansas Collection.

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J.A. Henckels (carbon steel) 17 with Hard Black Arkansas.

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I just shaved with the ark finish. Nice. I would describe the edge as crisp or keen. I would like to next use the hard black on one of my 19th century Sheffields.
 
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