hi, my arkansas stone has some surface cracks. they're visible and two of them are perceptible if i use a pointy object perpendicularly to them. i was curious to know how deep they were and they're quite deep into the stone, about 1mm, some more. i can hone on it and it works fantastically and haven't noticed anythign on the edge although i don't have the necessary means to magnify it enough to actually see it i can definitely say that the saves off it are the best i've tried yet. i was only wondering if any of any of you had the same "issue" or has seen anything like that on these stones. for clarity the stone is a translucent black and the cracks are more visible now that i did some tests on it i still haven't honed on it in this condition, i will probably keep working on it with sic powder and see what happens maybe.
Arkansas surface cracks
- Thread starter Kastan
- Start date
That’s fairly common with the harder novaculites and generally isn’t an issue. I have two translucents that probably have a dozen or more of those on the surface and it’s never caused me any issues.
- Thread starter
- #3
and can you feel it under your finger or a pointy object?
I’ll check when I get home, but I know I can’t feel it while I’m honing a razor or a knife. If it’s not hurting your edges I would not worry about it. Welcome to BnB by the way.
- Thread starter
- #5
I noticed this too on a norton translucent. I cant feel with my fingernail and notice nothing when honing.
Yup, common.
Lynn Idwal sometimes have interesting flaky things going on too. As long as the stone is properly lapped I've not had issues.
Lynn Idwal sometimes have interesting flaky things going on too. As long as the stone is properly lapped I've not had issues.
Most likely a lot of these are actually subsurface and the translucence makes them appear surface.
One at least is an eyelash (or Im missing the crack in the picture)
Less of them = purer stone, but do they affect honing? Maybe, maybe not. I tend to think not... but I'd still buy a cleaner stone over one with them if everything else was equal... just being picky.
One at least is an eyelash (or Im missing the crack in the picture)
Less of them = purer stone, but do they affect honing? Maybe, maybe not. I tend to think not... but I'd still buy a cleaner stone over one with them if everything else was equal... just being picky.
