I saw the email and was excited to see what your impressions were. Sorry to hear that it could be more trouble than its worth. My Translucent Black has a little fissure on one end. Very small. On the main honing surface, its smooth, on the end surface it's smooth, in the chamfer I can catch my fingernail on it. All 3 surfaces are lapped with 200 grit SiC powder. I am hoping that as I go up in the grits that that tendancy willgo away.
Arkie Collection: Lot's of pics so take a look
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I saw the email and was excited to see what your impressions were. Sorry to hear that it could be more trouble than its worth. My Translucent Black has a little fissure on one end. Very small. On the main honing surface, its smooth, on the end surface it's smooth, in the chamfer I can catch my fingernail on it. All 3 surfaces are lapped with 200 grit SiC powder. I am hoping that as I go up in the grits that that tendancy willgo away.
I still keep picking the stone up and wishing it was different. Its so dense and smooth otherwise. 
What are you referring to? The pores in 45301? Those are normal and will go away as it breaks in. The fingernail sized gouges in the same pic? Those are unusual. I'd guess damage, not worth lapping past, a light touch will make them irrelevant. The ~1.5-2" long curves in the stone itself in pic 45304? Those aren't unusual. I had a few Dan's translucents with those several years ago. I didn't notice that they caused any problems, but they would have gotten a stone binned in the past based on the stones I've owned, so that would date your stone to 60's or more recent I'd guess (key word "guess").
Really nothing there looks that bad to me. I'd probably flip it on account of the curves in pic 45304, just because I'm OCD about stuff like that, but really none of that should cause you major problems. Remember, your fingernail will fit down in gouges in a hard ark, a razor held flat won't. So long as the SURFACE of the stone is smooth and even, a few gaps in that surface here and there won't cause problems for a razor.
If neither of you plan to use it, honestly, if you'll sell it to me cheap, I'd be more than happy to take it off your hands, even though I don't need another trans. Those gouges really won't cause you problems with razors. In fact, I'd hesitate to use it with knives, but not razors.
Really nothing there looks that bad to me. I'd probably flip it on account of the curves in pic 45304, just because I'm OCD about stuff like that, but really none of that should cause you major problems. Remember, your fingernail will fit down in gouges in a hard ark, a razor held flat won't. So long as the SURFACE of the stone is smooth and even, a few gaps in that surface here and there won't cause problems for a razor.
If neither of you plan to use it, honestly, if you'll sell it to me cheap, I'd be more than happy to take it off your hands, even though I don't need another trans. Those gouges really won't cause you problems with razors. In fact, I'd hesitate to use it with knives, but not razors.
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Thanks Ian Im gonna play with some more when I have the time.
I played with the stone some more and those little spots are actually pockets of less dense or coarser material and not cracks.Gas pockets maybe? They act like little speed bumps. I still feel they hold the edge back from the stones true potential if they were not there. The best I was able to do was shave that tugged very much and I did not wish an ATG pass while shaving but even with the excessive tugging the blade still did an exceptional job of removing the whiskers cleanly.
Nice photos and super write-up. I am new to honing and this is very informative/interesting.
That sounds like the shave I get off my Lily White Washita. Sure I could shave with that edge, but it wouldn't be daily.
So, if you have a Translucent that leaves a similar edge to a Washita (soft), how quickly does it cut? More like a Washita, or more slowly like a Translucent?
I think you said those "bubbles" go all the way through. No hope for the other surface?
The side I am using is the better of the two and i am very used to my coticules and it was only one shave so I am sure with time it will get better. My selection of lubricants may not be ideal either because I have one that cuts very quickly leaves black swarf to one that seems to make no improvements whatsoever. I need to have the right lubricant I think for starters.
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- #69
This thread generated an extra amount of arkie activity (arktivity??) and i've been spending some time getting a few new acquisitions into shape. The black primitive arkie has more potential than I initially thought and so I've been spending some time smoothing it. Wanted to share the following pics because they illustrate a couple of things. One is some idea of what a well worn arkie should look like and, secondly, some idea of the very, very long time it takes to get there. We're talking months of regular use; years if used only infrequently.
Keep in mind that this stone came lapped and "finished" from Dan's. Then, I wore out three sheets of 2k w/d to get some more smoothness. Spent about an hour with an old wedge on it and last night, at least a total of 2-3 hours straight honing with a bigass chef's knife.
In the pics below, you can see, just at the corners, not a color difference so much as a reflective difference. I noticed last night that the edges were just beginning to get the glassy look indicative of a well worn translucent or SB arkie. In about another 100 or 200 hours of pure honing time, the rest of the stone might be ready to be the ultimate finisher one hopes it to be. Given the time it will take to get this massive piece of rock to be superb, it's easy to see why there are so few large arkies for sale. Difficult to find a stone to cut into that size and then, if found, once someone's broken one in, why would they ever sell it? It's not like a coti or a jnat or even a Washita. As far as I know, they don't get linearly better over time. I suppose, but don't know, that it's possible they do change, but I've no experience with that and haven't seen anyone mention it.
This makes the experience around the trans arks unique. A fresh lapping restores most natural stones to glory while it would destroy a well used trans arkie.
Forgive the quality of the pics. All I have is an iPad or iPhone for taking pictures.
Keep in mind that this stone came lapped and "finished" from Dan's. Then, I wore out three sheets of 2k w/d to get some more smoothness. Spent about an hour with an old wedge on it and last night, at least a total of 2-3 hours straight honing with a bigass chef's knife.
In the pics below, you can see, just at the corners, not a color difference so much as a reflective difference. I noticed last night that the edges were just beginning to get the glassy look indicative of a well worn translucent or SB arkie. In about another 100 or 200 hours of pure honing time, the rest of the stone might be ready to be the ultimate finisher one hopes it to be. Given the time it will take to get this massive piece of rock to be superb, it's easy to see why there are so few large arkies for sale. Difficult to find a stone to cut into that size and then, if found, once someone's broken one in, why would they ever sell it? It's not like a coti or a jnat or even a Washita. As far as I know, they don't get linearly better over time. I suppose, but don't know, that it's possible they do change, but I've no experience with that and haven't seen anyone mention it.
This makes the experience around the trans arks unique. A fresh lapping restores most natural stones to glory while it would destroy a well used trans arkie.
Forgive the quality of the pics. All I have is an iPad or iPhone for taking pictures.
Nice post Mark!
When breaking in the stone with the chef knife, I would think that the edges of the stone would be the hardest to use/condition and would expect the central area to break in first.
When breaking in the stone with the chef knife, I would think that the edges of the stone would be the hardest to use/condition and would expect the central area to break in first.
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- #71
I would have expected the edges to break in first as they are constantly in contact with the knife, but wouldn't have expected the ends to smooth out first. Don't understand why that's happening.
Mark, a bit off topic here, but have you ever tried any naguras on one of your translucent arks? I've done it with a coticule with good results...looks to me like the extra hard surface of a translucent or a SB would work well for this?
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- #73
I did a long time ago and the results, as I recall, were "ok". My skill then was far less and understanding less even than that. It's worth trying again and on a variety of stones. May even give it a shot tonight.
Cool. I'd like to hear the results if you give it a go.
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- #75
David,
just spent about an hour total going from bevel set on the Chosera to a full Nagura progression excluding the Koma. HHT 2 or 3 root out and after stropping a solid 4 or better root in and nearly as good root out. In fact, it was hard to tell the difference. I'll give it a shave test tomorrow.
The experience wasn't like the normal Jnat experience. Feedback was almost nonexistent. Maybe with practice I could tell, but the slurry color change helped gauge progress.
That's great to hear Mark. I agree, the feedback isn't there when I use the hybrid side of the les lat with nagura either so there's a little guess work involved but so far they've turned out well, and the shaves are great. Thanks for posting your results and I'm looking forward to hearing how the shave is.
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- #77
The shave wasn't great. No question of the edge being keen, but the feeling was almost scratchy like. It was weird. The smoothness I'm used to, even when an edge isn't at it's keenest, was missing. Interestingly, I didn't finish with the arkie on oil. Wonder if that will smooth it out.
Hmmm...I figured you'd have a great shave with the HHT you got last night. Maybe you're right, maybe it needed some finishing laps on the ark with oil afterwards. Still really interesting, thanks for doing the experiment.
What is the abrasive in Jnats supposedly made of? Is it quartz? If it's harder or softer than quartz would likely play a big role in exactly how jnat slurry on an ark would behave.
Looking back at Marks primitive stones made me really want to get one. Today I ordered a black from Dave at Natural. Told him to make it 6-8" long and around 3" across. Can't wait to see it.
