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Butterscotch

FWIW, here are two shots of my trans Arks. From left to right and top to bottom: a special order 6" x 2" true hard (streaked translucent) from Dan's, a 5" x 2" Norton hard Arkansas, a 4-7/8" x 1-7/8" butterscotch trans Ark, and another butterscotch ~5" x ~2" trans Ark "bout" that someone gave to me. As is hopefully clear, the butterscotch stones are more yellow-brown than the other translucents. A question that comes to mind to me, which I've asked before, is whether or not the butterscotch color might be attributable to gassing in the enclosed boxes, as I note the coincidence of the boxes being significantly oiled or stained in the butterscotch examples, whereas the other ones, not in stained boxes, are whiter or greyer.

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David

B&B’s Champion Corn Shucker
Wow that bout is amazing! Really nice stones. Has anyone ever reached out to someone like Dans to see what their thoughts are on the butterscotch stones? The big stone I posted that is brown on one side suggests to me that it may have been the actual color of the stone, but I'm not sure. I've always found this topic interesting.
 
Thanks guys. When I posed the question about gassing a couple years back, the general consensus was that the coloration was natural, as translucents can come in other colors as well (Dan's mentions this on their website). At the time, I had stored a couple of coticules in some untreated cedar boxes that I had made for them, before going away for a few months. When I came back, the coloration had shifted in taking them out of the box, especially along the veins. And that color shift has remained to this day, even with subsequent lapping and use. That definitely was a case of the cedar oil vapors gassing the stone.
 
One surefire way to find out I guess. Got some dark wood stain? Got a white translucent Ark you wouldn't mind discoloring? Give it a go and report back! Personally I'm not in either camp... The fact of the matter to me is that either way could make perfect sense. It could be natural coloration or it could be leeched oil, stain or something else.
 
One surefire way to find out I guess. Got some dark wood stain? Got a white translucent Ark you wouldn't mind discoloring? Give it a go and report back! Personally I'm not in either camp... The fact of the matter to me is that either way could make perfect sense. It could be natural coloration or it could be leeched oil, stain or something else.

Ah, but given the hype, if it worked, I wouldn't want to report back... ;-)
 

David

B&B’s Champion Corn Shucker
Best way to find out would be to whack that bout with a hammer and have a look inside. :a14:
 
SoL did something like that with a Washita to see how far the oil and swarf had penetrated. From the broken section, it didn't appear to have seeped in all that much.
 

David

B&B’s Champion Corn Shucker
SoL did something like that with a Washita to see how far the oil and swarf had penetrated. From the broken section, it didn't appear to have seeped in all that much.
I remember breaking a washita trying to get it out of a box and posting pics in one of the Arkansas threads. IIRC the stone was 5/8" thick and the oil had penetrated all the way through but I can't say for sure. I'll see if I can find it.
 
Arks and Washitas are worlds apart in terms of porosity. I'm not surprised that it's possible for the discoloration to seep in quite a ways on Washitas. I'd be surprised if it got very far at all into a translucent or black hard Ark.
 
While I didn't the new format when it was first unveiled, my view has since mellowed, a lot of it having to do with the new search engine that allows one to really zero in on things.

Edit: I just reread some of the comments as linked above about the oil seeping into the center of a Washita, but I am sure that on one thread, SoL posted pix of a broken Washita where the seepage was minimal.
 
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timwcic

"Look what I found"
Got this stone this morning at a sale. It is a 2 x 4 drop piece. Was told grandpa dropped it 2 years ago and the 4 inch piece broke into many pieces (That makes in a 8 inch stone, ARGH) and was thrown away. Can see the butterscotch thru and thru.

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Here's mine, found in France as per this thread:

Novaculite ID

It has taken me a long... long... time to get the stone surface like glass, and the technique down.

But the shaves are becoming stellar... Love this stone, the shape, the color, the crossing lines (they don't surface, is just a structure pattern), the ebony paddle, the felling honing on it.

On oils is faster that I could have believed, leaves a haze finish.

On water, water and soap, water and glycerin, it gives an almost perfect mirror finish... but it takes for ever!

Both shaves are incredibly smooth, initial sharpness is higher with oil, but become almost similar after stropping. And still improving!


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David

B&B’s Champion Corn Shucker
Here's a recent acquisition, a very dark hard ark. It's flat and the surface seems to be extremely broken in from years of use, so I'm planning on trying it out as is. Shown next to a standard Norton trans for color reference.
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Nice! love those specials trans...

On the gassing. I started to make a box out of cedar for one of my PDSO. I got sidetracked and left the stone for a couple of months against the raw wood. The green stone turned brown. Lapped out very easy, but I was very surprised to see it happening.

And about my stone above, found in France. I've seen exactly the same one (stone, paddle and box), but in bad shape, on Ebay.fr. So those stones may have been sold in France after all.

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Other detail, the lines forming a cross on the surface of mine are fading??? the small line near the end is almost gone, the long one is underway, and I haven't used the stone so much as to remove any real material. Very weird, the stone is alive or something...
 
Nice posts! I haven't been following the thread in a while. Some of these, like Grandpa's broken example, really do make it seem like the butterscotch is that way through and through.
 
The disappearing lines in the stone???? if someone have an idea why they fade?

I've sharpen 3-4 razors between the picture a few posts above, and those ones today. No lapping or smoothing of any sort. The white smudges are left over coticule in my fingers from lapping a new stone.

If is some sort of hydration it would tend to prove the stone has some degree of porosity...

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On top the ugly/scratchy original steel box, next to it the new one in wood.
 
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