Dan's Primitive Black Ark

[psfred]

Against my better judgement I bought a second hand Dan's Primitive on eBay last night. About 5x3 inches, which is plenty of area for finishing razors, and at least a reasonable price.

Advertized as finished flat to normal Dan's standards but I will check. Anyone have experience with as delivered flatness and finish? I'm quite capable of getting it flat and polished, but it would be nice if I didn't have to do much work on it.

Should round out my finishing options for razors -- JNat, Coticule, synthetic 12k, and now hard black Ark. Someday I'll get time to try them all and see!

 

[Kyle89]

All of my stones from Dans were insanely close to flat and just needed a little bit of work to finish the job, round the edges, and resurface to w/d grit of choice.

 

[Wid]

It will be close to flat but further lapping is a good idea.

 

[psfred]

I was hoping this would be the case. Having almost completely flattened an 8x3 Washita, I really don't want to have to flatten a hard ark!

Any advise on finish grit for final razor honing? I'm going to use this for final razor finishing.

 

[Darth Scandalous]

Any advise on finish grit for final razor honing? I'm going to use this for final razor finishing.

600 w/d is a good place to start. It's easy to refinish it with a different grit. I've tried 800, 1200, and maybe 1500 (can't remember) and I like 600 the best. I also refresh it when it starts to get shiny. But there are guys who like their arks burnished and some who like them finished on 400. So it wouldn't hurt to experiment to find what works for you.

 

[Kyle89]

I like the 400-600 grit finish, coming off of a coticule or 8k synth. Been messing with my Translucent that I finished up pretty high and did some light burnishing but I don't like it as much. Play around to find what works best for you!

 

[Herrenberg]

I finish my translucents on 400 grit, but I have to admit that I like the results better after I've used it 4-5 times. Maybe I should try 600.

 

[silverlifter]

600 one side, 1000 the other. Yes, I am a masochist...

 

[psfred]

Lol, don't plan on finishing the back side of a primitive.

 

[Frank Shaves]

As others have said, try different grits. I tried a bunch and settled on using 240 on one face and 400 on the other.

Use little to no pressure (just the stone’s weight) when finishing a face. Otherwise, you may lower the corners.

Flattening a face is a different story. This requires some pressure.

 

[natto]

Dan's Primitive

Would you mind to tell me what a

Dan's Primitive Black Ark​

is? I didnt find them on Dan's site.

 

[Legion]

Would you mind to tell me what a

Dan's Primitive Black Ark​

is? I didnt find them on Dan's site.

They are not available that often. They are basically an offcut of a big slab, so they have one good working face, and the other side is rough and unfinished. sometimes weirdly shaped. Which makes the suggestion to lap each side using two different grits kind of amusing. They are apparently fairly inexpensive when you can get them. If I didn't have to pay international shipping I'd like to get one myself.

 

[natto]

Thank you @Legion .

 

[psfred]

I'll post a pic sometime, this one is roughly 5x3 inches and looks like the bit cut off a small boulder to get a flat face. It's no more than 1/2" thick, much of it is thinner, back is irregular. I'd not want to grind it down flat enough to use the back, I'm afraid it would be easy to break it.

Only need one face, and it's a dream to hone on.