Grindstones and Arkansas

[cotedupy]

Yes even in videos I have seen of Dovo where they use electric wheels to sharpen it is just the bevel to prefinish on the wheel. Then hand honing on stones and stropping on leather.

Yep. Obviously I've only tried it like this once but my impression was that; no matter how much practice, or how good you were at it, you wouldn't be able to get the delicacy and finesse for properly good razor finishing.

I kind of see these being marketed to barber shops, etc... but being prohibitively expensive; so not lasting or selling well/at all.

I've no idea tbh. It struck me that it might be slightly overkill for barbershops, and maybe more something to be used during the production of razors... (?)

My one fwiw came from an ebay seller who specialises in antique horology equipment. And when I received it the stone had a load of thin concentric grooves in it, like a vinyl record. So had clearly been used to sharpen some sort of tiny, pointy, jewellery/watchmaking tools before.

 

[cotedupy]

I went to see some friends of mine yesterday who are pretty smart, high-end knifemakers. They made the apparatus for these two wheels themselves and had the stones custom built for them. The diameter I'd guess is about 1m, and that doesn't come cheap - several thousand pounds per stone.

Interestingly they haven't been using them very much recently because of energy prices.

The wheels are drip cooled with water, and for about half the year that needs to be heated, cos otherwise you're hands would go numb quite quickly. And if you're working on one all day for weeks on end it gets quite expensive. It's now considerably cheaper for them to use belts cooled with a thing that sprays a mist at them, and which doesn't need heating because there's less water involved.

 

[Legion]

I went to see some friends of mine yesterday who are pretty smart, high-end knifemakers. They made the apparatus for these two wheels themselves and had the stones custom built for them. The diameter I'd guess is about 1m, and that doesn't come cheap - several thousand pounds per stone.

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Interestingly they haven't been using them very much recently because of energy prices.

The wheels are drip cooled with water, and for about half the year that needs to be heated, cos otherwise you're hands would go numb quite quickly. And if you're working on one all day for weeks on end it gets quite expensive. It's now considerably cheaper for them to use belts cooled with a thing that sprays a mist at them, and which doesn't need heating because there's less water involved.

Are the wheels Ark stone? Who makes such a thing these days?

 

[cotedupy]

Are the wheels Ark stone? Who makes such a thing these days?

Nope, can you imagine how much that'd cost?!

They're synths made by an abrasives manufacturer, possibly Norton Saint-Gobain - I didn't ask. Apparently the most difficult part of it is choosing the correct binder for your application; based on steel, pressure, grit level, diameter, and rotation speed. Because you can't very well get a prototype made if you're only ordering one massively expensive stone. And wheels like that don't really get made any more apart from custom orders, so the company can't advise you either.

They have a smaller wheel as well with a few different stones for it. But on the 1k they chose a binder that was too hard, so the stone just glazes very quickly and is apparently basically useless. 800 quid down the drain.

 

[SliceOfLife]

I want to say Gamma or maybe David mentioned to me seeing a few (vintage ones) that WERE washita or Ark years back on eBay. I missed them and I've been zooming in to look @ every one I see since. Most look to me like a soft sandstone. Haven't come across one I'd guess was an ark yet... but a couple with bad pics MAYBE were soft ark... but I wasn't convinced enough to gamble.

 

[cotedupy]

I want to say Gamma or maybe David mentioned to me seeing a few (vintage ones) that WERE washita or Ark years back on eBay. I missed them and I've been zooming in to look @ every one I see since. Most look to me like a soft sandstone. Haven't come across one I'd guess was an ark yet... but a couple with bad pics MAYBE were soft ark... but I wasn't convinced enough to gamble.

I think I remember David saying he'd always regretted passing on an ark version on ebay 10+ years ago.

You see old grindstones come up quite a lot in the UK. Now that I think about it there's one at my (late) grandmother's house still which she used as the base of small outside table. Perhaps I'll rescue it, though will require at least a couple of people to lift.

They were normally made out of hard and coarse sandstone.

 

[Steve56]

For razors, don’t re-invent the wheel. Sorry, couldn’t resist.

 

[cotedupy]

For razors, don’t re-invent the wheel. Sorry, couldn’t resist.

Thank you Steve! This thread had gone on far too long without someone making that joke.

I spent a while back on page 1 trying to tee @Legion up, showing him pictures of wheels old and new, but he was having none of it.

 

[Legion]

Thank you Steve! This thread had gone on far too long without someone making that joke.

I spent a while back on page 1 trying to tee @Legion up for it, showing him pictures of wheels old and new, but he was having none of it.

I’ve been officially warned off the dad jokes. Apparently I’m leaning too heavily into them for my material.

 

[Wid]

Saw these at a local shop.