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Hard black / Translucent Arkansas slurry stones?

Hi Everyone, I was looking around at new natural whetstones and came across slurry / nagura stones for both hard black and translucent Arkansas stones. Are people actually using slurry on Arkansas finishers? Has anyone ever heard of this? My interest on these stones is more about maintaining surface finish on my hard black stones. I prefer a 600 grit sic finish on my finisher and have found that after a few razors the stones start to burnish out and require considerably more laps and was thinking that maybe rubbing them down with a slurry stone may prevent the burnishing from accruing. But when I found these stones it brought up the questions about are people actually using Arkansas stones with slurry? And if so has anyone had any success doing this and what are your thoughts about doing this? Any thoughts or ideas are appreciated.
Thank you,
Jason
I have restored soft and hard Arkansas that got clogged and cupped with nothing more than flat concrete and a garden hose. Plus a lot of elbow grease.
I laid my hands on a small black at an estate sale for a buck, but it was cupped. If I remember, I used stick on sanding squares to level the surface. It'll leave nicks on the surface so finishing it is important. That can be as easy as applying oil, and taking a piece of steel and just rubbing it the length of the stone for a while. That will wear down the high spots.
It does sound like your stone is clogging (I've done that at least once). What oil are you using? You need a good sharpening oil (several to choose from)to keep the stone working.
From experience, don't try using cooking oil. It gums the stone from even doing it once.
 
For years I was told that black and translucent were essentially the same except color, and they both have the same density, it came as a bit of a shock when I ran into this experiment on the different grades, and compared them to known lapping films. The translucent was a little finer than the black. But this was a small experiment.
I do like the fact that instead of trying to measure the grit, they looked at the marks on the steel.
 
For years I was told that black and translucent were essentially the same except color, and they both have the same density, it came as a bit of a shock when I ran into this experiment on the different grades, and compared them to known lapping films. The translucent was a little finer than the black. But this was a small experiment.
I do like the fact that instead of trying to measure the grit, they looked at the marks on the steel.
They carry a Black Ark and also what they call a Surgical Black. I suspect that black is the Dunston Black. Rumored to not even being novaculite. Notice the wording and also the low SPG for the black. Apples and oranges.
 

Chandu

I Waxed The Badger.
I have restored soft and hard Arkansas that got clogged and cupped with nothing more than flat concrete and a garden hose. Plus a lot of elbow grease.
Some very fine sand or silicon carbide grit speeds that up, but sidewalk or cinder block is all you really need.
They carry a Black Ark and also what they call a Surgical Black. I suspect that black is the Dunston Black. Rumored to not even being novaculite. Notice the wording and also the low SPG for the black. Apples and oranges.
I said this in another post. If you buy Halls, known as R.H. Preyda these days, the hard black is a Dunston which is a form of slate. Only their surgical black is novaculite and is the same stuff as Dan's Hard Black. In the market of Arkansas stones you get what you pay for and only what you pay for. There are no bargains once you get to a higher density than soft.
 
They carry a Black Ark and also what they call a Surgical Black. I suspect that black is the Dunston Black. Rumored to not even being novaculite. Notice the wording and also the low SPG for the black. Apples and oranges.

I said this in another post. If you buy Halls, known as R.H. Preyda these days, the hard black is a Dunston which is a form of slate. Only their surgical black is novaculite and is the same stuff as Dan's Hard Black. In the market of Arkansas stones you get what you pay for and only what you pay for. There are no bargains once you get to a higher density than soft.


Slate hones actually tend to have slightly higher SGs than very pure novaculites, usually running from about 2.7 to 2.85 ish. Because silica isn't all that heavy. In fact I'd say that if Dunston has an SG of 2.55 - it's unlikely to be a slate, it'd be way lower than any slate I've tested.

Novaculites (like all matters of geology it seems) exist on a spectrum. An Idwal for instance has quite slate-y characteristics to it, with SGs in the mid to high 2.7s... But no one could argue that an Idwal wasn't a novaculite!
 
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Slate hones actually tend to have slightly higher SGs than very pure novaculites, usually running from about 2.7 to 2.85 ish. Because silica isn't all that heavy. In fact I'd say that if Dunston has an SG of 2.55 - it's unlikely to be a slate, it'd be way lower than any slate I've tested.

Novaculites (like all matters of geology it seems) exist on a spectrum. An Idwal for instance has quite slate-y characteristics to it, with SGs in the mid to high 2.7s... But no one could argue that an Idwal wasn't a novaculite!
They list the translucent as being a lower SPG than the black, 2.55 vs 2.53. Pretty low but different test methods will produce different results.
I will just go ahead and speculate they left out the "Surgical Black" because they seen little or no difference. Translucents bringing twice the dollars was probably a factor also.
 
They list the translucent as being a lower SPG than the black, 2.55 vs 2.53. Pretty low but different test methods will produce different results.
I will just go ahead and speculate they left out the "Surgical Black" because they seen little or no difference. Translucents bringing twice the dollars was probably a factor also.

Oh I hadn't noticed that about about the translucent, I wonder how they're measuring it... (?)

(Certainly though if the Dunston is a slate it will have a higher SG than hard blacks/translucents. Most things do afaics.)
 
Some very fine sand or silicon carbide grit speeds that up, but sidewalk or cinder block is all you really need.

I said this in another post. If you buy Halls, known as R.H. Preyda these days, the hard black is a Dunston which is a form of slate. Only their surgical black is novaculite and is the same stuff as Dan's Hard Black. In the market of Arkansas stones you get what you pay for and only what you pay for. There are no bargains once you get to a higher density than soft.
I just looked up the company, and I see how they get away calling them Arkansas Stones. They are headquartered in Arkansas. They are not natural Arkansas noviculite (at least in the waterstone category). Oddly they have a hard black, and a surgical black in the bench stones. I suspect the hard black meets the standard density for hard (slightly misleading, but not lying), and the surgical is what everybody else calls Black.
I think my red flag is that the exact same text is used on every stone.
Trying to make Silicon dioxide into a better waterstone is actually a great idea, but they're losing the message in the hype.
 
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