Lesson learned about Arkansas Stones

[Njguy1977]

I have two arkansas stones, one is a hard black,and the other is gray traslucent. I have been using water with them with sub-par results and was extremely frustrated with them. So I decided not to give up on the idea of using arkies as a finishing stone. Watched a few vids and noticed one thing, they were all using a form of oil. At first I was skeptical, but what the heck since I have food grade mineral oil for cutting boards handy. Boy was I doing it all wrong before, what a difference as I really honed and polished the edge way better then before. Needless to say I have a Dans sergical black comming my way this week. Now I have to touch up my other blades that I know I can work with, I still have a few that need a masters touch tho.

Larry

 

[MO1]

Anything which works!
Have you tried using your arks under running water though? Easier to get suction that way, which seems to be the key.

 

[eKretz]

Some fellows have gotten good results using water. Personally I won't use an Ark without oil. YMMV.

 

[Suhrim21]

So arks are an oil stone?

 

[RayClem]

There are lots of possible lubricants. Smith's Honing oil is preferred by some as it is water soluble or at least water miscible. I often use liquid hand soap as a lubricant. Shaving lather is also a good lubricant. Olive oil was a common lubricant in Mediterranean countries. The only problem with using oil is that once oil get into the pores of the stone, you are committed to using oil from that point on as removal of the oil is difficult.

 

[timwcic]

So arks are an oil stone?

It say so on the box. I never had results satisfactory to me using water, while others will use nothing but water with great success. I use mineral oil thinned with odorless kerosene 1/3 ratio on hards and straight mineral on softs and Washitas. Just a few drops go a long way

 

[kohalajohn]

Arks are oil stones.

They are so dense that water just runs off them. Water does not work well on such a dense stone.

Soft porous stones like synthetics work well with water as they hold water in their pores. And oil would unfortunately, sink into the pores and stay there.

But the hard dense arks are good for oil, as the sticky oil clings to them. And they are too dense to allow oil to penetrate into them. The oil just washes off when you are done.

Many of us use a mix of Ballistol and water. Water mixes with Ballistol and the Ballistol holds it in solution. Ballistol is mainly mineral oil, but the other ingredients allow it to mix with a bit of water, so you can adjust the thickness of it. And it is much easier to wash off than pure mineral oil.

Also when you mix Ballistol with water it turns white. That makes it very easy to see the undercut against a black ark.

If you are buying a new ark, consider buying an ark made convex by Jarrod at The Superior Shave. A thread about convex arks is here:

Convex combo 8x3 Ark from Jarrod, arrived.

And a thread showing some beautiful vintage ark collections is here:

Arkansas Love...Let's see those Arks!

 

[Gamma]

Arks are whatever we want them to be stones. Water, oil, water/oil mix, water/soap mix, glycerine/water mix, etc.. Whatever works for whiever is whatever works. The softer variants are best used with oil IMO, although there are those using soft Arks with water also. The softer stones are more porous and the lubricants will help prevent the stone from clogging or at least allow the stone to be de-gunked fairly easily. The harder variants are less reliant on this idea, because they are less porous so there is less of a concern of the stone getting clogged. Water on a Trans Ark works fine if you master it, using oil creates a different interaction with an adjusted friction coefficient, but both methods work. With very hard and the hardest arks, I usually put a dot of soap into the water to break the surface tension. There are a few other methods also, but soap/water has always done me fine. Clearing oil off a translucent Ark is easy enough, so switching between water and oil is simple. The softer arks require more effort to clear though; I just stripped an old Washita, took a while, works fine with water only now but I'll probably get away from that soon enough.

 

[Basil]

I like using mine with liquid soap. Less messy

 

[kohalajohn]

Shaving soap will, IMHO, make water work well. I shake a simpsons chubby 1 to get the water out and make the soap thick.

But I prefer Ballistol with my water.

 

[SliceOfLife]

The general rule with oil is it must be thick enough it takes the swarf with it, but thin enough to work into the surface of the stone and evacuate the swarf. Too thick and the stone gets packed with steel and the oil just runs over it. Too thin and it doesn't have the ability to hold swarf in suspension.

As a general rule, the very absolute finest stones can be used with stuff as thin as spirits... moving up to about a 50/50 blend with oil being a good point for coarser hones. Water is even less capable of suspending steel than mineral spirits... about the only thing worse than it as far as I know is gasoline.

You can add soap to water of course to increase it's ability to suspend steel... but you're basically "fixing" an inferior option already. And why would I whip up a lather when I can just add a few drops of oil from a bottle?

Oil is better at keeping the stone unclogged, doesn't cause rust, stays in place FAAAAAAAAR better, etc.

Water is used because you don't want oil on your hands. I'd rather have oil-loaded with swarf than water loaded with swarf any day of the week. When I sharpen a dozen beater razors with water... It takes DAYS of scrubbing my hands to get the steel out from every cuticle, crack of skin, under my nails, etc. With oilstones? One good wash and my hands are clean.

 

[Toro Blanco]

Well said Slice! They are called oilstones for something. I remember people saying once you use oil it could not be used with water. Lol! Glad to hear people with experience giving a detailed explination.

 

[Njguy1977]

I have been using a product called cutting board oil. I was using it for conditioning the cutting boards I have that are wooden. Its basically very thin mineral oil that is food grade quality and clear (I know redundant from my first post LOL).....could it be thinner, probably but works just fine what what I'm using it for. 1 or 2 drops is all that I use and it last a while on the stone. Wound up honing 5 razors last night to give a polished edge to them....now i have about 10 more to go and about 3 to send out to be professionally touched up.

Larry

 

[SliceOfLife]

I use whatever mix I have available that's the right consistency. Mineral oil and Kero for awhile (stinks tho), Mineral oil and OMS atm. I mix it to the consistency I want and hone.

 

[HippieDave]

Arks are whatever we want them to be stones. Water, oil, water/oil mix, water/soap mix, glycerine/water mix, etc.. Whatever works for whiever is whatever works. The softer variants are best used with oil IMO, although there are those using soft Arks with water also. The softer stones are more porous and the lubricants will help prevent the stone from clogging or at least allow the stone to be de-gunked fairly easily. The harder variants are less reliant on this idea, because they are less porous so there is less of a concern of the stone getting clogged. Water on a Trans Ark works fine if you master it, using oil creates a different interaction with an adjusted friction coefficient, but both methods work. With very hard and the hardest arks, I usually put a dot of soap into the water to break the surface tension. There are a few other methods also, but soap/water has always done me fine. Clearing oil off a translucent Ark is easy enough, so switching between water and oil is simple. The softer arks require more effort to clear though; I just stripped an old Washita, took a while, works fine with water only now but I'll probably get away from that soon enough.

+1 here
I have three vintage Trans Ark razor hones, all where heavily dished on both sides and black with oil and gunk. I have soaked all of them five times each in the Green and all still have oil residue in them.
However, I use water and a small speck of Dawn dish washing liquid and I get great results every time. I do the same with the two Black Arks I have and also get great results.
The Dawn dwl also helps wash out any build up in the stones.

 

[Namkcakram]

Pharm mineral oil cut with the highest proof drinking alcohol sold is my choice usually, and I’ve tried a lot of options at this point.