This may be a really stupid question, but here goes. I have several Smith Arkansas whet stones that I purchased to sharpen my pocket knives. They are oil stones. I'm not sure of the grit, other than one is pretty fine and the other is very fine. Would these be ok to hone a strait? If so, I'll peruse the thread, watch youtube, and give it a whirl. I've always enjoyed sharpening a knife, and always been pretty good at it. I think honing razors would be something I would enjoy.
Smith AR stones?
- Thread starter jbradley
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Well now I FEEL stupid, since the wiki list Arkansas stones by name. Guess that's what happens when you dive in with both feet and don't do enough research!
Dan's whetstone website has some great info, but certainly, a black arkie is considered a great finisher. You theoretically could do a whole regime using arkansas stones only. Set the bevel with a soft arkansas stone, then move to hard, translucent and finish with surgical black.
Translucents and Surg Blacks are identical for all intents and purposes.
A progression would be Soft/reg Washita then Hard, then SB/ Trans.
A progression would be Soft/reg Washita then Hard, then SB/ Trans.
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I have used Arkansas stones all my life for knives and love them. There are people that swear by them for Razors as well, but for my razors I prefer Coticule stones.
On some of the woodworking forums there is talk about fine differences between translucents, surgical blacks and translucent blacks. Maybe with years of use on the same stones you might be able to tell.
At the end of the day, they're slow.
i use a translucent arki for my finisher. it is my prefered finisher over any i have tried. my all arki progression is soft, lily white washita, hard, and translucent. this is if there is no edge "damage".
