What's new

Source for Black Translucent

I've heard people discuss that different sources for translucent arks, and that Danswhetstone and Naturalwhetstones were both known sources...but maybe that Dans came a bit smoother?

Pricing the these two websites it seems that one is about $40 cheaper for a "comparable" Black Translucent stone. Is this all because of the "roughness" of the one? I mean, I've heard it can be a "rough" process lapping a translucent.

Is there another source for these stones that i may have overlooked?
 

kelbro

Alfred Spatchcock
Dan's stones are lapped very flat. Depends on what your time is worth but lapping an arkie to 'razor flat' is not a task to be taken lightly.
 
As far as I know the "black translucent" is what Natural Whetstones is selling. Dan's has black hards and translucents; all of these stone are what would be called hard Arkansas stones. As has been mentioned Dan's stones are flatter out of the box.
 
Dan's stuff comes out of the box more refined as far as the surface finish gies than anyone else current I am aware of. A badly out of true translucent or surgical black can be miserable to lap. First you need to deal with the loose sic and then you get the kick in the shins of having to delete the slught hump the loose sic leaves behind.. And there is nothing slight with those and flattening.
 

Chan Eil Whiskers

Fumbling about.
Jarrod at The Superior Shave. Have him finish it and convex it for you.
Jarrod's convex black stones put a great edge faster then another black stones.

One possibility is a Convex Ark from Jarrod.
  • One surface would be convexed by Jarrod.
  • The other surface can be lapped flat (maybe by the buyer).
Nothing wrong with the flat Ark finishing stones, but I prefer my Convex Arks from Superior Shave.

Want An Option Not Previously Mentioned?

Another source for good Arks is Sharpening Supplies. They've told me in an email that their Arks are rebranded Dan's stones. When I purchased a hard black finishing stone from them it was a good bit less expensive than the same stone at Dan's.

The white translucents (Nortons) are very nice. I can't say their edge is better or different from the black translucents or other hard black finishing Ark stones but I like the feel of the whites a bit more.

Sometimes things show up in strange places. My flat Norton white translucent was purchased on eBay and sold to me by a huge hardware store. Doubt they are available now, but sometimes they are.

Probably there are options I don't know about.

Happy shaves,

Jim
 
Top Bottom