I just got two new Arkies at the Smokey Mountains knife works in Sevierville TN. They weren't much at all. (8x2) $35 for both. Both a soft and a hard. The soft will put a bevel fairly quickly although not as fast as a 100/400 waterstones will. But the focus of putting on the bevel helps with muscle memory when going to the hard and black arkies. Just an opinion. They had a wonderful display of Vintage razors.
My bevel setter right now is a BBW and it's on the slower side. I've got a rough idea on how slow the Arkies can be from the SB and that isn't an issue. Makes me slow down and go for quality of the edge vs "Man I just want this over with," kind of thought. I'm probably going to get the soft and hard in the near future, within a month or so. My jewelers loupe will be in soon from China, that'll help immensely. I'm on the same field as @JohnDB on train of thought. And I'm thinking ill lap both sides of a soft and hard ark with two different SiC ratings like the SB and ser what happens.
The soft Arkansas and hard will actually lap with some 400 grit wet/dry sandpaper. You really don't need the SiC. But I understand if you wanted to. Making it all fairly easy and quick is a thing. Because after a bit your Razors need re-honing and I can procrastinate. Sure I can maintain a sharp edge with a pasted strop...but usually much longer than I really should. And making the process a bit quicker and easier means I don't procrastinate as much.
I was honing my problem child razor (my favorite) last night on the two new Arkies I acquired. (Right after I polished them up a bit with some SiC. And got the edge rather quickly. (It was needing a touch up) But it was when I was using my black Arkansas that I set up my microscope and looked at the edge. I thought that I had completed the sharpening process and was finished. Popping hair quite easily. And the edge looked really polished and shiny. I seen that I hadn't really buffed out the scratches when looking at it. I had done many strokes both sides and had assumed that I was finished. But there was the proof. So I set back up my black Arkansas that I had lapped with 600 grit and went back after it. And looked again. It was better but still not finished. So I went at it again. It took about four sessions of honing on my black Arkansas to get it looking polished. Now I haven't taken my other side of the black to 1000 grit. I have been considering it but postponing the job till time and initiative came together. And I am beginning to wonder if I really should or need to. Just wondering if others have examined their edges in a similar fashion.
A Black Arkansas or Translucent Stone will NEVER Polish Out Scratch Marks..In Fact..They Leave More & Deeper Scratch Marks than Any Other Natural Stone that I Own..Its Been Well Documented..In Fact..Synthetics Leave a Highly Polished Edge..A Polished Bevel Goes for Nothing at All in Terms of a Sharp & Smooth Edge..Too Much has Been Made of this in Forums...Mainly Due to Modern Synthetics.. Billy..
Ahhhh...and here I was thinking they were made of wood, not rock. Reminds me of the guy who sees a hardware store sale sign that declares,"Cast Iron Sinks"—and the guy responds, "Well, of course it does."
Well the shave was less than what I expected...and I believe I know what I done wrong. I didn't spend anywhere near enough time on my white hard Arkansas stone before I went to the Black. The edge was not as sharp as I've enjoyed previously. It was only marginally better than it was before... Meaning that I should've dropped back a step when I figured out that I really hadn't polished my edge anywhere near enough. My internal timing is way off. And as far as grinding scratches... I can remove them all with my black Arkansas...and I did. If you can't...then you need to lap your Arkansas stone. It's as simple as that.
Just in case someone wanted to see the "scratches" left behind from a black arkie... I can't find any but I can find the bubbles from old steel. I think I see a few at the bottom that I haven't taken out yet from the hard Arkansas stone session yet.... It's a very long slow process but one that provides a quality shave. And I can feel a difference in the edge today from the one I put on yesterday. Yeah...just off on timing. Sorry for the lint fiber.
Photos Mean Nothing..A Move of the Light Can Show Anything that a Person Wants to Show..Seen it All Before.. Billy..
I have a Norton trans Arkie coming tomorrow. This one is 2"x4" I currently have a 1"x4" that I'm using now. I'm going to offer this up as a freebie, over in the freebie section.
I think I'll join in on that one. My last 'fine' arkansas stone shattered years ago, and I've never replaced it. I've just made do.
I've checked and it perfectly flat; one of the benefits of paying the big price tag for a Norton, I reckon. I will take it to the wd sandpaper to smoot out.
1) Sounds like something @Sara-s would ask 2) Also sounds like the old joke - "Who wears more clothes, a man or a dog? A man. A man wears a suit; a dog only pants."
