A return trip to last weeks estate sale yielded these beauties. A 4x2, 6x2, and 6x3 hard Arks. The 6x2 trans is in an old Norton labeled oak box. The 4” looks unused and the larger 6” is well used. The forth is a mystery stone, 2x1.5x7 inches. It is a hard, dense, heavy, high grit stone that is maroon red/brown color. It looks and feels like Novaculite but the size and color is something I have never encountered before in a Ark. Has some cracking that goes in different directions, not parallel. This fifth one is a strange mystery to the seller and myself. Two thin unknown slices of something epoxied to a piece of wood. Came from the estate of a watchmaker. Watchmakers have the strangest, coolest tools. A straight edge says that the surfaces are lapped together in the same plain. They have almost no sensation of grit. I was going to pass on it but seller told me to take it so as to keep the collection together. Told him I would give them all a good home
Might be a Mile Off...But...I Have Seen Charnley Forest Stones that Look Like the Mystery Stone...Just a Guess...Could be Talkin Crud... Billy...
Thanks but I don’t think you are a mile off, might be right in the neighborhood. Charnley is in the Novaculite family. Going to give it a good cleaning and lap and see what is going on inside.
I cannot seem to be able to start a new thread and do not want to hijack this one, maybe a admin can sort me out by moving this... A simple question really, is a 12k japanese wet stone good enough to give a shaving edge after stropping, and would I need to build a slurry to help, I have a nakamura stone for the slurry, I dont as yet have a razor...but I see myself getting one soon, if the 12k stone is not fine enough what grade would you reccommend.. Thanks.
I have a 10k, and I don't claim to be a honing expert. But from my limited experience and listening to other people, a 12k is so fine that you'll be hard pressed to notice it having any effect. I've been told several different versions of what the basic hone set should be, but I have a 5k, 8k, 10k, and a mystery hone my barber gave me that I don't know what it is, but it's ROUGH! I only use it if I get a really dull antique. I'm afraid that if I hone a good razor on it, I'll to more harm than good.
A 12 K Naniwa Super Stone is a Fantastic Finishing Stone...Most Folks will Paste it Coming Off the Hones with 0.5 Chromium Oxide Green for Say Maybe 10 Sets or So...You Can Shave with it Straight Off the Stone...You Do Not Need to Slurry a Naniwa 12 K Stone for Finishing... Billy..
Oh Aye Forgot..Even though a Naniwa Super Stone is Grit Rated at 12 K..I Reckon it has a True Finishing Capacity of around 14 K...In Other Words it has a Higher Finishing Capacity than its Grit Rating... In the Right Hands of Course.. Billy..
I dont know what a " naniwa " is :-( The stone was bought off ebay some time ago for knife sharpening, it is a " Bear King " stone.. not one of those two sided jobs with different grits, just a large single block of 12k
Well..It Should Do the Job Fine..Still No Need to Slurry it for Finishing...Bearing in Mind the Razor will Need to have Been Honed Properly in a Suitable Progression..
I Just Bought this 5000 K Super Naniwa Stone...Stops My Own Combination Stone Getting Worn...I Use this Stone a Lot Now from the 1 K Bevel Hone...Dont Use the 3ooo K Much these Days...Its the Older 20 mm Thick Version..I Need it for Honing Other Folks Razors..59 Euro + Postage.. Billy..
Naniwa is a brand of stone. A 12k Naniwa is a great finisher, and the Germans seem to like the 10k better. I have both, I’d take the 12k. But I did a side-by-side test of the 10k Naniwa and the 20k Suehiro (another brand), and the difference was very, very, small. Generally speaking, an 8k synthetic is kind of the ‘gateway’ for razor finishers IMO, the coarsest that you’d really want and 10-12k and up are usually better, though as noted, above 10k pr 12k, the difference becomes much smaller. Beware of cheap Chinese stones for razors. The properties of a good razor hone are: 1. It has to be fine. If it isn’t fine enough, nothing else matters. The Chinese grit ratings are suspect, fine grit costs more to make/grade. 2. It has to be consistent, IOW, a narrow grit range - it can’t have coarse grit mixed in with the fine for razors. Another Chinese problem. 3. It has to have a decent amount of grit in it. If you want to make a cheap synthetic hone, start by using half the abrasive. 4. It has to have a good quality matrix that doesn’t release large pieces or chunks of material. I’ve seen that too. If it meets the above, it’s probably fine but stones like the ‘Bear Moo’ usually don’t, they’re fine for garage tools but not razors.
Some farm fresh pickens from this weekend. Markets have been slow lately but this is a nice turnaround. A 8” soft ark, a 7” Washita-India combo stone and a 7” coticule. The soft is labeled but sure looks Washita. The Coti is a 7x1.5” stone with, what seems to me, has a very clean glue line. Have not used it yet but is on the hard side. Was a bear to lap. Has a nice brown/pink river running thru the surface. The backer has a deep maroon color to it. Don’t normally post B-hones but these two are nice. A Shapleigh Hardware Diamond King in the aluminum case and a Carl Monkhouse C-Mon hone. The C-Mon I believe is from the American Hone Company. It is the dual, this side first, this side second feature and has its directions for use inside the box
Found the stone a few weeks ago. It was sold as a 6x3” hard Ark. Being it was part of a lot of other market or labeled stone, had no reason to think else. It was funk and gunk covered so into the dip it went. A few days later out came a fine quality Turkey stone. It finishes as fine as any of my other Hard Arks. First Turkey stone I have
Got this vintage on the way from a friend in Belgium, around 7x2. Very pure, fine, and hard supposedly.
Decided to start collecting rocks. Hopefully not too many! Soft & Hard Arkansas combo, lapped to convex. (I know, they're a little controversial) Found that shavette so effective that I decided I want to take my straights up a notch. "Comparison is the root of all inferiority!" Already have Naniwa 1k, 3k, 5k, 8k, 12k, and 5 pasted balsa strops to .5 micron. Trying to learn, see where it takes me.
Help me understand the theory behind using convex stones?? Concave seems to make more sense. Then again, i make sure all of my stones are flat.