Noooooo!!! Not sand. Toooo abrasive. You can use a slurry, but I would highly recommend that you not use sand. Sand might ruin an edge. Buy a 60x Jewelers Loupe and look see.
Ahhh, I misunderstood. I guess you could on the lower grit stones, but I wouldn't do it with the harder Surgical Black, or the Translucent White ones. Silica Carbide is just too inexpensive to justify using sand, on an expensive hone.
I got mine on eBay, it was inexpensive. But then again, shipping to the Great White North is always expensive, from the lower 48. When you say "Flatten" do you also mean "Lapping". When I flatten(lap) my stones, it is a two point need to get the stone flat, and prep the stone for honing. @Jkb , welcome to The Shave Den. Please wander over to The Welcome Center, and introduce yourself.
Yes sand waste no time flattering my translucent and my black ark literally takes seconds and you see slurry from the stone I use a marker to draw crisscrossing on my translucent since marker lasts longer then pencil I rub it with an old heavy piece of flat steel and done
The Surgical Black scores again. Sort of. It now took the "Bostom 123" and helped turn it into a solid shaver. Not quite up to the "A Team", but a solid shaver. I think the problems reside in the excessive spine and blade wear.
Translucent AND black Arkansas stone? Which is harder and/or finer? I thought black Arkansas was the ultimate... This is the second time that I've heard of this and just looking for information.
I have both. My Translucent is a vintage one, and well burnished. The Black is a new one, and I am still working on getting it burnished correctly. I would say the translucent is a little bit finer than the black, but not as fast. That could be due to the surface prep.
I'm no expert but just my experience my translucent gives me the better edge I really don't think there's much difference just my opinion tho
OK...With a little searching I found translucent Arkansas stones... Difficult to find in bench size. They are more white in color than hard and apparently rather rare... Meaning more $$$ vx regular black Arkansas stones. Kinda odd IMHO. That soft is mottled and swirling colors followed by cream colored then black then translucent. (In ascending hardness and prices). I've found a few that are black translucent as well. I'm guessing that these are a blended stone found in the rock quarries. But hey...These natural stones seem to be the ones that put on the best edges.
The soft and hard ark are cheap kitchen iq has a good hard for cheap check some antique stores amazon not to bad
I'm like this sure I can buy a shapton 30 k or some kind of jnat and get good edges and that's that but then I'd get bored with this hobby if everything worked instantly I love the challenge of using stones that everyone snubs there nose to cause when I get a great shave it didn't cost me an arm and a leg to do it
I think the whole point of this thread is that not everybody snubs these stones, and quite a few of us have them. Technique trumps tools. Applies to honing as well as shaving. My Translucent was my first finishing stone, so I compare most of my razors to it. I actually prefer the face feel of an Arkansas edge. I find Jnats to have a harsh feel.
For sure that's why I finish on my translucent my point was nothing wrong with cheaper stones you simply don't need expensive ones
