Arkansas Love...Let's see those Arks!

[SliceOfLife]

I remember seeing a similar one on eBay... I think it was a more standard pike label along with the dental distro label though... Seller wanted something crazy like $200 or $300 for it though; so it got relisted a few times, but don't think it ever sold.

 

[timwcic]

A complete suite of 10” Arks landed today. And if that is not exciting enough, all four are 10 x 3 inch stones. I was not expecting that because I only seen pictures online. Found these on CL by a motivated seller. I confirmed the length but never asked the width, assuming the standard 2”. Was told they were Grandpa’s knife stones from the 90’s. One of the easiest purchases by email I ever made. From first email to tracking number in less than ten minutes and in my hands two days later. Got my money’s worth with the flat rate box, these got some weight to them. The Translucent is a clean stone except for a unique pink inclusion with a green bullseye. Grandpa has the Trans marked finer than the Black. I will prep the surfaces to the same grit and polish, than do a comparison test. I have done the same with vintage Norton Trans White and Black stones, never felt a difference. Will try the same on contemporary stones

 

[timwcic]

I remember seeing a similar one on eBay... I think it was a more standard pike label along with the dental distro label though... Seller wanted something crazy like $200 or $300 for it though; so it got relisted a few times, but don't think it ever sold.

I got this one and a few others from a market seller that for years has been telling me about the collection he had. Finally brought them for me to take a look. About 40lbs and most everything was junk to me. If it wasn’t for the dental label, I would have passed on it

 

[Christian1212]

A complete suite of 10” Arks landed today. And if that is not exciting enough, all four are 10 x 3 inch stones. I was not expecting that because I only seen pictures online. Found these on CL by a motivated seller. I confirmed the length but never asked the width, assuming the standard 2”. Was told they were Grandpa’s knife stones from the 90’s. One of the easiest purchases by email I ever made. From first email to tracking number in less than ten minutes and in my hands two days later. Got my money’s worth with the flat rate box, these got some weight to them. The Translucent is a clean stone except for a unique pink inclusion with a green bullseye. Grandpa has the Trans marked finer than the Black. I will prep the surfaces to the same grit and polish, than do a comparison test. I have done the same with vintage Norton Trans White and Black stones, never felt a difference. Will try the same on contemporary stones

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I swear I saw somewhere some guy asking if all of these were a good deal for a couple hundred. What was crazy is people told him no they would be too slow. Would of tried to dig deeper on that myself if I knew how wide they were haha. Sweet score!

 

[David]

Snagged this 6x2 Norton off the bay for 8 bucks. A quick soak in the good stuff revealed some pink and yellows. Neat little stone.

 

[Empire straights]

Snagged this 6x2 Norton off the bay for 8 bucks. A quick soak in the good stuff revealed some pink and yellows. Neat little stone.
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VERY nice score. It's hard to get translucents playing stone roulette, especially if they're completely black.

 

[David]

VERY nice score. It's hard to get translucents playing stone roulette, especially if they're completely black.

I knew it was a Norton hard ark because it’s labeled, but the pink was definitely a surprise. But yeah, the completely black stones are a roll of the dice.

 

[captaincaed]

This is how eBay mystery stones have started to feel to me.

 

[Empire straights]

This is how eBay mystery stones have started to feel to me. View attachment 1800303

Me too.

 

[SliceOfLife]

There are three ebay "Deals"

A: The massive lot/big item and you have the equity available...

You'll spend 50-80% of what something is worth... but then you've got to spend time reselling the stuff you had to buy along with it to get the stone you wanted. ... You gotta have money to burn and not mind lapping/relisting a bunch of stuff... and also keep in mind eBays taking 20% and there's gonna be taxes to pay on any "profit"... so it's not going to be the "Deal" it appears on paper... but you get the bragging rights at least of claiming your total cost is only (purchase price - sales price of resold stuff).

B: The Holy S... Holy S.... Holy S....

You are checking eBay at 1am cause you can't sleep and someone just listed an escher for $15 BIN and somehow you click that buy button a microsecond before everyone else. ... You might run into one of these every 2-3 years if you watch eBay like a hawk.

C: The Well it could be a...

Seller posts bad pictures... doesn't respond to requests asking for more... but I mean... that blurry blob does look a translucent ark.... You will spend 500% of what the stone you want will ever be worth... and get a pile of coarse junk stones you could build the great wall of china at 1:20 scale stacked up in your basement... but then you might eventually get that $50 8x2" Pike Hard Arkansas you so want.

 

[cotedupy]

There are three ebay "Deals"

A: The massive lot/big item and you have the equity available...

You'll spend 50-80% of what something is worth... but then you've got to spend time reselling the stuff you had to buy along with it to get the stone you wanted. ... You gotta have money to burn and not mind lapping/relisting a bunch of stuff... and also keep in mind eBays taking 20% and there's gonna be taxes to pay on any "profit"... so it's not going to be the "Deal" it appears on paper... but you get the bragging rights at least of claiming your total cost is only (purchase price - sales price of resold stuff).

B: The Holy S... Holy S.... Holy S....

You are checking eBay at 1am cause you can't sleep and someone just listed an escher for $15 BIN and somehow you click that buy button a microsecond before everyone else. ... You might run into one of these every 2-3 years if you watch eBay like a hawk.

C: The Well it could be a...

Seller posts bad pictures... doesn't respond to requests asking for more... but I mean... that blurry blob does look a translucent ark.... You will spend 500% of what the stone you want will ever be worth... and get a pile of coarse junk stones you could build the great wall of china at 1:20 scale stacked up in your basement... but then you might eventually get that $50 8x2" Pike Hard Arkansas you so want.

Or…

D: There’s gold in them thar hills!



(NB. To access option ‘D’ you must emigrate to Australia. Swings and roundabouts.)

 

[Legion]

Or…

D: There’s gold in them thar hills!



(NB. To access option ‘D’ you must emigrate to Australia. Swings and roundabouts.)

To be honest, I think both of our experience finding gold in the Australian hills is down to perseverance, rather than the abundance of gold. I think I have done better than average over the years, but I am hardly Tim.

 

[Empire straights]

To be honest, I think both of our experience finding gold in the Australian hills is down to perseverance, rather than the abundance of gold. I think I have done better than average over the years, but I am hardly Tim.

The slurry method developed there fairly recently is nothing short of utter brilliance.

 

[Legion]

The slurry method developed there fairly recently is nothing short of utter brilliance.

Ploise exploin?

 

[duke762]

EBay is frequently a gamble but I do better there than at the casino...........

 

[Empire straights]

Ploise exploin?

I don't know what its called but using a slurry of sand with an acid (nitric I think, don't remember) to recover every bit of gold was brilliant. I think a young guy come up with the idea. I may be completely wrong, due to being hit in the head too much, but I think that's what I read/ saw(video).

 

[cotedupy]

To be honest, I think both of our experience finding gold in the Australian hills is down to perseverance, rather than the abundance of gold. I think I have done better than average over the years, but I am hardly Tim.

^^^ The words of a man who posseses no fewer than two thousand three hundred and sixty four Turkish Oilstones. All found in the last 36 months.

 

[rideon66]

Or…

D: There’s gold in them thar hills!



(NB. To access option ‘D’ you must emigrate to Australia. Swings and roundabouts.)

And E: Someone puts up a strange unknown that turns out to be a Fiddich river stone. Which you thought was a strange coticule and set a snipe. Then after thinking about it figured it probably wasn’t a coti, but forgot to cancel the snipe and surprise .

 

[alex1921]

Pike

 

[David]

Pike

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Nice. That one tempted me. The width is very unusual for a Pike. Glad you got it.