My first Arkansas just arrived

[Mr. Shavington]

What great photo.
That’s a giant ark and those chimps are us.
Stanley Kubrick, Arthur C Clarke, whoever it was who came up with the black monolith was definitely an ark head.

That’s exactly what I meant to convey, and I feel there really is something captivating about the deep blackness and perfect symmetry of these hard Arks. I am definitely one of those chimps.

Apparently the movie monolith was originally planned to be a clear perspex pyramid, and was then redesigned as a perspex slab due to production difficulties. When Kurbick saw it on screen he didn’t like that it was so glassy so he asked for a black one instead. I guess Kubrick had no idea what Arkansas novaculite stones are but he coincidentally replicated one and it made movie history. These hard, black Arks do have a strangely captivating presence, which the more popular translucent Arks don’t. The chimp inside me loves just owning one and looking at it when I’m not honing on it.

 

[Empire straights]

I know what you mean, oil is just real nice to hone on isn’t it? It’s a nuisance cleaning the blade and the stone and your hands and everything else but it’s a great feel and worth the effort I think.

Try a thin lather on it too. I love the way lather feels on black arks.

 

[Jakebullet]

That’s exactly what I meant to convey, and I feel there really is something captivating about the deep blackness and perfect symmetry of these hard Arks. I am definitely one of those chimps.

Apparently the movie monolith was originally planned to be a clear perspex pyramid, and was then redesigned as a perspex slab due to production difficulties. When Kurbick saw it on screen he didn’t like that it was so glassy so he asked for a black one instead. I guess Kubrick had no idea what Arkansas novaculite stones are but he coincidentally replicated one and it made movie history. These hard, black Arks do have a strangely captivating presence, which the more popular translucent Arks don’t. The chimp inside me loves just owning one and looking at it when I’m not honing on it.

Great bit of movie trivia.
And yes Kubrick really tapped into something because there’s definitely something mysterious/unnerving /captivating about the perfectly black stone with its perfect edges.
It may just be a coincidence that it so closely resembles an Ark or maybe the creator owned or had seen one.
Either way what a cool stone the Arkansas is it’s my best looker by far.

 

[Empire straights]

Great bit of movie trivia.
And yes Kubrick really tapped into something because there’s definitely something mysterious/unnerving /captivating about the perfectly black stone with its perfect edges.
It may just be a coincidence that it so closely resembles an Ark or maybe the creator owned or had seen one.
Either way what a cool stone the Arkansas is it’s my best looker by far.

You'll be hard pressed to find one that'll make an edge keener than that.

 

[Jakebullet]

Had a second go at lapping both sides of my ark.
I wondered why yesterdays efforts didn’t work.
I held a straight edge to the glass chopping board I’d used and found that it wasn’t flat. Why is nothing in this universe flat? I’d probably taken the ark a lot further away from flat than it was leaving the box.
I bought a steel cookie sheet as suggested by H Brad Boonshaft and got to work.
60 grit silicone carbide.
It was taking me ages. I would lap, check the straight edge, lap some more check, lap.
After half an hour at 60 I felt both sides must be done so I went up the grits as before.
It’s still not flat, it’s close but it’ll need more time but it’s better than it was.
I have a Henckels Friodur 17 1/2 with a nice coticule edge so I oiled the stone and honed on it for 15 mins.
HHT, popping nothing, so linen and leather strop then HHT. Popping everything!
Looking forward to seeing how it shaves .

 

[Jakebullet]

I realized that my kitchen counter which I used to lap my stone on is also not flat.
I went to a stone cutter place and bought some granite counter top.
Using a steel cookie sheet on top as recommended and 60 grit SIC I worked and worked but still couldn’t flatten the thing.
An hour in, with lapping, checking with a steel ruler, drawing grids etc, I was no closer to flat.
I’d used most of my 60grit SIC so ordered some 20grit and some more 60.
Today I gave it another hour working on the 20 and it’s still not flat.
The top and bottom ends of the stone seem to be curved away from the centre. And the longer sides seem curved away from the centre too. I’ll have another go tomorrow and see how I go.

 

[Darth Scandalous]

I realized that my kitchen counter which I used to lap my stone on is also not flat.
I went to a stone cutter place and bought some granite counter top.
Using a steel cookie sheet on top as recommended and 60 grit SIC I worked and worked but still couldn’t flatten the thing.
An hour in, with lapping, checking with a steel ruler, drawing grids etc, I was no closer to flat.
I’d used most of my 60grit SIC so ordered some 20grit and some more 60.
Today I gave it another hour working on the 20 and it’s still not flat.
The top and bottom ends of the stone seem to be curved away from the centre. And the longer sides seem curved away from the centre too. I’ll have another go tomorrow and see how I go.

That happens any time you're lapping on loose abrasive. The idea is to get it mostly flat on SiC and then finish it off on w/d.

 

[Jakebullet]

That happens any time you're lapping on loose abrasive. The idea is to get it mostly flat on SiC and then finish it off on w/d.

So would you use SIC up to 600 then take it to wet and dry or go to the wet and dry after the 20?

 

[Wid]

So would you use SIC up to 600 then take it to wet and dry or go to the wet and dry after the 20?

I go up to 600 sic and leave it.

 

[Darth Scandalous]

Have a look at this thread for some ideas:

Lapping an Arkansas in excruciating detail

Inspired by this thread, I thought I'd post up how I flatten and dress a stone. I'm dressing a hard black Ark with unknown branding, a $20 used tool store find that was finished very rough, maybe 36 grit on all surfaces when purchased. I was hoping I might luck into something like Keith...

www.badgerandblade.com

 

[Tomo]

I had the same thing. Once you really look and test, nothing seems to be perfectly flat. Even my Atoma plates are a bit out. One side differs slightly from the other. You can see this when erasing pencil grids. The sides don’t perfectly agree.

Eventually I broke down and ordered a granite surface plate. I now lap by placing WD sheets on the surface plate. If needed I will add loose SiC to the top of the WD to speed things up. Always making sure not to foul the surface of the plate with slurry or abrasives. You need to protect the flatness of your certified flat surface. The other bonus of the surface plate is that you don’t get any over run.

Once you get something really [close to] flat strange things start to happen. You can feel the suction of the stone on the surface. It resists movement and starts to want to move on its own. Pencil lines get erased evenly in a couple of swipes. Straight edges will show major deviations but it’s hard to test at the micron level even with feeler gauges. These days I tend to test the flatness by rubbing two flat stones together and feeling the way they stick. You have to be careful because you can really get them stuck together. Pulling them apart is almost impossible. You need to stop while you are still able slide them apart.

Monitoring reflection on the stones surface in glancing light is a good way to look for any remaining low spots on arks. They tend to look duller.

 

[Steve56]

That happens any time you're lapping on loose abrasive. The idea is to get it mostly flat on SiC and then finish it off on w/d.

Exactly brother Darth, and Iwasaki mentions this in his book chapter on barbering. Want a convex hone? Lap it on loose grit.

 

[Legion]

I usually only use SIC powder to remove a dish in the stone. Usually, about the time the middle of the dishing is about to disappear, that’s when the corners of the stone are starting to convex. Then I will switch to paper or an Atoma.

 

[Tomo]

Totally agree. The best end result is on paper only. I have thought about using A/O film or diamond film for the final finish but haven’t tried that yet. I think it would work well.

The other thing to bear in mind with SiC, wether loose or bonded to paper, is that it breaks down quickly. Your 80 grit SiC won’t stay 80 grit for long. It shatters into pieces and becomes much finer quickly. Hence the need to refresh the grit and the paper.

This is important when applying the final surface prep. If you want a true 400 grit finish you can’t work the sheet for very long. 10-20 seconds and that sheet is toast. After that it is no longer scratching at 400 grit.

As has been said before, once you get to the plain paper stage you burn through paper very quickly. After a couple of minutes the sheet stops cutting all together. I estimate about 20 sheets to finish an ark. You have to factor that into the cost of taking on a new stone. You can stretch the first sheets with loose SiC but not the final ones. Strangely the 300-400 grit sheets seem to be more effective and last longer than the courser ones.

To save paper you can take the lapping stages.

Heavily dished to the naked eye: Throw it onto a concrete paver with some loose sic.

Dished when tested against a straight edge: Loose sic on WD against a FLAT surface (granite plate, thick acrylic plate, thick and well supported plate glass).

Final lapping: Just WD or film on a FLAT surface. Wait for tactile feedback, easily and evenly erased grids, and an even reflection.

Final Finish: FRESH WD or film on a FLAT surface.

Optional Burnishing to One Side: Fine grit lapping. A few minutes of chisel sharpening. Rubbing on another hard stone of similar size and flatness. Be careful not to stick them together!

 

[Empire straights]

I had the same thing. Once you really look and test, nothing seems to be perfectly flat. Even my Atoma plates are a bit out. One side differs slightly from the other. You can see this when erasing pencil grids. The sides don’t perfectly agree.

Eventually I broke down and ordered a granite surface plate. I now lap by placing WD sheets on the surface plate. If needed I will add loose SiC to the top of the WD to speed things up. Always making sure not to foul the surface of the plate with slurry or abrasives. You need to protect the flatness of your certified flat surface. The other bonus of the surface plate is that you don’t get any over run.

Once you get something really [close to] flat strange things start to happen. You can feel the suction of the stone on the surface. It resists movement and starts to want to move on its own. Pencil lines get erased evenly in a couple of swipes. Straight edges will show major deviations but it’s hard to test at the micron level even with feeler gauges. These days I tend to test the flatness by rubbing two flat stones together and feeling the way they stick. You have to be careful because you can really get them stuck together. Pulling them apart is almost impossible. You need to stop while you are still able slide them apart.

Monitoring reflection on the stones surface in glancing light is a good way to look for any remaining low spots on arks. They tend to look duller.

It's worth it to buy from dans or get an old Norton/ pike hard ark JUST do you don't have to lap it. Nobody wears out a true hard ark. That's insanity.

 

[Tomo]

It's worth it to buy from dans or get an old Norton/ pike hard ark JUST do you don't have to lap it. Nobody wears out a true hard ark. That's insanity.

It’s hard to imagine how they can ever become dished through normal use. I can only imagine that some people used to rub them with sandpaper to rough up the surface and make them faster. That could do it if you did it frequently over a long time.

With razors, you only have to lap them once. Might as well do it right.

 

[Legion]

It’s hard to imagine how they can ever become dished through normal use. I can only imagine that some people used to rub them with sandpaper to rough up the surface and make them faster. That could do it if you did it frequently over a long time.

With razors, you only have to lap them once. Might as well do it right.

I’ve seen some dished, but they were probably used for years with workshop tools. As a razor finisher, a lifetimes use.

 

[Bowmaker]

I managed to dish a small semi translucent sharpening pocket knifes over a few decades. The stone also went from white to butterscotch. It still has a dime sized dish in it's center because I ran out of steam. I put it in the same class as other translucents in both hardness and finish.

It was more than a few decades. I purchased the stone in the 70's.

 

[albsat]

My order of silicone carbide arrived today which I need to flatten my new ark.
No one is home so I think ‘game on’.
I grab a glass chopping board from the cupboard and get started.
View attachment 1484317
I’m midway through my last grit when my girl walks in.
Her expression darkens.
I start to speak ‘er.. Hya love, nice day?’
‘What’s that s### all over my chopping board?’
‘It’s silicone carbide babe.’
Her expression tells me she is sorry she asked.
‘And it’s in my living room why?’
‘I’m making my new stone flat babe.’
‘You’re sludging up my living room to make a stone flat?
‘Yes babe’.
‘Hold on, what new stone?What did that cost?
‘£100 sweetie pie, it’s an Arkansas mined from the Ouachit…’
‘Is that my new towel under the chopping board?’
‘Yes babe’.
‘It’s covered in that…(struggles to find the words)…’
‘Silicone carbide babe.’
She turns and walks to the bathroom to run a bath.
‘What’s all this S### in the bath?’
‘Silicone carbide babe.’

Glad to read that you are still alive man.

 

[Jakebullet]

I’ve fought with this thing since I got it trying to make it flat.
I’ve tried SIC powder first on my girls glass chopping board which didn’t work, it just got dished and got me into trouble.

Then on my kitchen counter in a cookie tray which didn’t work.

Then on a slab of granite I got from a stoneyard.

I worked and worked and nothing seemed to happen. What is this thing made of?
I went down to 20 grit powder but the flatness eluded me.
I just couldn’t get to the four corners of it.

I got some 60 grit SIC wet and dry paper which very very slowly began to flatten the stone but it very very quickly burned out.
I went through ten sheets of the stuff in about 15 mins. They just slowed right down.
Whenever I tried going back to the SIC powder the curvature of the stone increased.
But the part burned out wet and dry was so slow and energy intensive.
My knees were sore, I was working up a real sweat, I was quickly running out of ideas.
I was filling with a deep and irrational hatred towards this little black piece of rock. You guys know.
I tried SIC powder on top of the wet and dry but it just chewed holes in the paper. Finally I stopped.
I’d got it mostly flat just not at the corners which I probably wouldn’t need anyway.
So finally, I took the thing up the relatively quick journey through the grits up to 600 to make it ready for honing

I put a nice amount of oil on without going nuts, but enough for a decent undercut .
I have a great edge on my Henckels Friodur so I honed that.
It felt lovely to hone on.
I had to be careful around 1 or two chips on the sides of the stone which I’ll have to fix but after 100 laps or so I felt I was done.
I tried an HHT and got a very welcome silent cut everywhere it touched. I hadn’t even stropped it yet.
I cleaned it up and stropped it on linen and leather.
It cut the handing hari toward the root and also away from it which was new.
I haven’t shaved today so I’ll try the edge first thing tomorrow with the heartfelt hope that this thing, this piece of hell sent to task me is finally finished.