What's new

Black Arkansas

I tried some baby oil today with the black stone, not messy at all. Did a diluticot with my new found coticule the went to the Arky. Haven't shaved with it but I'm getting some serious hht off this stone. The test will be in a bit.

Yeah, once I was happy with the lap-job, I did my jillion laps on the Black and ended up popping hairs root out and in with no effort. Ridiculously sharp. Shave wasn't all that good though...not sure if I need to get used to it by lightening the pressure, or if it's too sharp for me, or if it went from smooth-sharp to serrated (on micro scale), but going dilucot/coti-water/cnat-water/Arkie-with-mineral oil has gotten me to easy root-in HHT popping a few times now. Yowzah. Lately I've stopped at the CNAT while I ponder my Arkie results.

Enjoy!
 
Last edited:
Quality of the Arkansas stones vary. NOrton and Dan's have good quality. A Black (older deep Navy blue) (not surgical) is the finest grit. They are not easy to lapp but not too difficult and getting hard to find. Use a fine diamond plate. Possum
 
Quality of the Arkansas stones vary. NOrton and Dan's have good quality. A Black (older deep Navy blue) (not surgical) is the finest grit. They are not easy to lapp but not too difficult and getting hard to find. Use a fine diamond plate. Possum

I got mine at http://www.naturalwhetstone.com/ and they said the black translucent was the finest Arkansas to be had. I'm thinking this stone would have ate a fine diamond plate for lunch.
 
I've been getting some pretty darn nice edges from this stone. Last night I touched up a Le Grelot and I think this is the first time I got some HHT5 out of an edge. No "pop" no sound at all. Not only that but I was using the wifes hair this time and it is as fine as babies hair. This morning, 12 hours later, I couldn't shave if I wanted to. Well, I could but there's hardy nothing to take off :biggrin1:
 
I've been getting some pretty darn nice edges from this stone. Last night I touched up a Le Grelot and I think this is the first time I got some HHT5 out of an edge. No "pop" no sound at all. Not only that but I was using the wifes hair this time and it is as fine as babies hair. This morning, 12 hours later, I couldn't shave if I wanted to. Well, I could but there's hardy nothing to take off :biggrin1:

Nice.... congrats. :thumbup:
 
There used to be a video making the rounds (ca 2006 or so) of how the TI factory hone was done. They finished up on the coticule, using kerosene instead of water (kerosene is a light oil). I've used Kano Kroil on my hard arkansas stones (black, translucent, and pink translucent), coticule and escher to good effect. If you can't find Kano Kroil you can probably use a mix of kerosene and ATF for the same effect. It's also very good for cleaning guns, it'll pull crud out of a barrel better than modern Hoppe's. BTW the oil will wash off the coti and Escher with a little soap and water. Or brake cleaner if you're lazy :->
 
Yeah - its the only modern equivalent to Sperm Whale oil.
Kroil is good stuff, but man it stinks. I don't agree that it's better than modern Hoppes, but I do use it almost exclusively in a Mike Rock 5R .308 tube.
 
I've been using Clenzoil with good results, it a pretty light gun oil. I'ts what I use on all my pistols.
 
Top Bottom