Can one of the honemeisters please tell me about what grade natural Arkansas slate stone equates to? Would you consider it good enough to hone a razor?
Arkansas slate stone.
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Slate? Worthless for honing razors. I think there are few guys who have used the very finest Arkansas stones with success. Get yourself a Norton 4K/8K
At the minimum you'd need a translucent Arkansas stone or a black surgical grade stone. Even then, they won't produce an edge that's shaving sharp.
I have found a few blades that come off the Arkansas Translucent as smooth or smoother than the Norton 8k, but I wouldn't even try slate on a razor I wanted to keep.
How long did it take you, Jlander?
Yeah, a white Arkansas stone cuts really slowly. IMHO it puts a really good edge on a razor, though. I don't know if it's as fine as a .25 micron paste, but to my face a blade touched up on that stone cuts better and more smoothly than a blade off a pasted strop. YMMV.
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I guess the answer is that it's good enough for some but not for others. Perhaps I shouldn't have said "slate stone" since the more common descriptions are "soft" and "translucent".
Mine is creamy white and not at all translucent and not particularly soft 'tho I realize that the term is relative. It's the finest stone I own and a honed razor passes all the tests but clearly there are even better hones out there. I notice that they tend to be available to Americans and Canadians but not us Brits. Unless someone knows where I can buy them from.
Mine is creamy white and not at all translucent and not particularly soft 'tho I realize that the term is relative. It's the finest stone I own and a honed razor passes all the tests but clearly there are even better hones out there. I notice that they tend to be available to Americans and Canadians but not us Brits. Unless someone knows where I can buy them from.
The 2 that really liked the Arkansas were both Torrey's and each took about 45 min to an hour after the Norton 8k.
I have a Black Arkansas stone and also a Arkansas Translucent Grey . I haven't used them on razors. When I sharpen knives with them they leave a scratch pattern that looks to be about 2000 to 4000 grit. Maybe on a razor they would leave a finer scratch pattern if used with very light touch. Otherwise, they seem too coarse to me. I'd be interested to hear from someone that shaves right off of one of these. How is it possible?
I've got a pink and a white translucent, but no black arkansas so I can't comment. You must use a very light touch when using any stone, but these translucents will definitely put a good shaving edge on the razor. I don't use my translucents much anymore since I've got too many other options, but I pulled out the pink a few months ago and touched up a Puma and it left an edge as good as anything I've seen off a coticule. I've read similar comments about the black from another experienced member on SRP. I used Kano Kroil as the lubricant for this particular honing session, and it took about 100 laps. But this was just a touch-up.
The big problems with the fine arkansas stones are they're very slow, big fine stones are expensive, and there's very little experience around nowadays about how to use them on razors. There's only a few experienced razor guys around that have used them to any extent.
The big problems with the fine arkansas stones are they're very slow, big fine stones are expensive, and there's very little experience around nowadays about how to use them on razors. There's only a few experienced razor guys around that have used them to any extent.
Thanks mparker. Slow and takes 100 laps sounds like the 12K Chinese. At least that stone is inexpensive.
I bought a 10x3x1 black straight from the quarry on a vacation to Arkansas 20 years ago. My translucent is the Norton 8x3x1/2. Where did you get the pink translucent?
I bought a 10x3x1 black straight from the quarry on a vacation to Arkansas 20 years ago. My translucent is the Norton 8x3x1/2. Where did you get the pink translucent?
Dan's I think.
