HBA - Hard black Arkansas - brand id

[Empire straights]

Oh then I'm in luck, 'cause I love lapping stones over and over apparently.

WARPING - Naniwa Gouken Kagayaki 10 mm , i.e. Super Stone

This has happened to me too - Naniwa Gouken Kagayaki 10 mm. Here is what I mean exactly by warping: Flatten stone both sides. Verify flatness. Dry off with towel and stand up on long side and allow to dry fully for 2 hours. Verify flatness. There is now a noticeable bow on both ends of the...

www.badgerandblade.com

Very unlikely that you ever have to lap a hard ark more than once. Your great- great- great grandkids...... MAYBE. Those rocks are very tough. Those, hard llyn Idwals and Charnleys are the only stones that wear me out when lapping. And apparently this old blue la lune I have... go figure.

 

[SliceOfLife]

Yeah Hard arks only ever really seem to wear if you're a watchmaker... Which I assume is sharpening little tiny screwdrivers and possibly etching tools... they kind of gouge out like fishhook sharpening stones when I get them from watchmakers collections.

 

[sd_baker]

If you buy a Dan's from Knife Center you will save a few bucks over buying directly from Dan's.

I'm in Canada, so Lee Valley for me.

The only other thing I would caution the OP about is that I personally don’t look at Arkansas Stones in the class being discussed as being directly interchangeable with something like the Naniwa 12K strictly speaking.

Roger that. Everything I researched including your videos say to focus on proper bevel set and synthetic edge needs to be shave ready before finishing on hard arks. They work SLOW. That's why I felt ok getting a 4x1 instead of benchstone.

Thanks again, everyone!

 

[lightfoot]

I know of someone that uses the Shapton glass stones up to 30k and follows it with his Norton translucent.

I would imagine that it helps mitigate the synthetic feel without loosing keenness.

 

[Frank Shaves]

I had forgotten that Lee Valley is in Canada - and good prices for the Dan's stones.

 

[Gamma]

I think it was the HTB-83?

I should’ve grabbed one when they were easy to get.

The product numbers I remember were 10 or 11 digits long... I'd have to find the price sheets, might have tossed them. Not important really. If they ever come back they might have all new numbers across the board. HTB probably meant Hard translucen boxed. HB13 were Hard Boxed, HM were Hard Mounted; the addition of translucent to those stones was a relatively recent branding choice.

They are not impervious to wear. But they do wear slow compared to a lot of othert options. With razor finishing, and larger stones, almost no pressure, not very much wear to be found there. If you tune up a dull barlow daily on a 4x1 it'll wear.

 

[lightfoot]

The product numbers I remember were 10 or 11 digits long... I'd have to find the price sheets, might have tossed them. Not important really. If they ever come back they might have all new numbers across the board. HTB probably meant Hard translucen boxed. HB13 were Hard Boxed, HM were Hard Mounted; the addition of translucent to those stones was a relatively recent branding choice.

They are not impervious to wear. But they do wear slow compared to a lot of othert options. With razor finishing, and larger stones, almost no pressure, not very much wear to be found there. If you tune up a dull barlow daily on a 4x1 it'll wear.

I managed to reach out to them over the phone again yesterday and believe it or not the 11 digit number is still valid. She gave me a few contacts in my area that might be able to make it happen but I’ve ran into trouble before trying to get such a specific item in a single quantity.

Sometimes you have to make a minimum order of multiples of the same thing before they’ll ship. I’m going to check again Monday with the vendors that she had suggested.

 

[Frank Shaves]

Here are the model numbers from a recent catalog that I downloaded from the Norton website. The boxed translucent stones are HM6 and HM8. HTB83 is the replacement stone for the IM83 Portable Sharpening Stone System.

You can still buy HB4, HB6 and HB8 stones, though they don't seem to be as available as Dan's stone.

 

[Gamma]

Sometimes you have to make a minimum order of multiples of the same thing before they’ll ship. I’m going to check again Monday with the vendors that she had suggested.

Yes, I'm aware. I have a vendor/sales account with St. Gobain.
MOQ on something like this might be as low as 5 units but if they are being pesty it might be as high as 20 with a lead time of up to 12 months.

 

[Bowmaker]

I found this 2x6x0.5 arkansas stone. This is the best picture for it. I can't tell if this is a rebadged Dan's or some other less reputable brand.

Can anyone tell if this is Dan's?

Should I buy and roll the ?


View attachment 1764096

No. They also sell one tagged "Surgical Black" also, whatever that is. But safe to assume it's finer than that

 

[duke762]

Although Gesswein, has a stellar reputation built on their mold polishing stones, that doesn't mean they know beans about Arks.

They also sell one tagged "Surgical Black" also, whatever that is. But safe to assume it's finer than that

I have a black surgical Norton and identical trans, 8' x 3' x .5" circa 2015. Both are incredible Arks and of the highest quality. The black also displays a little translucence.

Back in the day, when it was the thing to do, I highly lapped one side of the surgical black to a very high polish. It was then I noticed I was looking at a pattern resembling wood grain inside, under the surface of the stone. It was so cool that I have kept that side polished and basically unused, just so I can see the patterning.

I'm a really big fan of vintage Norton Arks. If I was looking for an Ark, That's what I would try to find. That being said, I've seen pictures of new Norton Trans Ark bench stones that appear more granular in nature. Not the homogeneous look of the older ones. That makes me very curious about how they function...