Life before Arkansas Stones...

[Vacumatic]

Name and date makes it much more difficult for someone to "swap" you stone with their inferior one as well. Good tools are a large investment. Conductor's watches for the railroad cost upwards of a month's salary for instance, and the railroads quickly discovered that the only way to keep the watches in good condition and on time was to require the conductors to purchase them and pay to maintain them.

Works the same way for tools.

And people on the lookout to "acquire" other people's better stuff fraudulently were as common then as they are now....

I think there is a line from a song which sums this up very well, 'You never learn to fish on a borrowed line'

I was on the board of a local college for apprentices, engineering and construction skills mainly. The students had there own cafeteria/restaurant which needed decorating every year and was in a mess part way through with graffiti and food. we hit on the bright idea of taking ownership and the construction students had the first job of the year as painting the cafeteria in whatever colour they wished.

They took ownership and the walls stayed immaculate for the 12 months.

Must admit that some of the Japanese stones with markings are bordering on works of art, I would be tempted to have them on display!

 

[duke762]

Love that story, Vacumatic!

 

[Mitzie]

Flowing water smooths stones...folk is days gone by will have observed this and hence honing evolved?

Also;

Psalms 7:12-17​

12 God is already in action - Sword honed on his whetstone, bow strung, arrow on the string, (Message MSG translation)

 

[Bowmaker]

Flowing water smooths stones...folk is days gone by will have observed this and hence honing evolved?

I don't think so, but honing was already in use before the bronze age. Bone tools for instance.

 

[Chandu]

I can't really tell the difference between a Trans Ark and Charnley Forest edge.

I was going to reply to this, but the next quote by SliceOfLife basically says what I was going to say.

Yes Most of the old Docs (which are typically British), talk of the Turkey hone being the go to for woodworkers with the Charnley supplanting it in some areas...

They all generally agree that Washita/Ark made the others basically trash in comparison... and the mines could hardly give them away once Arks hit their market.

I don't believe there is an equivalent to Novaculite from Arkansas - Arkansas stones.
99%+ pure silica, grain structure, consistency, etc - that and more put those stones on top of the pile.

I think you are right. One modern problem is that the abrasive manufactureres have figured out that many will pay to own 100 stones with 20 points difference in grit. 100, 120, 140....1000, 1020... I only SLIGHTLY exaggerate.

I have a Dan's Black 12x3x1 that I have never used. Brand new in box. I don't really need it and at this point think it might be wiser to leave it untouched and resell in 10 years. Seems a better investment than stocks. It's already selling new for more than $100 than what I paid. In other words it's up about 15% year on year. Not bad at all. And nobody has figured out how to tax unrealized gains on the Arkansas stones ---YET.

 

[silverlifter]

I was going to reply to this, but the next quote by SliceOfLife basically says what I was going to say.

Good for you. I couldn't tell the edges apart in a blindfold test, and I love shaving off both.

 

[Legion]

Good for you. I couldn't tell the edges apart in a blindfold test, and I love shaving off both.

Depends on the Charn. I couldn't tell one Trans Ark from another. For me they are about the most consistent natural stone there is. Charns vary a lot more. Some feel very like hard Arks, but some are coarser and better suited to finishing knives and tools than razors.

In a way that makes CF stones a bit more interesting. Plus they look cool.

 

[SliceOfLife]

Well to be fair, the docs Im talking about were Mostly referring to their use by woodworkers/cabinet makers... So the key advantage of arks (and even moreso Washita's) was speed, consistency, etc. Not necessarily which leaves the best shaving edge.

That said, if one of my translucent or SB Ark edges ever felt like a Charnley edge to me, I'd know I hadn't spent enough time on the ark. It's enough of a step up (at least with the Charnley's I have owned) that it'd be hard to mix the finishes up. Turkeys even more so. I've had a Turkey or two that gave a decent shave... but nothing to write home about. And most Turkey finishes are definitely more in the Washita range than the Translucent Ark range.

All that said, I've owned maybe 6 charnleys (and another 6-12 of the green softer stone that I thought were better/softer/coarser Charnleys but found out about a year age are probably some other stone from the UK whose name I will never remember)... and probably a dozen turkey stones. So there definitely COULD be examples out there that are razor finishers of the quality of Arks... but whereas if you buy a translucent ark that isn't garbage, you ARE getting a great razor finisher... I wouldn't say the same for Charnleys.

 

[Empire straights]

Depends on the Charn. I couldn't tell one Trans Ark from another. For me they are about the most consistent natural stone there is. Charns vary a lot more. Some feel very like hard Arks, but some are coarser and better suited to finishing knives and tools than razors.

In a way that makes CF stones a bit more interesting. Plus they look cool.

This is spot on. I've got a couple glassy ones, one that's about as coarse as a Dalmore blue and one that's almost exactly like my no. 1 pike washita but it's faster and needs less pressure.

 

[derjaeger]

In addition to the post from @hatzicho : This is a troutstone / saxonian oilstone I collected myself at the old quarry. Lapping took ages even though I used borium nitride. It's nice to use a stone I prepared myself, also the quarry is quite near my home village so it's even locally sourced

Best regards
Jäger