Arkansas stones, love them or hate them.

J

JackPlane

Joined
Mar 25, 2022
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I recently purchased 3 vintage smith Arkansas stones for $17. Was this a worthwhile acquisition? Is it true that these can not hone more modern steels?
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What’s to hate? They work well for most working knives and tools. You only really need ceramic or diamond for the ultra hard/fragile pocket toys.

n2s
 
That’s a great purchase regardless, they’re great for most traditional fixed and slip joint knives with the more common carbon and stainless blades.
 
Work great on Carbon steel or carbide free stainless such as 440A, 14C28, AUS8.
Don't work real well on steels which contain carbides, 440C, 154CM, VG10, AUS 10
The carbides are harder than Washita stones.
 
Great stones for simple high carbon steel blades: 1070/84/95, 50100/52100 etc., and simple stainless grades like Sandvik 12C27, 420HC. Not useful for powder steels with high vanadium/niobium/chromium carbides
 
For $17 a very worthwhile acquisition. Work on carbon steel, and worth it just for their collecting value. There is a big market for vintage Arkansas stones now. I would have bought them just for their historical value. Great find and canny buying. :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: 👌
 
I've never hated them. But I've been too aware of their severe limitations on more wear-resistant steels like 440C, D2, S30V, etc. I always WISH they were more versatile, as they've always been a pleasure to use on the simpler steels like 1095, CV and 420HC.

One aspect I almost hate is how expensive they can be, for quality stones. That's the one thing always holding me back in acquiring more of them, and that's frustrating. Seems hard to shell out the $$$ for them, knowing how limited as they are in terms of their overall versatility.

BTW, that $17 acquisition IS DEFINITELY WELL WORTH THE MONEY SPENT. Sometimes we can get very lucky that way, and that's a wonderful thing. :thumbsup:
 
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With my usual caveat that I'm still new-ish to sharpening, .... For $17, the absolute worst case scenario is that you're out $17. At that price, and if I didn't already own enough Arkansas stones for the moment, I'd have grabbed them, too.

I find that my Arkansas stones are good for my more forgiving steels. In particular, I've got S30V, 154CM, several high carbon steels (of otherwise indeterminate nature) and one I believe to be AUS8. They work well for those. I do not own anything with a hardness that I would estimate at >60, maybe 62. (I have no way of actually testing hardness.)

With all of that said, they look like they're in pretty good shape, but I'd look at them from the side and make sure they're not dished. If they are, you may have to spend some time flattening them.
 
Never anything wrong with having more stones in your arsenal. Just don't use anything high-alloy on them and you'll be good. Their biggest drawback is usually their high cost vs. their low range of appropriate application and you got 'em at a good price.
 
JackPlane said:
I recently purchased 3 vintage smith Arkansas stones for $17. Was this a worthwhile acquisition? Is it true that these can not hone more modern steels?
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I've had a set of Dan's Arkansas stones; Soft, Hard, Black for about a decade now. They will sharped the following just fine; VG10, 1095, D2, 5160, SR101(similar to 52100), 01. The following I couldn't get hair shaving sharp; 3V, S30V, ZDP189. They work well for so many stones and last for decades. I'd say a good buy and can be used to save more expensive stones so they last longer.
 
NeedItCheaper said:
I've had a set of Dan's Arkansas stones; Soft, Hard, Black for about a decade now. They will sharped the following just fine; VG10, 1095, D2, 5160, SR101(similar to 52100), 01. The following I couldn't get hair shaving sharp; 3V, S30V, ZDP189. They work well for so many stones and last for decades. I'd say a good buy and can be used to save more expensive stones so they last longer.
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Are these vintage smiths around the quality of the new Dans?
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
Never anything wrong with having more stones in your arsenal. Just don't use anything high-alloy on them and you'll be good. Their biggest drawback is usually their high cost vs. their low range of appropriate application and you got 'em at a good price.
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These don't look like they have been used much.
 
Smith's mined some nice stones. If you decide you don't like them give me a yell.

The softs are just OK I don't use them much. All of them can act much finer than the stated grit estimation. Even the soft is a finishing stone for knifes.

Lot's of beginners will struggle with them.
 
Obsessed with Edges said:
One aspect I almost hate is how expensive they can be, for quality stones. That's the one thing always holding me back in acquiring more of them, and that's frustrating. Seems hard to shell out the $$$ for them, knowing how limited as they are in terms of their overall versatility.
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Too true of all natural stones. Less so of coticule, but that has limits too and is really $$$.
 
Ourorboros said:
Too true of all natural stones. Less so of coticule, but that has limits too and is really $$$.
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An argument could be made for the coticules ability to work in a wider range though there by being more versatile and needing less stones in a progression. A different type of versatility.

The Belgian Blue is a more economical option. It does lose some of it's charm though not matching the speed of the coticule, but some knife guys like it a lot.
 
Many years ago I had a natural sharpening stone, not sure if it was an Arkansas stone or not, but it dished from use. That cured me of wanting another one. I am very happy with ceramics.

With that said, $17 for three benchstones is a nice find. Try them out and see if you like them.
 
I've been using Arkansas for 60 years and still like them. They have to be flattened if you use a lot of super hard metal on them but that only takes 15 minutes or so with silicon carbide and a flat plate (and a small can of elbow grease). Probably all of the knives in my kitchen are maintained with Washita stones. I have diamonds for the super hard steels but they don't seem to get used as much all the 1095 knives I have.
 
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