black Arkansas lansky stones

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fisher2

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Oct 28, 2014
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are these true blacks? i see everybody raging about how insane sharp they get their knives using them. will i gain anything by using that after the sapphire stone or is the sapphire stone better?
 
I have both and use the black for finishing the sharpening and the yellow/blue ceramic hones for polishing...it may refine the edge but does not sharpen it in my opinion.
 
Black Arks will definitely sharpen an edge, (narrow the apex) but you're not going to take off a bunch of steel with one. They should be reserved for the very end of your sharpening, and possibly used at a slightly inclined angle to put a microbevel on. You don't have to microbevel, but it will save a bit of time - Arks are definitely not the fastest stones. Let's put it this way, I can very comfortably shave when using a properly prepped Black Ark to finish my straight razor.
 
i understand whats being said, but im asking if the stone will make my knife sharper than if i just finished at the 2k sapphire stone?
 
fisher2 said:
are these true blacks? i see everybody raging about how insane sharp they get their knives using them. will i gain anything by using that after the sapphire stone or is the sapphire stone better?
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What steels are you thinking of sharpening with it? Depending on that, the black Arkansas may work better, or not much at all. Very high-wear steels with heavy vanadium content, like S30V, wouldn't likely gain much benefit from it, whereas simpler steels might (should) show more noticeable improvement.


David
 
fisher2 said:
mostly elmax but my next blade is s35v
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I don't think I'd bother with the black Arkie on those, for the reasons I mentioned (high vanadium carbide content). If pursuing high-grit/polished edges, you could take them further with stropping on diamond compound (or CBN), used on wood or hard-backed paper. At 3µ and smaller, diamond compound on a hardwood or paper-over-glass strop makes a HUGE difference in sharpness and polish, and will do it fast. The black Arkansas wouldn't polish much, or very slowly on those steels. The ceramics, such as the Lansky Sapphire, could do OK to a point; though the vanadium carbides in the steel will still be harder than the abrasive (aluminum oxide) in those hones, and MUCH harder than the natural abrasive (novaculite) in the Arkansas hones.


David
 
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That...is a very good point. Most of the stuff I sharpen is the simpler steels. On Elmax it might take quite some ridiculous amount of time to get anything done with an Ark, and the edge wouldn't be as good as with a harder abrasive.

As far as the 2k ruby question, yes, on simpler steels an Ark will absolutely be far better of a finish and more refined. However this comes down to what you're going to be doing with the edge. If you're not doing mostly push-cutting don't bother going higher than the ruby stone unless you just want to.
 
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