Good source for Arkansas stones?

J

JakeTC

Joined
Apr 17, 2011
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I've used "scary sharp" for years but I'm sick of keeping all the sandpaper. So I'm "asking" for a good translucent or surgical black Arkansas bench stone for Christmas (which means ordering myself and letting wife/son "surprise" me with it)

What I need is a reputable source. Some of the online reviews I've read say they've ordered translucent but got something else.

Recommendations? I need at least 6x2.

Thanks much!
 
I buy my stones second hand these days (I find older higher quality stones for less going to flea markets and such). But I probably have some good information for you and your hunt...
Novaculite (what Arkansas stones are made of) is actually a rare mineral occurrence. And there are only a few places in the world where it has been found in high enough quantity and large enough specimens to make good sharpening stones. The Quachita Mountains running through Arkansas and Oklahoma is one of those places (The Marathon Uplift in Texas is another). Arkansas is running out as a good source. As a result many have taken to manufacturing "reconstituted stones". Which are basically made the same way as synthetic stones, but with crushed up Novaculite as the main material. And where you can buy a quarried and cut stone, they have gotten a lot thinner and smaller then they used to be.

So with all that in mind, if your after a quarried and cut, high quality Novaculite stone, here are a few tips when shopping online:

1) Make sure the company with your prospective stone on offer is not a mega outlet for sharpening supplies that stocks every brand on the face of the planet. These guys get a note int he box at best from there suppliers and are not really accountable or informed in regards to what they are selling you. You want to find a small company based in Arkansas, Oklahoma or Texas.

2) Beware of words like Grit and Arkansas/Novaculite being used in the same product description. Natural stones do not have a uniform grit. They are measured by their hardness. If a lot is said about the grit of the Arkansas stone in question, it is probably reconstituted.

3) Beware of large thick Arkansas stones for what may seem like a great price. If you see an advertised Arkansas stone on one site that is 2½" x 8" x 4" on one site and another that is ½" x 4" x 2½" on another site for nearly the exact same price. Chances are that the bigger stone is reconstituted.
 
I like Best brand

That’s what is in my photo of the Translucent Arkansas stone

Check out Dan’s also.





Don’t expect to sharpen the tuffer /harder tool steels/high alloy/super steels on the Ark.
Those steels just laugh at the Ark and make the stone shiny and remain dull.
The Ark is best for basic high carbon such as 1095.

See that shiny spot on my stone ? The whole surface of the stone got like that (only I couldn't get the camera to show it). All it took was I tried to do the final passes on a fully sharp A-2 blade. All I was doing was taking the wire edge off it after sharpening on lower grit water stones. There was no black looking marks on the stone like there would have been sharpening a basic high carbon blade. The stone just was not cutting the A-2 blade.

I was able to remove the glaze and get the stone cutting again (for the high carbon blades anyway) by running the stone on a diamond plate but I won’t waste my time with high alloy on an oil stone again. Works great for high carbon like razors, Opinels, Case CVs and stuff. Translucent Arks are really cool to have but . . .



For the tuffer harder stuff I would STRONGLY recommend a few Shapton water stones.



Hey if you ever considered getting a sharpening jig (I also strongly recommend that ) a vendor I just discovered and am soooooo glad I did . . . these guys are offering Shapton stones with their Edge Pro Apex Essentials Set. Good price too. And I like the company.

I bought one, I've used it . . . I Like It !

http://www.chefknivestogo.com/edgeprosets.html

 
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Thanks.

I ordered a black surgical from Dans.

Yeah I don't use anything harder than 420hc.
 
Jake,

Man, you don't fool around. You ordered your stone before I finished getting the bugs out of my post.
Ha, ha, ha

Let us know how you like the stone. Post a photo or two.
I don't have a black.
So many stones
So many dull knives
so little time.

:)
 
@Wowbagger
I found the XC90 Steel of the Opinel Carbone blades are best kept sharp with white crock sticks (tried on my blk. and trans. Arkansas. And found it to be a little too aggressive) I do a 20° included angle back bevel; And a 30° included angle for the terminal edge. But given how flat the blades are (there is an ever so slight biconvex cross section to them) you can probably get away with even thinner. Though I cannot imagine a practical application where one would need a sharper edge then that. The company itself recommends 18° to 20° single angle with no back bevel. So The edge I put on mine is a bit thinner even with the back bevel (but given the back bevel, slightly more resilient I find). I don't know about their Sandvik 12c27 blades though.
 
Helleri,

What material are the white crocs?

Probably the hardest thing I sharpen are Hock plane irons, & they're just O1.
 
For info, the water stones are very good. I have some very hard Arkansas Novaculite stones and honestly almost never use them any more as I have gone to diamond for the harder steels. They were pretty easy to come by years ago if you were cruising Northern Arkansas. I didn't know that they are running out of source material in Arkansas.

Pick up a Norton India Stone (combination fine and coarse sides) in addition to what you ordered. They are inexpensive. The fine side works very well for sharpening carbon steel and then I touch up the edge with a finer grit diamond (extra fine usually) or I suppose I could use one of the hard novaculite stones that I have for the same purpose. The hard novaculite "cut" very slowly when sharpening and for me somewhat frustrating the sharpening experience.
 
JakeTC said:
Helleri,

What material are the white crocs?

Probably the hardest thing I sharpen are Hock plane irons, & they're just O1.
Click to expand...

I don't know what material they are exactly. The kit that I like to use on my Opinel is one I found at a thrift store for $2. It's some generic with no brand marks. Has 10" rods that stow on the underside in a spring fitted hole and dimple sort of click in deal. Wood dowel hand protectors (on a wood base), 3 hole sets (10°, 20°, and the third is a single hole on the end for scissors at 15°). They are not a steel or natural stone though. So hardness would be the wrong metric. Rather grit. But it wouldn't be a fair measure to apply just any scale for grit to something of an unknown source. I can tell you that they are just under true honing level of fineness. Because they do streak. But it is very light streaking. And that I don't think they are Aluminum Oxynitride (maybe 90% opacity under uv). They are also a very high white, whiter then egg shell....could be Kaolinite?
 
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