Help with an Arkansas stone

V

Valenciamanu

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Oct 7, 2016
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103
Some time ago I got a little Arkansas stone at a flea market.
The stone was to be used to sharpen flat-lead mechanical pencils. They tell me that in the past it was not uncommon for deliners from large companies to sharpen their pencils on these stones.
I say flat flat leads because there were leads for this type of mechanical pencil in the same position. I attach a photo of a pencil of this type from the Internet.
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The stone, even if it is small, looks of a much higher quality than the current ones.If it is seen in the light, a lot of small glitters are observed.

I have used the stone once to use it with soap (I usually use oil but this time I use soap because in principle it was only to test it)
Has left a spectacular sharpening

The question I have is why the other translucent stone that I have and the ones that I have seen tend to have more silver tones.
It should be noted that the box in which it is mounted is made of extremely aromatic wood.
I leave you some photos.
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He will not let me put more photos, I will try in an answer.
I would appreciate any kind of information.
I also apologize if it is not well understood.
 
Valenciamanu said:
The question I have is why the other translucent stone that I have and the ones that I have seen tend to have more silver tones.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
It's pretty much expected that all natural stones, like Arkansas stones, will vary in color & figure ('figure' = visible grain, streaks, etc.). Being natural stones, no two will look alike. But the appearance won't necessarily alter the quality of the stone. Some 'different looking' stones might be better, and others may not be. The only way to know if one is better than another, is to try them and compare results.

Another variable is the surface finishing of the natural stone. Even natural stones which are otherwise identical in sourcing, color & grain can perform differently, being altered by the particular means used to cut and surface-finish them. A single stone can be refinished multiple times in different ways in order to change the way it works, either working better as a cutter/grinder of steel, or a polisher/burnisher.
 
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Beautiful stone.
I don’t have an answer to your exact question, however I have noticed that as stones become harder, finer grained, and more dense, they tend to become more transparent and lighter/less color. This trend continues until diamond which is very transparent and has little color.
 
The performance of these stones is very dependent on the surface prep. They can act like a completely different stone with a change in surface texture. Putting a coarse surface on the stone will get the stone cutting quickly and with a worse finish on the item being sharpened. Putting a very fine surface on the stone will slow it right down and produce a much finer finish. A stone surfaced with a coarser finish will gradually settle in naturally toward a finer finish as the surface wears during use. You may find that this stone is finer than your newer stones because it is old and has been used enough to let it settle in toward the finer end of the spectrum. Generally a new stone is only lapped relatively coarsely to get it somewhat flat.
 
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