High grade, Translucent sharpening stone. I scored this yesterday. A beauty.

IXLR8 said:
Oh boy,
I have decided not to use this stone. I doubt that I will ever be able to find another one this pretty. I have been told that stones like this, are very rare and hard to come by.
So, I'm just gonna get another one for use. This one will be used as an exhibition piece. Though I imagine it wouldn't hurt anything to use the flip side occasionally. The flip side is also pretty but not quite as nice as the above pictured , side.
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That is crazy, you must use that stone Sir! Short of dropping it on the floor, there is nothing you could do to it that couldn't be restored by lapping with an appropriate loose grit, there is nothing to loose. I seldom use my Arkansas anymore, but the association I have with them and learning to freehand sharpen are etched into my history. My soft and hard came in cedar boxes and I still associate that smell with beautiful sharpening stones.
 
Agreed! Arkies are as tough as nails! Using that stone won't even blemish it! They don't wear away like waterstones do. I've got 15 - 20 year old Arkies that are still perfectly flat after plenty of use. And still have the exact same coloration.
 
HeavyHanded said:
That is crazy, you must use that stone Sir! Short of dropping it on the floor, there is nothing you could do to it that couldn't be restored by lapping with an appropriate loose grit, there is nothing to loose. I seldom use my Arkansas anymore, but the association I have with them and learning to freehand sharpen are etched into my history. My soft and hard came in cedar boxes and I still associate that smell with beautiful sharpening stones.
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True. You're right. You changed my mind. It's just such a damn pretty stone. I know I'll never find another one like it. I usually get into things like cars, knives, motorcycles, guns....the lake I just built behind the house. But Sharpening stones????????? First time for everything , I guess. It's the nicest sharpening stone I have ever seen, or owned. I would hate to drop this thing on the floor and watch it crack up into pieces. Just the thought of it ........Jesus. I'm gonna go make me a drink.

Thank you for your input sir.
 
Using 120 grit to level is fine and can be done without glazing. Fine grit particles can become lodged in the stone thus changing the way it cuts. Just my experience. Do what you like. DM
 
There are no grit particles lodged in the stone bud. The stone still cuts just fine. Just my experience.
 
I apologize for going on and on about this stone. It's just that I have never seen one this nice much less owned any sharpening tool this nice.

The darn thing looks Lavender in color under certain light. It has no white in it anywhere. It has to be the greyish tones mixing with the pink under certain light doing this.
Under dim lighting it looks pink, brighten the lighting up with the dimmer switch and the darn thing turns to a Lavender color. As an example I have photographed an Arno Bernard knife with warthog ivory slabs, and a penny, to give an accurate color representation under different lighting. The box that the stone is cradled in, is sitting on an end table with dark tint glass. This is about as accurate as a color depiction that I can give.

I have never seen anything like this.

I wanted to thank you all for your replies and putting up with my fascination with this Translucent stone.
I do not know if I can bring myself to use this. It may become a safe queen. I doubt I'll ever be able to put my hands on another one like this.

Yeah I know. It's just a sharpening stone. I'm real happy with it though. It's almost as if it became a collectors piece to me, due to its uniqueness.
It cost me $110.00 including shipping and I feel it was worth every penny.

Thanks again fellas.

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eKretz said:
I used a toolmaker's cast iron lapping plate with loose silicon carbide grit - 120 grit to flatten both sides, and left the coarser side with that finish. Lapped the finer side up through 1500 mesh, then used a Suehiro Gokumyo 20,000 grit (JIS, .5 micron particle size) stone to loose grit lap the surface of the Ark. This was accomplished by flattening the Suehiro with a 140 grit Atoma diamond plate and leaving the slurry from lapping on the stone, then lapping the Suehiro and Ark together using the slurry as a loose lapping grit. Periodically I would rinse off the stones and reflatten and reslurry the Suehiro, then lap some more. I went through about 5 iterations of this before calling it done. Total time start to finish was probably a few hours. The stone is 3" x 10" BTW.
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Thanks. Curious because I lapped a couple of Hard Arkies on diamond and they took a long time.
 
Yeah I flattened one on a diamond plate once. Never again. It really dulled the cutting action of the plate down to about nothing. Arks and Spyderco white ceramics are something that should be kept clear of diamond plates if you want them to cut with any kind of speed in the future. That's why I prefer loose grit lapping - you get fresh, sharp, fast-cutting grit every single time. I was able to flatten this one within 10 minutes. The time is very dependent on how flat they are when you get them. Mine was .008" out on the worse side when I got it. Now it's less than .001". Getting the finish is what took the most time, since I did it twice. First time I lapped it on CBN and PCD loose grit.
 
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I have a surgical black Arkansas stone from Dans. Dan is a great guy and their CS is top notch. Would highly recommend their business. That aside, the Arkansas stones are extremely smooth and provide a really nice edge for carbon steels. That is a gorgeous stone indeed, but using it will make it all the more valuable.
 
eKretz said:
Yeah I flattened one on a diamond plate once. Never again. It really dulled the cutting action of the plate down to about nothing. Arks and Spyderco white ceramics are something that should be kept clear of diamond plates if you want them to cut with any kind of speed in the future. That's why I prefer loose grit lapping - you get fresh, sharp, fast-cutting grit every single time. I was able to flatten this one within 10 minutes. The time is very dependent on how flat they are when you get them. Mine was .008" out on the worse side when I got it. Now it's less than .001". Getting the finish is what took the most time, since I did it twice. First time I lapped it on CBN and PCD loose grit.
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Yes, I did destroy that plate. The Arky and a Chinese 12K got the best of it.
 
eKretz said:
I used a toolmaker's cast iron lapping plate with loose silicon carbide grit - 120 grit to flatten both sides, and left the coarser side with that finish. Lapped the finer side up through 1500 mesh, then used a Suehiro Gokumyo 20,000 grit (JIS, .5 micron particle size) stone to loose grit lap the surface of the Ark. This was accomplished by flattening the Suehiro with a 140 grit Atoma diamond plate and leaving the slurry from lapping on the stone, then lapping the Suehiro and Ark together using the slurry as a loose lapping grit. Periodically I would rinse off the stones and reflatten and reslurry the Suehiro, then lap some more. I went through about 5 iterations of this before calling it done. Total time start to finish was probably a few hours. The stone is 3" x 10" BTW.
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Dude gorgeous work on that Black Arky , I am gonna call Danas one of these days and get a complete set now....
 
Thanks! I hadn't used an Ark for quite some time before getting this one, but hearing other people talk about them and the things they were trying sounded fun and I ended up picking up this Trans Black from Natural Whetstone. I am itching to try it out on one of my straight razors now, but none of them need sharpened!
 
That was all my Grandfather used on his straight razor was a black Arkansas and a plain leather strop. You can get a decent shave with this combination as I've done it. DM
 
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