Lapping a Black Hard Arkansas?

C

Coonskinner

Joined
Mar 28, 2001
Messages
2,491
I guess lapping wouldn't really be the term.

Years and years ago I got a Black hard, or maybe you'd call it a translucent stone.

It is like glass.

Anyway, the edges of the stone are a little chipped up.

What should I use if I wanted to smooth and square up the edges of the stone?
 
Diamond plate, coarser Ark stone, Sidewalk, or sandpaper. Lots of options.
 
Sand on concrete is probably the cheapest. SiC cuts everything, so try not to lap it in a small space on concrete. ;)
 
anything short of diamond you shall be there for awhile the translucent stones are tough. even with a diamond plate it wears slowly
 
Do not use a diamond plate as it will ruin it and they are costly.
I would use a coarse / fine SiC stone or a flat area of driveway to level your Arkansas stone.
Plus, a black Arkansas is NOT a translucent. A black Arkansas is jet black and a translucent is a beige to mottled color. The black is finer. Good luck, DM
 
David Martin said:
Do not use a diamond plate as it will ruin it and they are costly.
I would use a coarse / fine SiC stone or a flat area of driveway to level your Arkansas stone.
Plus, a black Arkansas is NOT a translucent. A black Arkansas is jet black and a translucent is a beige to mottled color. The black is finer. Good luck, DM
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You're not going to hurt a diamond plate chamfering the edges of an Ark stone.
 
I've done it and it ruined my coarse diamond. You're wrong. You also posted sometime back to not use a diamond stone to level a stone. So, now you've changed your position on that? DM
 
David Martin said:
I've done it and it ruined my coarse diamond. You're wrong. You also posted sometime back to not use a diamond stone to level a stone. So, now you've changed your position on that? DM
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Sounds like you were doing it wrong. It's been clearly stated by DMT and many others that the only approved lapping plate is the XXC in the DMT line, should have followed the directions...

If you would have read the OP you would realize this is about the edges of the stones needing to be chamfered and not the surface being lapped.
 
translucents can be black or white or a yellow color I have a black one that came from dans.
 
go to tomo nagura, keith has an excellent pic of a prime specimen on his page. I cant post pics here or I would show you my black translucent. it is kind of a duller black, like dark grey auto primer but it shines like glass. I got mine around 20 yrs ago then he even had a pinkish one.
 
In Dan's site under stone grades description HE doesn't even mention 'Black' as a color in Translucent stones. DM
 
The interesting thing in lapping with a diamond plate and Arkies is how the diamonds cut through the abrasive. You will probably end up with a finer finishing stone then when you started if you lap it. if there are big chunks out of the edges I wouldn't worry about it beyond a mild chamfering.
 
Sadden said:
The interesting thing in lapping with a diamond plate and Arkies is how the diamonds cut through the abrasive. You will probably end up with a finer finishing stone then when you started if you lap it. if there are big chunks out of the edges I wouldn't worry about it beyond a mild chamfering.
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If it gets much finer I may as well polish with a piece of silk. :)

"Lapping" isn't the term I should have used.

I just couldn't think of the right word for what I needed to do to the edges.

I bought this stone in the Ozarks probably 30 years ago,and it was called a "Black Hard Arkansas."

It was from a bin of factory seconds because the edges of stone were a little chipped. I was a teenager and hardly had a clue about sharpening, but on those old Schrade 1095 blades I used it on, it would sure enough polish them into a wicked edge.

I recently discovered it in a box of stuff and thought I would put it to use again.
 
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