Where to get Hard Black Stone??????????

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NeedItCheaper

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Jun 17, 2012
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I am getting into hand sharpening more and more these days when it comes to my bigger knives. I have 3 Arkansas Stones, Course, Medium, and Fine...... I want a Hard Black Arkansas Stone, but the cheapest 8''x2'' is $70 with shipping. Anyone have any recommendations? And no I'm not interested in WhetStones.
 
Try Brownells. I bought mine from them 30 or so years ago and it was spendy even back then ! I only use it for hammers and sears these years.
I use a 1 by 30 leather belt on a belt sander with compound for blades nowadaze.
 
They're expensive because they can't make more. At least that's the case with the translucents. I plan to buy a surgical black when funds permit.
 
You can try to look for vintage ones on certain auction sites. But that price doesn't sound too bad. For comparison, translucent of the same size is around 100.00. Also, when you say "course,medium,fine" what are you talking about? washita, soft, hard?
 
Whetstone roughly translates to "to sharpen with stone"

A wet stone better referred to as a Waterstone or Japanese Waterstone is likely what you were referring to.

As for the ark black, good luck, its a top grade natural stone and will not come cheap.
 
knifenut1013 said:
Whetstone roughly translates to "to sharpen with stone"

A wet stone better referred to as a Waterstone or Japanese Waterstone is likely what you were referring to.

As for the ark black, good luck, its a top grade natural stone and will not come cheap.
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I wanted to use that, but I figured trolls would correct me for improper word use..............
 
Try Dan's Whetstones. They are of good quality. Shop and make sure that it is 'well finished' and flat. Others offer them and those may not be well finished. The black (dark jet black or Navy) are finer than the Translucent and don't come cheap. Look for quality not price. They are getting hard to find. DM
 
David Martin said:
Try Dan's Whetstones. They are of good quality. Shop and make sure that it is 'well finished' and flat. Others offer them and those may not be well finished. The black (dark jet black or Navy) are finer than the Translucent and don't come cheap. Look for quality not price. They are getting hard to find. DM
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Those stones look great. But I did not realize there was high quality and low quality hard black stones? Though I do think I will get one.
 
It's become two levels as the dark black are becoming harder to find. Whereas now, they are calling the grey stone, black. These are very hard too. Good sharpening. DM
 
+1 To Dan's whetstones. Top notch customer service:

A ways back, I had ordered a tri-hone from knife-art. It was made at Dan's whetstones, but purchased by Knifeart with their logo placed on the base. Upon receiving the stone, there was a hairline crack on the soft stone. I was concerned at first, but then I read that small cracks are common and shouldn't be of issue. I put away the hone after sharpening a small drop point hunter. When I looked at the stone the next day, the hair-line crack spread a little and was actually snagging on the knife in use. I PM'ed knifeart to let them know of the issue--I was already aware of their return policy and was not expecting a refund. Knifeart put me in contact with Dan's whetstones where they offered to REPLACE THE STONE FOR FREE...and mind that they are giving me the benefit of the doubt that the crack was not caused by me.

Just had to get that out. That aside, these arkansas stones are top notch and feel silky smooth while sharpening. I use them on my softer carbon steel knives. Don't try them on harder steels or stainless steels as it would if anything, burnish the edge but not make it sharper.
 
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David Martin said:
Mine have worked just fine on hard stainless steels. (154CM). DM
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The only stainless steels I have at the moment are m390, cpm 154, and s35vn. I've tried to sharpen mystery stainless steels on the arkansas and it didn't work out so well.

m390 is clearly out of the option and my cpm 154 is already very sharp from the maker I purchased the knife from. I have shapton glass stones for stainless steels, but perhaps I'll try the arkansas on the cpm154 and the s35vn. Maybe just the s35vn as its a lower RC and the cpm 154 is on the higher side.

EDIT:

Just had to find out. I tried finishing the sebenza's s35vn blade on the surgical black Arkansas stone and it did not yield good results.
 
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I didn't try my cpm-154 on it as like yours mine is already sharp too. I have done 440C and 425M steel on an Arkansas stone with good success too. Because the stone is a natural and it's grit shape it will not cut quickly and will polish. So, it's slow and forgiving but will show improvement/ refinement on the edge. DM
 
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