Why do I continue to watch these videos? I mean, I've watched this man sharpen a knife on a BRICK, and achieve a razor's edge. What kind of an encore can you possibly follow that with?!?!
Rycky -- I'm glad you finally got around to reviewing these Arky Stones! There is something almost mystical about using a natural stone milled from the earth, right here in the USA. They remind me of when I was a kid, being introduced to sharpening by my father who could get his pocket knife razor sharp by doing circular motions on a slab of flint rock. As a custom knife maker, I rarely use them now, but they have a special place in my heart since I learned to sharpen on them. Here's a few of my comments: 1. Arky stones are excellent for working on the very apex due to their firm, flat, texture. This is especially true for smaller blades like folding pocket knives where detailed work is the key. They are also great for putting on a micro-bevel for the same reason (if you are into Cliff Stamp's method). They suck, however, for major jobs like re-profiling or restoring a damaged blade. Not only are they too slow for doing this, they also load up too quickly. 2. Cleaning up: I like using water and Comet Cleaner applied vigorously with a plastic bristled brush after each usage. This is better, in my opinion, from just wiping the stone off with oil, and was recommended to me by the supplier of my black Arky. 3. Oil: I differ from Rooster (whose channel I love) in that I prefer to use a light, food-grade mineral oil purchased from my local Tractor Supply store. It's thin, cheap, odorless, and kitchen safe. www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/ideal-animal-health-mineral-oil-light?rfk=1. I have tried the soapy water that Rooster suggests, but this mineral oil my preference. I'm looking forward to more of your videos testing these precious stones. Forrest
My father taught me the dish soap trick about 40 years ago! the key is to apply the liquid soap as you would oil. Then add a few drops of water as you hone. The soap lubricates the stone much like oil...but then rinses clean...while the bubbles lift the swarf out of the pores. Another trick is to use glycerin. It behaves like oil but is water soluble...so it rinses clean as well. As you might be able to tell...I hate the messy grime that oil invariably leaves on an otherwise beautiful stone!
This video made me decide to go with the Arkansas stones. They good a great job and there is much less added expenses with owning them, such as a sink bridge, flattening plate, cleaning stone, etc. They also appear to last longer than the expensive Japanese whetstones. Please do more video with natural stones of all sorts and keep up all the great videos coming.
@@arturravenbite1693 I wanted to like the arks but they literally have only one good thing going for them. The fact that they wear out very slowly. They cut horribly slow and clog up, they also wear down which requires resurfacing... Any modern water stone is leaps and bounds better. That being said, I use a surgical black as a finisher for razors. Yes they have a kind of visceral attraction being that they're natural stones. But let's be honest, they suck at their job, modern tech has made better stones. =\
@@GearCave sounds to me like you aren't great at using them. I've never had an issue with cutting speed but of course I don't have any knives made of super steel which is the only time I've heard of experienced Arkansas users having a harder time. Also they don't load up so much if you use dawn and water instead of oil, this also keeps them cutting quickly.
@@arturravenbite1693 I've just experienced a myriad of sharpening stones instead of just arks and I'm very experienced, my stone collection is well over $3k. If all you've used are arks you may think they're the bees knees. Get on some Shapton Glass or Naniwa's and you quickly realize that you can do a better job faster... if you just enjoy spending 1 hour to sharpen a knife and still not have a perfect mirror finish then great. I can get a knife razor sharp and I mean razor sharp, not the razor sharp people put on knife boxes but an actually shaving your beard razor sharp with Shapton stones in about 1 hour from a completely destroyed edge. with a mirror polish that would rival the Hubble Telescope. Do that with a soft/hard/surgical black in one hour.
Excellent sharpening demonstration here on the Arkansas stones. I am doing my research presently on the best sharpening stones to use for my woodworking tools, primarily bevels & flats on my chisels & plane blades. The length of time required to sharpen steel makes no difference to me, it is the journey getting there & the end result that matters the most. The dwarves from the Hobbit would enjoy these Arkansas stones I believe... :-) Thanks, Bill on the Hill...
Fun to see your reactions to these “American “ stones. Ha! These are what we all grew up using and wishing we could afford a Black! They are cheaper now than 30 years ago. You are using brand new stones, I can hear the grit. After 2 or 3 sharpenings they will be smoother than now. I’m loving your reactions.
I just finished watching your video on Arkansas stones. I used to use them exclusively then several years ago I switched to synthetics. A couple days ago I brought my old stones out and thought I might poke around and see if I might learn something new (my opinion, you never stop learning). Your video was the most instructive. One thing that I found that has been consistent with what I’ve been hearing for years was whether the surgical black was finer than the translucent or visa versa. I’ve always felt that the translucent was the finer. My stones were all quarried by Les Hall of Hall’s Pro Edge. They’re all sized for a Norton carriage and include, from course to fine, the Washita (pronounced Wah-shi-Tah), soft, hard, surgical black and translucent. The Washita and translucent were custom cuts whereas the soft, hard and surgical black are readily available in sizes for Norton carriages. One thing that you definitely got right is that these stones can, indeed, be very unforgiving. Thanks for a great video. I gotten a lot of good info from you on this and many other topics. Keep up the great work. Oh, on another topic, I’ve had many people ask me about what to do for an affordable, non slip honing pond. When I switched to synthetics I did a lot of shopping around and found that the rubber pad that was designed to go under a Tormek grinder works great. It’s wide enough, has raised edges all around and, when you use a stone holder, everything stays in place. Compared to what you’ll shell out for a designated pond it’s a definite bargain.
Are the Washita stones he sells the same as the vintage stones? I have several vintage stones including a lily white and a rosy red. From what I've seen, all the newly mined stones are quite different, and more closely resemble soft Arks.
I started sharpening with stones before you were born. I hadn't ever used above a Arkansas hard until about 10 years ago when I wanted to sharpen a straight razor. The wife started to buy much better cooking knives, tools. I keep them razor sharp using the Arkansas stones finishing with a surgical black. Great video to see your generation working with your hands on a lost useful knowledge. Have a nice day. One suggestion Remington gun oil is a lightweight oil, common and inexpensive and works great on these stones.
May I add that arkansas stones are especially useful for scandi edges. Large, flat bevels work well with Arkys. The fact that they cut relatively slowly also allows for you to take a knife that is still pretty sharp but not razor sharp and bring it back to life without accidentally reprofiling it and messing up your bevel.
Use dawn and water instead of oil, much less messy and just as effective (courtesy of Rough Rooster Sharpening). These stones are just as good if not better than any stone on the market.
I just tried all three stones and wow! This is one of the easiest stone to sharpen with. And ur so right about best price n best in the market! I’m blown away by these three stones.
Great videos! Recently subscribed to this channel (in 2023) Glad that you made on on Arkansas stones. Can you make a video of sharpening pocket and folding knives? I think that would be cool. Keep up the great work!
Good to see the full session. I just bought a 8x3 soft and a hard black and I love them. The soft is faster than I expected with great feedback. The black amazes me with how fast it cuts compared to how smooth it feels. My knives are sharper than ever.
I have a set of Arkansas stone I haven’t used in awhile. I forgot how amazing these stone are. They named it “surgical” black for a reason. The edge it finishes is incredible.
I once splashed a little water on two of my arkansas stones and pressed the faces together giving them a little twist and they were both so flat they stuck together. (one was a black pocket stone from sharpening supplies and the other was the fine stone from the original 3 stone sharpening I learned to sharpen on)
HI Ricky This was very interesting listening to the sound the different stones make when your sharpening on them as you know I have the naniwa professional water stones , the hard black does sound very good though something to save for .Regards Dean From Oz
Good review. BladeHQ has a 7 inch long, by inch and a half wide soft and hard Arkansas stone cheap. $11-$13 each. They come on a block of wood and with oil. I picked up one of each. I took them off the wood blocks and used the blocks to make strops. I wanted to try the Arkansas stones, but didn't want to spend a lot of money if I wasn't going to like them. Sorry for the long reply. Just trying to help.
There are a great variety of colors and density washita and Arkansas stones on the secondary market, as there were once many companies cutting and preparing them. The newly cut and sold stones are mostly very similar in appearance. Some of my favorite old stones are very porous pink red white swirling stones, which cut very quickly for an ark and leave a nice hazey finish with light pressure.
Tolkien dork here: The Arkenstone was the fabulous jewel discovered by the dwarves at Erebor, the Lonely Mountain, before it was stolen by Smaug the Dragon. It was so beautiful that Thorin the King of the Dwarves became obsessed with reclaiming it. (In the Peter Jackson movie, they called it 'dragon sickness.') Bilbo the Hobbit sensing its unhealthy hold on Thorin secretly gave it to the elves and men who had killed the dragon after it awoke and laid waste upon their town. Upon finding out Bilbo's treachery Thorin cursed Bilbo and demanded the Arkenstone's return; which was refused and thus began the Battle of the Five Armies. Upon Thorin's death, Bard the leader of men, placed the Arkenstone upon Thorin's breast, thus returning the stone to the heart of the Lonely Mountain forever. Tolkien later used the Arkenstone as the template for the three Silmarils in his masterwork The Silmarrillion - the three most beautiful artifacts ever wrought, so beautiful that it wrought the doom of the elves.
I use synthetics for their simplicity and better "true grit sizes", but my "soft arkansas" stone provides me a more mirror finish on the steel. I'm not sure why mine does that at all unless they sent me a hard Arkansas stone by accident.
@@keithbrookshire with sharpening everyone is going to tell you something different. That's the nature of sharpening. I'm going to tell you to not listen to anyone other than yourself. Everyone sharpens different. I can tell you that I used to use oil and I switched to a high tech super cleaner. I never liked the high ride oil gave me. Super cleaner is like a water based synthetic oil. It's weird stuff. It's slicker than oil is and thin like water. I like Purple Power. They sell it at Walmart in the automotive section. It's a cleaner. It's cheap too. So for $4 you can buy a spray bottle and try it. Then if you like it the gallon refill jugs are $5. A gallon lasts a long time. You can use it to clean your stones. Spray some on and brush it around and it'll take the oil right out of them. Then spray more on and try sharpening on it. If you don't like it you can always oil your stones again.
Lived in Arkansas 20 years now. But only now did I decide to grab rocks from the river and sell them to the locals 👀 Just a joke, but seriously I have learned a lot from you over the past couple weeks. Thanks for taking the time to educate from experience.
Thanks for another great video. Can you tell us if you prefer a whetstone or an oil stone? Also what is your opinion about using an arkansas stone with water?
Since you're doing oil Stones now can you do a video on a Norton combination India Stone. Most of the top knife makers in the world recommend that stone it's also one of the most popular ever would be definitely worthy of a review.
I only have experience with the fine Indian stone from Norton it's a very hard flat stone that's about 400 grit that gives nice results. I do not like their course silicon carbite stones but the fine India is decent I think these will be better at getting a sharp edge better than the Indian stone
What kind of steel is on that knife-edge and how hard is it? It sounds very hard on these stones. AR stones are almost pure silica and all are mined in Central Arkansas around the town of Hot Springs, Arkansas in the Ouachita Mountains.
I've got a set by Preyda, except translucent are all affordable. Nothing to do with normal and sintetic stones, are really quick and releasing a perfect sharp and shining bevel. I'm using it also for razors. Are extremely hard, so will require a lot less lapping in the years (to do that you'll need special powder and a glass base). Like it very much.
Hi Ryky, I would be interested how SG2 or R2 would behave on these natural stones. Up to now I have only japanese knifes in my collection without PM-Steel. And for me the natural stone work well. But I would like to know how PM-Steel works with them. Especially if I decide to bye such a high end steel knife.
Arks don't wear much but they will eventually glaze and slow them down. You can pretty easily get them perfectly flat and cutting again with some sic powder and float glass or a flat piece of granite. If you want the stone to cut faster go lower grit sic powder and higher for a more polished finish. I like using food grade knife oil(mineral oil and vitamin e) on them but any light oil or water and dawn will work.
Hy Ryky, maybe you should try the Belgian chunk ( search for :'Belgischer Brocken' in German). This is a natural stone consist of schist and granat (between 30 to 40% granat). You can get a blue (5000-6000 grid ) or a yellow (8000) one. I recently bought a blue one for myself. I love it. It performs well as polishing stone or honing alternative on frequent base. The polish you get is almost mirror finish. It function like a splash and go. Only a few drops of water on the surface, which is very dense. One advantage is that the shape of the granats will reduce the creation of a burr during the sharpening process. So deburring is much easier. The stones go back to the Romans. They found them in Belgium and first use them to sharpen things.
@@Cleymant I got the stone new. So I only tryed the stone once. The first session was to polish some of my knifes. So I started with a clean stone. The stone performed very good. The package contains a little stone. The one is to create slurr ahead of the sharpening session to create more abrasive. On my first session I did not tryed it out. But I will. On my first session starting with the clean stone the slurr creation was slow. See feel of the stone is very good and the result stunning. The stone is very dense and you can edge leading stroke without any problems. I hope this will help you.
Translucent and black stones are technically the same grade of stone. some times the translucent will give you a slightly finer edge, some times the black will. It also depends on how toe manufacturer ground the stones. another fun fact is that over time, the oil will clog up the stone, but it can be cleaned with a good degreasing solution. Alternatively, you can use soapy water instead of oil. (assuming there is no oil currently imbedded in the stone)
I use then to finish the parting off blade on the lathe and the parting tools on the punch. I can get far flatter surfaces by hand than I can with the grinder.
Do you still have the akazawa knife that had the insanely high edge retention in the rope? If so could you do a video sharpening that knife on the Arkansas stones? Love the videos, can't wait for more 👍
@@santiagojimenez277 Dan's surgical blacks are higher specific gravity than his trans afaik. I have an old pike trans slightly higher sg than the stuff dan sells either black or trans, so... Natural stones are variable I guess is the answer
Do you have any experience with European natural stones such as Pyrenees French or Belgian stones? How do they compare to artificial or other natural stones?
Question here: I am looking into a set of Arkansas stones. Soft, Hard, Hard Black. About $50. RH Preyda. Should I be using water? The set comes with oil, but I see plenty of folks saying water is fine, but if I go to oil, I just can;t switch back to oil. Thoughts appreciated please.
I have a pocket set of Arkansas stones and use a mix of water with a little soap (1drop of dawn in a dropper bottle full of water) and it works great. Have an old toothbrush to clean it with after a few sharpenings.
I have a concern over you using the same cleaning rag, on different stones! The grit from one stone can then be transfered to a lower grit. This may leave a large partial on your stone. Think about it. What do you think?
I am from Arkansas and these are the best stones by far the more you use them and understand them on sharpening it is very Therapeutic you yes it a little slower but what's your rush its a prosses not a race I have used them for years all my lifetime and this is not a synthetic rock there very real mined here in Arkansas for years The Natural State is Stannic and we have a lot of other things here as well form Dimond's to Cortez Crystals They will last you a life time these stones are awesome.
how do these do with white and blue steel? i have read that they dont sharpen anything over 60 rockwell.. is that true or just that it takes a really long time?
They do fine even with super agomi. If you want them to cut fast just resurface them with sic on a 10x10 tile drin home depot. Or use some synthetic nagura ut. Once you set the bevel just wipe off all the paste out some more oil clean it off and then sharpen the rest of the way just on the stone. I prefer the resurfacing personally but if you go the nagura route its bes to do side ways strokes yo minamize the convexing of the edge unless you want that.
have you ever used the norton crystalon or india stones? i use them at work for tool sharpening. woner if i should use them fo starting the sharpening of my knives? I HAVBE THE KDS 1000/6000 but even the 1000 is taking too long. using a cheap OXO softgrips knife i ruined on a cheap sharpener (which brought me to your channel lol) but my norton ctystalon is combo 120/320 and the india is 400. i kinda want to try them first to set the bevel which there was none and tiring going for an hour on the 1000 grit.edit: i use sewing machine oil on them.
Hey man! Just recently found your channel and I love it! Have you ever done a test to see the difference of edge between stropping only towards the edge in one test and away from the edge in another? When I hone/sharpen knives it makes sense to strop away from the edge so you're not stropping the cutting edge into the stone. What are your thoughts?
I would really like to know where i can go to find good stones. Amazon has a few, butt🍑........"R" they truly good? There is no link in the description for the stones that U used. --Thankx
I know that I am way late to this video but the link has no 3 inch by 12 inch stones or even close. I was looking for some of these to try but could only find that size in the different stones from like 150 to 630 u.s. 150 being the soft and the expensive the fine or transluscent. Are the ones you have from Amazon and you said they were like 30 and 70 bucks or something.
Ricardo Del Valle Ortega I own a Tormec, the original with a wet wheel and a leather strop wheel. I find it very useful with the jigs and fixtures for restoration work starting from damaged edges. Cold grinding can remove material and not damage heat treated grain structure. I use it only on edges that need re shaping or angle re-set, which is a lot of items.. I do sharpen a lot of blades for friends. For finish work, or sharpening blades that have intact angles, I use stones and silicon carbide wet paper on flat granite. The leather wheel I keep loaded with very very fine abrasive for polishing.. usually after 8000 grit. Granite flat is also great for flattening stones..
I have another question gor you that is unrelated to this video. What do you think of the yellow dragon 4000 grit. For me it gives a good polish and is hard and luxurious. I would like more feed back and less load up. Speaking of which do you only use the rust remover to clean heavy loaded stones or nagura stones or can you use something else?
I don't know about the stone your using but I would say the Arkansas black works amazing and very little load up I use just water for the stone and use a natural or just a leveling stone off amazon
Is it a huge mistake to buy cheap water stones , I tried out a stone i was given and what should of taken a couple mins took an hour , it should of been a quick sharpen on a plane Iron , I was sure the more i sharpened the blunter the edge was getting and i had to keep flattening the stone with a diamond plane . I just ordered Diamond plates for quick maintenance .
I guess it's a case of the grass is always greener on the other side. Here in America everyone wants a Japanese water stone but here are ( I believe) Japanese and you seem to be enjoying the Arkansas oil stones. Now that you've tried both do you have a preference?
LOL! Somehow that old adage, "The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence" also holds true in the world of sharpening - especially when viewed through Rose Colored Glasses".
I have a few Norton translucent stones ranging from 1930s-1960s My favorite is a behr manning I picked up about 12 yrs ago for a good price but it's not a full bench I think it's 5x3 can't remember just wish it was larger. All their old stones that are trans. simply say hard Arkansas but are as smooth as ANYTHING I have ever encountered. I've been considering buying from Dans in the hope that theirs is as fine (dense) but I highly doubt they are as good. Not saying Dans is bad just doubt they are as good as the very old high quality brands are. There was alot more selection back then, just a fact. I bought a small Hall's surgical black yrs ago before they closed and it's a great stone. Wish I had bit the bullet and bought a couple sets from them or Dans back then cause man the price has gone up alot. The berh translucent I have outperforms my shaptons. I have the 5k, 8k, and 12k and that arkie makes my razor alot more comfortable to shave with than any other stones I have tried.
Arkansas stones are graded by density not grit. The black and translucent can be more or less dense as individual stones. Originally they were all just graded as hard by density and color was not considered. Over time people developed a preference for the very dense black and translucent stones and the price went up and new categories emerged. originally there was also a super soft category called "washita stone", they fell out of favor due to harder steels and the fact that they would dish easily for Arkansas stone.
This isnt completely accurate. Go look at the old geological surveys or sharpen stone books. The black stones in the 1700s wernt used because the black is carbon contaminant. It glazes over faster than the pure quartz stones also the same with the ruby red washita they aren't as good as the pure white ones for long honing sessions. Originally washita and translucent were the main stones to have because the washita went all the way from course stones (labeled soft and course) leave 600 to 1000 grit scratch patterns all the way up to stones labeled fine and hard. That I've finished razors on and had a passible shave. Still benefits from some time on a trans. The reason washita stopped becoming available is because Norton bought the rights to the mine from pike and they've said it's not financially reasonable to mine them. Mostly because they wanted to focus on fast wearing abrasives that you'd have to by more than once a lifetime. Originally trans were held to the standard of 2.64 specific density but only either .1 or .01 of the stone mined from trans quarries met that standard. The 2.5 standard to today while isnt as good for polishing to the nth degree makes it to where they can sell much more of what's mined. That's the same with most quarries and why they shut down. Fast wearing synths are much more profitable but before they had those. They really mined for the best stones and held the highest standards. If you ever want to get a washita the lily whites are the most expensive and good but the number 1 and 2 was its are not as pricey and still way better over all that most of the soft or hard stones imo
Ryky,,, I’ve just ordered (1) hard and (1) soft Arkansas stone. Iam “Totally”, not planning on using any type of Oil , on these stones. Some have suggested water and 1-2 drops of dish soap (dawn I believe). And mist that with water as your sharpening. What are Your thoughts,,,-??? Joshua
Hi Ricky. Im looking at getting a black arkansas stone but curious about prep. or conditioning. Are these oil only stones? Do they need to be 'smoothed' after purchase/before use? Thank you for the help.
Athos depends where you buy them from , dans is the best . I lap one side to about 2500 grit . I've used both oil or water and used shaving soap . I prefer the light oil . After use I wipe off with rags . Once lapped they stay lapped for years . Sometimes I'll degrease mine and clean with soap and water , other times I'll soak in light oil and wipe with rags . My surgical and translucent clean real easy . Check out rough rooster videos on Arkansas stones . I've lived in Arkansas most of my life . Mine leaves a mirror polish . On the black I see the teeth of the blade leave rake marks in the oil , when that disappeared , the blade was razor sharp and polish . The black is slower than the translucent. Patience is the key . Trust me , my surgical black polishes to a mirror polish . Best advice . At first you'll be frustrated because it's not a forgiving stone but like one guy said , you stay on that black long enough , it will get razor sharp . I've tried almost all of them , they are the best . Spend the money and get 3 inch wide . Love my 10x3x1 surgical black true hard . More you use it the more you love it !
Dear Sir In a flea market I found a rectangular asher that is a transparent calcedonia. Say a relative of Arkansas. I guess lt comes from the the North of Chile (Antofagasta) or Argentina. Is ultra fine and I tested with Puma oil. Hope you f find a piece SACC. Geophysics
I’ve used everything from aluminum oxide stones to ceramic and diamond, but nothing comes close to the finish of a high quality Arkansas. If you’re a freehand sharpener and want to try something new Arkansas stones are a a great place to start, if you haven’t already.
Do you know anyone who has these in stock? The sharpening supplys website was out of stock on all of them. I'm brand new to wetstone and looking to get my first set, I like everything I've seen so far about natural stones over synthetic, coming from someone with no experience on either. Are these still your recommendation for natural stones or do you recommend something else?
So I bought one of those hard blacks based on this video, and it felt how I was expecting it to feel. The best way to describe it to someone that's never used one is it likes to "grab" onto the knife when you sharpen on it, and it feels like a pane of tempered glass more than any other stone that one might feel resembles glass. The stones are extremely hard and you should make sure they are completely flat when you buy them. Mine wasn't, though it was really close and even then it took a LONG time to lap with 120 grit and 800 grit wet and dry on a slab of marble and then finished on a DMT 8000 grit diamond plate. I can see this being an insanely good stone to finish a yanagiba or other kataba knife. Basically, it's a ceramic strop. I really hope Ryky sees this comment and does a video sharpening a kataba knife on these stones. The edge I have been able to achieve with a hard black is miles better than my 8000 grit diamond plate, jnat, 13k ceramic natural hybrid stone.
IMHO you have too much oil on the stones. Even though they are called oil stones the amount of oil needed is very minimal; if you use too much oil it becomes a lubricant and slows down sharpening. The reason to have any oil at all is for it to create very thin film on the surface of the stone. Then, when the stone loads up with metal swarf you can use larger quantity of oil to wash the swarf off.
What is the best sharpening stone type (finest edge finish) in your opinion? - Synthetic / Ceramic? - Synthetic / Diamond? - Natural / Novaculite (Arkansas)? - Natural / Coticule (Belgian)? - Natural / Thuringian? - Any other?
I recently purchased an Arkansas stone set (10 x 2's) in a soft, medium, and hard black. They are individually mounted on wood bases. However, I am returning b/c the plastic/clear rubber pegs underneath the wood base keeps coming off! I really like the feel of the Arkansas stones. I was often able to sharpen my kitchen knives to the point where I could shave the hair off my legs. I want larger sharpening stones either in 10x3 or 12x3 size. I still consider mysel a beginner, althouh it's not uncommon for me to achieve razor type sharpness on my edges, however I can't always duplicate the razor like sharpness. Could you provide me w/ a maybe 2-3 suggestions having a target price range of around $150 USD. Please include both water and oil stones if appropriate. Thank you, Sam
Not slow at all. These ppl are talking like extra 30seconds??. N thats maybe.. trust me! It is not slow at all. Wow... where do guys get slow with this stones? Thats crazy!!
Not not accurate. Just marketing. The finer the stone the more translucent it will be. The black is actually just carbon and considered a contaminant because it glazes over faster than the white stones. But you have black trans that are finer than the 2.5 specific gravity trans junk that's being sold today. The old Norton standard was 2.64. .01 of of pure quartz crystal
HI RyKy can you recommend a good universal base to hold any of my Ark - Wet stones during sharpening? Thanks keep making great videos being honest to yourself and your viewers.
The latter, screen-left pair (black and tranculcent) are indeed very close yet not quite the same pitch, between a concert b-flat and a b-natural. I would say however that as far as I can tell, it is actually the black that is slightly higher and closer to a b-natural (can be confirmed reasonably easily with a pitch / frequency generator) Trifles aside, thank you for the overview.
It seems like you're using 10" stones there, is it ok to order smaller stones? The 6" stones are only 50 bucks for the 3 piece set. The 8" set is just a bit more. The 10" stones step up like 20 bucks more than the 8".
Larger stones are easier to use as a general rule. Depending on the size of your knife you may need to get creative with smaller stones. Personally I'd stick to 8" and up, but I've used a 1" x 4" ark on an 8" chef knife before so it's doable.
I learned to sharpen on secondhand arkansas stones but unfortunately they broke. I'm really considering buying a new set because the experience is so much worse (for my intuition and feel) with synthetic stones.
Arks don't go by grit they go by specific gravity. The grit on all of them is pretty much the same but the sg makes them behave very differently. I wouldn't choose them for any of the exotic, incredibly hard steels out there right now but for typical stuff they cut fine provided you maintain the surface.
They are actually great for naturals, particularly true washita stones. Particularly the coaser cutting ones. Most coarser naturals tend to be miserable.
OK, in reading the replies, these stones may have a place as primary stones to maintain quality cutlery and tool edges? Obviously flat, If your a sharpening hobbyist collecting a range of stones and tools for fun, they seem important.. My only interest is pure function. I don’t care about oil or water choice, but as I look to improve upon the ‘beginner’ stones I started with some years ago, and the use of silicon carbide papers on my large granite flat, I want to get good ones.. These videos are very helpful, as I know virtually no-one locally that does Japanese blades or high-end cutlery. Even the top cutlery shop uses belt grinders with fine grits, no stones, no leather strops, and they don’t even know the names of Japanese cutlery, let alone the names of features on them. There is one remarkable Japanese blade specialist in the next city, the only westerner that has been admitted to the Guild of Japanese blade makers, but he is busy making custom knives, not offering advice to the advanced amateur sharpener like me.
@@jenniferwhitewolf3784 Arks can sharpen pretty much anything except ceramic knives. They can also leave a mirror polish and create hair poppingly sharp edges. That's where all similarity to synthetic stones ends, and also the point at which we can really compare them. Where synthetic stones are abrasive particles bonded together, arks are one big chunk of abrasive. There is no such thing as "comparable grit value" here to act as a guide, only "it feels like x-grit from y-company". It sounds like you just want a solid upgrade to your current stones. In which case I'd recommend Naniwa, Gesshin, or Shapton stones, with maybe an Atoma 400 diamond plate for flattening. Treat arks as more of a side item, if your core items aren't where you want them it's probably better to stick with the known.
Why do I continue to watch these videos? I mean, I've watched this man sharpen a knife on a BRICK, and achieve a razor's edge. What kind of an encore can you possibly follow that with?!?!
Rycky -- I'm glad you finally got around to reviewing these Arky Stones!
There is something almost mystical about using a natural stone milled from the earth, right here in the USA. They remind me of when I was a kid, being introduced to sharpening by my father who could get his pocket knife razor sharp by doing circular motions on a slab of flint rock. As a custom knife maker, I rarely use them now, but they have a special place in my heart since I learned to sharpen on them. Here's a few of my comments:
1. Arky stones are excellent for working on the very apex due to their firm, flat, texture. This is especially true for smaller blades like folding pocket knives where detailed work is the key. They are also great for putting on a micro-bevel for the same reason (if you are into Cliff Stamp's method). They suck, however, for major jobs like re-profiling or restoring a damaged blade. Not only are they too slow for doing this, they also load up too quickly.
2. Cleaning up: I like using water and Comet Cleaner applied vigorously with a plastic bristled brush after each usage. This is better, in my opinion, from just wiping the stone off with oil, and was recommended to me by the supplier of my black Arky.
3. Oil: I differ from Rooster (whose channel I love) in that I prefer to use a light, food-grade mineral oil purchased from my local Tractor Supply store. It's thin, cheap, odorless, and kitchen safe. www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/ideal-animal-health-mineral-oil-light?rfk=1. I have tried the soapy water that Rooster suggests, but this mineral oil my preference.
I'm looking forward to more of your videos testing these precious stones. Forrest
nietztsuki Good info. You should make some sharpening videos.
My father taught me the dish soap trick about 40 years ago! the key is to apply the liquid soap as you would oil. Then add a few drops of water as you hone. The soap lubricates the stone much like oil...but then rinses clean...while the bubbles lift the swarf out of the pores. Another trick is to use glycerin. It behaves like oil but is water soluble...so it rinses clean as well. As you might be able to tell...I hate the messy grime that oil invariably leaves on an otherwise beautiful stone!
This video made me decide to go with the Arkansas stones. They good a great job and there is much less added expenses with owning them, such as a sink bridge, flattening plate, cleaning stone, etc. They also appear to last longer than the expensive Japanese whetstones. Please do more video with natural stones of all sorts and keep up all the great videos coming.
They also can't cut steel for shit.
@@GearCave they cut simple steels just fine. Even harder alloy steels are normally cut just fine.
@@arturravenbite1693 I wanted to like the arks but they literally have only one good thing going for them. The fact that they wear out very slowly. They cut horribly slow and clog up, they also wear down which requires resurfacing... Any modern water stone is leaps and bounds better.
That being said, I use a surgical black as a finisher for razors. Yes they have a kind of visceral attraction being that they're natural stones. But let's be honest, they suck at their job, modern tech has made better stones. =\
@@GearCave sounds to me like you aren't great at using them. I've never had an issue with cutting speed but of course I don't have any knives made of super steel which is the only time I've heard of experienced Arkansas users having a harder time. Also they don't load up so much if you use dawn and water instead of oil, this also keeps them cutting quickly.
@@arturravenbite1693 I've just experienced a myriad of sharpening stones instead of just arks and I'm very experienced, my stone collection is well over $3k.
If all you've used are arks you may think they're the bees knees. Get on some Shapton Glass or Naniwa's and you quickly realize that you can do a better job faster... if you just enjoy spending 1 hour to sharpen a knife and still not have a perfect mirror finish then great.
I can get a knife razor sharp and I mean razor sharp, not the razor sharp people put on knife boxes but an actually shaving your beard razor sharp with Shapton stones in about 1 hour from a completely destroyed edge. with a mirror polish that would rival the Hubble Telescope.
Do that with a soft/hard/surgical black in one hour.
Excellent sharpening demonstration here on the Arkansas stones. I am doing my research presently on the best sharpening stones to use for my woodworking tools, primarily bevels & flats on my chisels & plane blades.
The length of time required to sharpen steel makes no difference to me, it is the journey getting there & the end result that matters the most.
The dwarves from the Hobbit would enjoy these Arkansas stones I believe... :-)
Thanks,
Bill on the Hill...
I doing exactly the same thing let me know what you decide to go with.
Shapton glass
Fun to see your reactions to these “American “ stones. Ha! These are what we all grew up using and wishing we could afford a Black! They are cheaper now than 30 years ago. You are using brand new stones, I can hear the grit. After 2 or 3 sharpenings they will be smoother than now. I’m loving your reactions.
I just finished watching your video on Arkansas stones. I used to use them exclusively then several years ago I switched to synthetics. A couple days ago I brought my old stones out and thought I might poke around and see if I might learn something new (my opinion, you never stop learning). Your video was the most instructive. One thing that I found that has been consistent with what I’ve
been hearing for years was whether the surgical black was finer than the translucent or visa versa. I’ve always felt that the translucent was the finer. My stones were all quarried by Les Hall of Hall’s Pro Edge. They’re all sized for a Norton carriage and include, from course to fine, the Washita (pronounced Wah-shi-Tah), soft, hard, surgical black and translucent. The Washita and translucent were custom cuts whereas the soft, hard and surgical black are readily available in sizes for Norton carriages. One thing that you definitely got right is that these stones can, indeed, be very unforgiving. Thanks for a great video. I gotten a lot of good info from you on this and many other topics. Keep up the great work.
Oh, on another topic, I’ve had many people ask me about what to do for an affordable, non slip honing pond. When I switched to synthetics I did a lot of shopping around and found that the rubber pad that was designed to go under a Tormek grinder works great. It’s wide enough, has raised edges all around and, when you use a stone holder, everything stays in place. Compared to what you’ll shell out for a designated pond it’s a definite bargain.
Are the Washita stones he sells the same as the vintage stones? I have several vintage stones including a lily white and a rosy red. From what I've seen, all the newly mined stones are quite different, and more closely resemble soft Arks.
It's awesome to see you keep exploring different options for sharpening our fav knives. It looks to be much fun time to work with these Arkstones.
I started sharpening with stones before you were born. I hadn't ever used above a Arkansas hard until about 10 years ago when I wanted to sharpen a straight razor. The wife started to buy much better cooking knives, tools. I keep them razor sharp using the Arkansas stones finishing with a surgical black. Great video to see your generation working with your hands on a lost useful knowledge. Have a nice day. One suggestion Remington gun oil is a lightweight oil, common and inexpensive and works great on these stones.
May I add that arkansas stones are especially useful for scandi edges. Large, flat bevels work well with Arkys. The fact that they cut relatively slowly also allows for you to take a knife that is still pretty sharp but not razor sharp and bring it back to life without accidentally reprofiling it and messing up your bevel.
Use dawn and water instead of oil, much less messy and just as effective (courtesy of Rough Rooster Sharpening). These stones are just as good if not better than any stone on the market.
Love the Rooster! I want his surgical black!! 😉
Hey man thanks!
In my opinion Orange oil and water is even better.
I just tried all three stones and wow! This is one of the easiest stone to sharpen with. And ur so right about best price n best in the market! I’m blown away by these three stones.
@@hotwheels4876 arks are some of the best you can buy. Think them are good? Try some vintage ones lapped
Great videos! Recently subscribed to this channel (in 2023)
Glad that you made on on Arkansas stones. Can you make a video of sharpening pocket and folding knives? I think that would be cool. Keep up the great work!
Good to see the full session. I just bought a 8x3 soft and a hard black and I love them. The soft is faster than I expected with great feedback. The black amazes me with how fast it cuts compared to how smooth it feels. My knives are sharper than ever.
how you managed to finish the video within 8 mins of posting
@@minyuan86 who said I finished? I'm watching it now.
I usually watch RUclips videos at 1.5x speed...
@@kolsky YES YES THIS GUY YES i do that myself
SagerMan67 qq
I have a set of Arkansas stone I haven’t used in awhile. I forgot how amazing these stone are. They named it “surgical” black for a reason. The edge it finishes is incredible.
I once splashed a little water on two of my arkansas stones and pressed the faces together giving them a little twist and they were both so flat they stuck together. (one was a black pocket stone from sharpening supplies and the other was the fine stone from the original 3 stone sharpening I learned to sharpen on)
HI Ricky This was very interesting listening to the sound the different stones make when your sharpening on them as you know I have the naniwa professional water stones , the hard black does sound very good though something to save for .Regards Dean From Oz
Good review. BladeHQ has a 7 inch long, by inch and a half wide soft and hard Arkansas stone cheap. $11-$13 each. They come on a block of wood and with oil. I picked up one of each. I took them off the wood blocks and used the blocks to make strops. I wanted to try the Arkansas stones, but didn't want to spend a lot of money if I wasn't going to like them. Sorry for the long reply. Just trying to help.
There are a great variety of colors and density washita and Arkansas stones on the secondary market, as there were once many companies cutting and preparing them. The newly cut and sold stones are mostly very similar in appearance. Some of my favorite old stones are very porous pink red white swirling stones, which cut very quickly for an ark and leave a nice hazey finish with light pressure.
Tolkien dork here: The Arkenstone was the fabulous jewel discovered by the dwarves at Erebor, the Lonely Mountain, before it was stolen by Smaug the Dragon. It was so beautiful that Thorin the King of the Dwarves became obsessed with reclaiming it. (In the Peter Jackson movie, they called it 'dragon sickness.') Bilbo the Hobbit sensing its unhealthy hold on Thorin secretly gave it to the elves and men who had killed the dragon after it awoke and laid waste upon their town. Upon finding out Bilbo's treachery Thorin cursed Bilbo and demanded the Arkenstone's return; which was refused and thus began the Battle of the Five Armies. Upon Thorin's death, Bard the leader of men, placed the Arkenstone upon Thorin's breast, thus returning the stone to the heart of the Lonely Mountain forever. Tolkien later used the Arkenstone as the template for the three Silmarils in his masterwork The Silmarrillion - the three most beautiful artifacts ever wrought, so beautiful that it wrought the doom of the elves.
I use synthetics for their simplicity and better "true grit sizes", but my "soft arkansas" stone provides me a more mirror finish on the steel. I'm not sure why mine does that at all unless they sent me a hard Arkansas stone by accident.
Hey Ricky, try out your arks with water and a drop of dish soap, I think youd prefer it. Works great, doesnt load, and less messy.
I agree. However, once the stones are loaded with oil you can't go to water.
@@keithbrookshire of course you can. You boil the oil out of the stones.
@@1pcfred I'm just going on what the guy from Dan's told me.
@@keithbrookshire with sharpening everyone is going to tell you something different. That's the nature of sharpening. I'm going to tell you to not listen to anyone other than yourself. Everyone sharpens different. I can tell you that I used to use oil and I switched to a high tech super cleaner. I never liked the high ride oil gave me. Super cleaner is like a water based synthetic oil. It's weird stuff. It's slicker than oil is and thin like water. I like Purple Power. They sell it at Walmart in the automotive section. It's a cleaner. It's cheap too. So for $4 you can buy a spray bottle and try it. Then if you like it the gallon refill jugs are $5. A gallon lasts a long time. You can use it to clean your stones. Spray some on and brush it around and it'll take the oil right out of them. Then spray more on and try sharpening on it. If you don't like it you can always oil your stones again.
@@keithbrookshire Check out Rough Rooster Knife Sharpening. He has some great videos on boiling the stones with degreaser to clean them.
After a little research it might be the translucent stone is lower in grit than the hard black!
More these natural stone videos 😀
Lived in Arkansas 20 years now. But only now did I decide to grab rocks from the river and sell them to the locals 👀
Just a joke, but seriously I have learned a lot from you over the past couple weeks. Thanks for taking the time to educate from experience.
Hi, great video. Very informative to a new sharpener. Could you tell me what the size is of each stone you have there please?
Thanks for another great video. Can you tell us if you prefer a whetstone or an oil stone? Also what is your opinion about using an arkansas stone with water?
Great info presented wonderfully. Thanks a lot.
Since you're doing oil Stones now can you do a video on a Norton combination India Stone. Most of the top knife makers in the world recommend that stone it's also one of the most popular ever would be definitely worthy of a review.
I only have experience with the fine Indian stone from Norton it's a very hard flat stone that's about 400 grit that gives nice results. I do not like their course silicon carbite stones but the fine India is decent I think these will be better at getting a sharp edge better than the Indian stone
What kind of steel is on that knife-edge and how hard is it? It sounds very hard on these stones. AR stones are almost pure silica and all are mined in Central Arkansas around the town of Hot Springs, Arkansas in the Ouachita Mountains.
Just placed an order for a couple of these, thanks for the review.
I've got a set by Preyda, except translucent are all affordable.
Nothing to do with normal and sintetic stones, are really quick and releasing a perfect sharp and shining bevel. I'm using it also for razors.
Are extremely hard, so will require a lot less lapping in the years (to do that you'll need special powder and a glass base).
Like it very much.
Why not use a diamond stone like the Atoma 140 to flatten them? I'm thinking of buying a dense Arkansas for finishing, or maybe a 'Belgian chunk'.
Hi Ryky, I would be interested how SG2 or R2 would behave on these natural stones. Up to now I have only japanese knifes in my collection without PM-Steel. And for me the natural stone work well. But I would like to know how PM-Steel works with them. Especially if I decide to bye such a high end steel knife.
I got some soft arkansas and I will test them today. They seem nice.
I wish you would test Belgian natural stones. I used the blue and the coticule and like them. Easy to use with just water.
Arks don't wear much but they will eventually glaze and slow them down. You can pretty easily get them perfectly flat and cutting again with some sic powder and float glass or a flat piece of granite. If you want the stone to cut faster go lower grit sic powder and higher for a more polished finish. I like using food grade knife oil(mineral oil and vitamin e) on them but any light oil or water and dawn will work.
Hy Ryky, maybe you should try the Belgian chunk ( search for :'Belgischer Brocken' in German). This is a natural stone consist of schist and granat (between 30 to 40% granat). You can get a blue (5000-6000 grid ) or a yellow (8000) one.
I recently bought a blue one for myself. I love it. It performs well as polishing stone or honing alternative on frequent base. The polish you get is almost mirror finish. It function like a splash and go. Only a few drops of water on the surface, which is very dense. One advantage is that the shape of the granats will reduce the creation of a burr during the sharpening process. So deburring is much easier. The stones go back to the Romans. They found them in Belgium and first use them to sharpen things.
Hello, do you happen to create slurr on it to make it more abrasive before you start sharpening, or you are only using it for polishing ?
@@Cleymant I got the stone new. So I only tryed the stone once. The first session was to polish some of my knifes. So I started with a clean stone. The stone performed very good. The package contains a little stone. The one is to create slurr ahead of the sharpening session to create more abrasive. On my first session I did not tryed it out. But I will.
On my first session starting with the clean stone the slurr creation was slow. See feel of the stone is very good and the result stunning. The stone is very dense and you can edge leading stroke without any problems. I hope this will help you.
Rikky would like to see you sharp the dalstrong on these stones. Also your hardest knife you own as well.
Something about using a good stone just makes it into an art form
Translucent and black stones are technically the same grade of stone. some times the translucent will give you a slightly finer edge, some times the black will. It also depends on how toe manufacturer ground the stones. another fun fact is that over time, the oil will clog up the stone, but it can be cleaned with a good degreasing solution. Alternatively, you can use soapy water instead of oil. (assuming there is no oil currently imbedded in the stone)
More Arkansas Stone sharpening please!
I use then to finish the parting off blade on the lathe and the parting tools on the punch. I can get far flatter surfaces by hand than I can with the grinder.
Yes so true. I agreed
Do you still have the akazawa knife that had the insanely high edge retention in the rope? If so could you do a video sharpening that knife on the Arkansas stones?
Love the videos, can't wait for more 👍
I’m pretty sure the black is actually finer then the translucent. At least according to Dan’s wetstones.
I saw that too, but every other sight says the opposite, so who knows.
@@santiagojimenez277 Dan's surgical blacks are higher specific gravity than his trans afaik. I have an old pike trans slightly higher sg than the stuff dan sells either black or trans, so... Natural stones are variable I guess is the answer
They are
yeah black is the finest. although I have a few translucent stones and some are more aggressive than others.
Depends entirely on the grade
Do you have any experience with European natural stones such as Pyrenees French or Belgian stones? How do they compare to artificial or other natural stones?
The reason you didnt get a mirror polish on the black is because of the oil. The oil creates a haze.
I’m able to get a mirror finish on my natural stone with oil. I don’t use Arkansas black though
I've been a LOTR fan for 50 years.
Question here: I am looking into a set of Arkansas stones. Soft, Hard, Hard Black. About $50. RH Preyda. Should I be using water? The set comes with oil, but I see plenty of folks saying water is fine, but if I go to oil, I just can;t switch back to oil. Thoughts appreciated please.
I have a pocket set of Arkansas stones and use a mix of water with a little soap (1drop of dawn in a dropper bottle full of water) and it works great. Have an old toothbrush to clean it with after a few sharpenings.
The Norton oil tri stone at work works fine with regular cooking oil if you don't have honing oil.
How about sharpening on
marble, granite or concrete sharpening session. It would be interesting to watch.
I have a concern over you using the same cleaning rag, on different stones! The grit from one stone can then be transfered to a lower grit. This may leave a large partial on your stone. Think about it. What do you think?
I am from Arkansas and these are the best stones by far the more you use them and understand them on sharpening it is very Therapeutic you yes it a little slower but what's your rush its a prosses not a race I have used them for years all my lifetime and this is not a synthetic rock there very real mined here in Arkansas for years The Natural State is Stannic and we have a lot of other things here as well form Dimond's to Cortez Crystals They will last you a life time these stones are awesome.
Hi rycky I'd like to see how they are with zdp 189 steal or hap 44 that would be cool
What was the name of those whetstone cleaning Stones you were talking about? On Amazon?
how do these do with white and blue steel? i have read that they dont sharpen anything over 60 rockwell.. is that true or just that it takes a really long time?
Deepbluereason is
They do fine even with super agomi. If you want them to cut fast just resurface them with sic on a 10x10 tile drin home depot. Or use some synthetic nagura ut. Once you set the bevel just wipe off all the paste out some more oil clean it off and then sharpen the rest of the way just on the stone. I prefer the resurfacing personally but if you go the nagura route its bes to do side ways strokes yo minamize the convexing of the edge unless you want that.
The "Arkenstone" reference has me sold on these stones as I am a ridiculous Lord of the Rings nerd.
have you ever used the norton crystalon or india stones? i use them at work for tool sharpening. woner if i should use them fo starting the sharpening of my knives?
I HAVBE THE KDS 1000/6000 but even the 1000 is taking too long. using a cheap OXO softgrips knife i ruined on a cheap sharpener (which brought me to your channel lol) but my norton ctystalon is combo 120/320 and the india is 400. i kinda want to try them first to set the bevel which there was none and tiring going for an hour on the 1000 grit.edit: i use sewing machine oil on them.
Hey man! Just recently found your channel and I love it!
Have you ever done a test to see the difference of edge between stropping only towards the edge in one test and away from the edge in another?
When I hone/sharpen knives it makes sense to strop away from the edge so you're not stropping the cutting edge into the stone.
What are your thoughts?
Edge leading vs edge trailing tends to come down to preference. If your technique is not otherwise flawed it makes very little difference overall.
I would really like to know where i can go to find good stones. Amazon has a few, butt🍑........"R" they truly good? There is no link in the description for the stones that U used.
--Thankx
Awesome video. Thank you
Друг! Спасибо тебе большое за твой труд. Обожаю твой стиль!
I know that I am way late to this video but the link has no 3 inch by 12 inch stones or even close. I was looking for some of these to try but could only find that size in the different stones from like 150 to 630 u.s. 150 being the soft and the expensive the fine or transluscent.
Are the ones you have from Amazon and you said they were like 30 and 70 bucks or something.
Awesome review, now please try spyderco! I love them and have used them for years, I'd love to get your opinion.
Is that just mineral oil you used on the stones? Thanks a lot for the video brother
Have you played with the Tormek Sharpening system yet.
I would love to see a review on it
Ricardo Del Valle Ortega
I own a Tormec, the original with a wet wheel and a leather strop wheel. I find it very useful with the jigs and fixtures for restoration work starting from damaged edges. Cold grinding can remove material and not damage heat treated grain structure. I use it only on edges that need re shaping or angle re-set, which is a lot of items.. I do sharpen a lot of blades for friends. For finish work, or sharpening blades that have intact angles, I use stones and silicon carbide wet paper on flat granite. The leather wheel I keep loaded with very very fine abrasive for polishing.. usually after 8000 grit. Granite flat is also great for flattening stones..
I have another question gor you that is unrelated to this video. What do you think of the yellow dragon 4000 grit. For me it gives a good polish and is hard and luxurious. I would like more feed back and less load up. Speaking of which do you only use the rust remover to clean heavy loaded stones or nagura stones or can you use something else?
I don't know about the stone your using but I would say the Arkansas black works amazing and very little load up I use just water for the stone and use a natural or just a leveling stone off amazon
Is it a huge mistake to buy cheap water stones , I tried out a stone i was given and what should of taken a couple mins took an hour , it should of been a quick sharpen on a plane Iron , I was sure the more i sharpened the blunter the edge was getting and i had to keep flattening the stone with a diamond plane . I just ordered Diamond plates for quick maintenance .
I guess it's a case of the grass is always greener on the other side. Here in America everyone wants a Japanese water stone but here are ( I believe) Japanese and you seem to be enjoying the Arkansas oil stones.
Now that you've tried both do you have a preference?
LOL! Somehow that old adage, "The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence" also holds true in the world of sharpening - especially when viewed through Rose Colored Glasses".
Your Arkansas link in the text does not go to any Arkansas stones. Where are these stones in the video?
Where did you buy this set of Arkansas stones?
I have a few Norton translucent stones ranging from 1930s-1960s
My favorite is a behr manning I picked up about 12 yrs ago for a good price but it's not a full bench I think it's 5x3 can't remember just wish it was larger. All their old stones that are trans. simply say hard Arkansas but are as smooth as ANYTHING I have ever encountered. I've been considering buying from Dans in the hope that theirs is as fine (dense) but I highly doubt they are as good. Not saying Dans is bad just doubt they are as good as the very old high quality brands are. There was alot more selection back then, just a fact. I bought a small Hall's surgical black yrs ago before they closed and it's a great stone. Wish I had bit the bullet and bought a couple sets from them or Dans back then cause man the price has gone up alot. The berh translucent I have outperforms my shaptons. I have the 5k, 8k, and 12k and that arkie makes my razor alot more comfortable to shave with than any other stones I have tried.
Arkansas stones rock.
What brand/ manufacture produced these stones?
Why you sharpen at angel one side and back and forth or horizontal other.
Arkansas stones are graded by density not grit. The black and translucent can be more or less dense as individual stones. Originally they were all just graded as hard by density and color was not considered. Over time people developed a preference for the very dense black and translucent stones and the price went up and new categories emerged. originally there was also a super soft category called "washita stone", they fell out of favor due to harder steels and the fact that they would dish easily for Arkansas stone.
Chad Gearing true , love my surgical black , my translucent cuts faster but my black gives me a mirror polish
This isnt completely accurate. Go look at the old geological surveys or sharpen stone books. The black stones in the 1700s wernt used because the black is carbon contaminant. It glazes over faster than the pure quartz stones also the same with the ruby red washita they aren't as good as the pure white ones for long honing sessions. Originally washita and translucent were the main stones to have because the washita went all the way from course stones (labeled soft and course) leave 600 to 1000 grit scratch patterns all the way up to stones labeled fine and hard. That I've finished razors on and had a passible shave. Still benefits from some time on a trans. The reason washita stopped becoming available is because Norton bought the rights to the mine from pike and they've said it's not financially reasonable to mine them. Mostly because they wanted to focus on fast wearing abrasives that you'd have to by more than once a lifetime. Originally trans were held to the standard of 2.64 specific density but only either .1 or .01 of the stone mined from trans quarries met that standard. The 2.5 standard to today while isnt as good for polishing to the nth degree makes it to where they can sell much more of what's mined. That's the same with most quarries and why they shut down. Fast wearing synths are much more profitable but before they had those. They really mined for the best stones and held the highest standards. If you ever want to get a washita the lily whites are the most expensive and good but the number 1 and 2 was its are not as pricey and still way better over all that most of the soft or hard stones imo
RYKY, I need that mat... can I get the link?
With Arks there are many different qualities of stones. You can buy economy or pro-grade level. Yours looks and works very well, what brand are they?
My grandfather would sharpen his knives while watching the Andy Griffith show and waiting for his body work/paint to dry.
Ryky,,, I’ve just ordered (1) hard and (1) soft Arkansas stone. Iam “Totally”, not planning on using any type of Oil , on these stones. Some have suggested water and 1-2 drops of dish soap (dawn I believe). And mist that with water as your sharpening. What are Your thoughts,,,-??? Joshua
You can use just water or soap and water just remember if you use oil you can’t go back to using water and soap
Hi Ricky. Im looking at getting a black arkansas stone but curious about prep. or conditioning. Are these oil only stones? Do they need to be 'smoothed' after purchase/before use? Thank you for the help.
Athos depends where you buy them from , dans is the best . I lap one side to about 2500 grit . I've used both oil or water and used shaving soap . I prefer the light oil . After use I wipe off with rags . Once lapped they stay lapped for years . Sometimes I'll degrease mine and clean with soap and water , other times I'll soak in light oil and wipe with rags . My surgical and translucent clean real easy . Check out rough rooster videos on Arkansas stones . I've lived in Arkansas most of my life . Mine leaves a mirror polish . On the black I see the teeth of the blade leave rake marks in the oil , when that disappeared , the blade was razor sharp and polish . The black is slower than the translucent. Patience is the key . Trust me , my surgical black polishes to a mirror polish . Best advice . At first you'll be frustrated because it's not a forgiving stone but like one guy said , you stay on that black long enough , it will get razor sharp . I've tried almost all of them , they are the best . Spend the money and get 3 inch wide . Love my 10x3x1 surgical black true hard . More you use it the more you love it !
Please give the link for the silicone mat on Amazone. Ty
I custom order mine to spec, but these will doamzn.to/3DlpDmv
Dear Sir
In a flea market I found a rectangular asher that is a transparent calcedonia. Say a relative of Arkansas. I guess lt comes from the the North of Chile (Antofagasta) or Argentina.
Is ultra fine and I tested with Puma oil. Hope you f find a piece
SACC. Geophysics
thanks for the input. i've look transparent calcedonia up but nothing of the sort exists for me to buy. bummer. sounds like a real gem of a find
I’ve used everything from aluminum oxide stones to ceramic and diamond, but nothing comes close to the finish of a high quality Arkansas. If you’re a freehand sharpener and want to try something new Arkansas stones are a a great place to start, if you haven’t already.
Do you know anyone who has these in stock? The sharpening supplys website was out of stock on all of them. I'm brand new to wetstone and looking to get my first set, I like everything I've seen so far about natural stones over synthetic, coming from someone with no experience on either. Are these still your recommendation for natural stones or do you recommend something else?
Amazon has then but look for a good seller Dan's is a quality seller
How did your ap do so far? Very cutiouse about it.
Where is the link to these stones?
Should’ve show how the finish of the edge looks like, I never use a natural stone, I really wonder how the finish of the edge will look.
It is pretty fine.
So I bought one of those hard blacks based on this video, and it felt how I was expecting it to feel. The best way to describe it to someone that's never used one is it likes to "grab" onto the knife when you sharpen on it, and it feels like a pane of tempered glass more than any other stone that one might feel resembles glass. The stones are extremely hard and you should make sure they are completely flat when you buy them. Mine wasn't, though it was really close and even then it took a LONG time to lap with 120 grit and 800 grit wet and dry on a slab of marble and then finished on a DMT 8000 grit diamond plate. I can see this being an insanely good stone to finish a yanagiba or other kataba knife. Basically, it's a ceramic strop. I really hope Ryky sees this comment and does a video sharpening a kataba knife on these stones. The edge I have been able to achieve with a hard black is miles better than my 8000 grit diamond plate, jnat, 13k ceramic natural hybrid stone.
n00baTr00pa good stuff! You should make some sharpening videos.
IMHO you have too much oil on the stones. Even though they are called oil stones the amount of oil needed is very minimal; if you use too much oil it becomes a lubricant and slows down sharpening. The reason to have any oil at all is for it to create very thin film on the surface of the stone. Then, when the stone loads up with metal swarf you can use larger quantity of oil to wash the swarf off.
What is the best sharpening stone type (finest edge finish) in your opinion?
- Synthetic / Ceramic?
- Synthetic / Diamond?
- Natural / Novaculite (Arkansas)?
- Natural / Coticule (Belgian)?
- Natural / Thuringian?
- Any other?
Diamond is fastest then water stones to get to a razors edge. Water stones are still the cheapest and best edge
Need to find you a washita soft Arkansas to add to your Arkansas stone.
Edward Dickerson there is no such stone, washita and soft Arkansas is two different stones
I recently purchased an Arkansas stone set (10 x 2's) in a soft, medium, and hard black. They are individually mounted on wood bases. However, I am returning b/c the plastic/clear rubber pegs underneath the wood base keeps coming off!
I really like the feel of the Arkansas stones. I was often able to sharpen my kitchen knives to the point where I could shave the hair off my legs.
I want larger sharpening stones either in 10x3 or 12x3 size.
I still consider mysel a beginner, althouh it's not uncommon for me to achieve razor type sharpness on my edges, however I can't always duplicate the razor like sharpness.
Could you provide me w/ a maybe 2-3 suggestions having a target price range of around $150 USD. Please include both water and oil stones if appropriate.
Thank you,
Sam
How are they compare to Chosera or Shapton Glass?
They are very different than chosera or shapton. They are MUCH harder, they cut slower and leave a different finish.
Not slow at all. These ppl are talking like extra 30seconds??. N thats maybe.. trust me! It is not slow at all. Wow... where do guys get slow with this stones? Thats crazy!!
Yea I think a surgical black Arkansas is higher grit/lower micron particulate than the translucent.
Not not accurate. Just marketing. The finer the stone the more translucent it will be. The black is actually just carbon and considered a contaminant because it glazes over faster than the white stones. But you have black trans that are finer than the 2.5 specific gravity trans junk that's being sold today. The old Norton standard was 2.64. .01 of of pure quartz crystal
HI RyKy can you recommend a good universal base to hold any of my Ark - Wet stones during sharpening?
Thanks keep making great videos being honest to yourself and your viewers.
Naniwa makes a really good one that I personally own. It's 3 inches wide and can hold up to 10 or maybe 12 inch stones.
I'm getting a "Not Found" error message when I click on the app link
burrfections.com/AppReg
Thank you.
The latter, screen-left pair (black and tranculcent) are indeed very close yet not quite the same pitch, between a concert b-flat and a b-natural. I would say however that as far as I can tell, it is actually the black that is slightly higher and closer to a b-natural (can be confirmed reasonably easily with a pitch / frequency generator)
Trifles aside, thank you for the overview.
It seems like you're using 10" stones there, is it ok to order smaller stones? The 6" stones are only 50 bucks for the 3 piece set. The 8" set is just a bit more. The 10" stones step up like 20 bucks more than the 8".
Larger stones are easier to use as a general rule. Depending on the size of your knife you may need to get creative with smaller stones. Personally I'd stick to 8" and up, but I've used a 1" x 4" ark on an 8" chef knife before so it's doable.
I learned to sharpen on secondhand arkansas stones but unfortunately they broke. I'm really considering buying a new set because the experience is so much worse (for my intuition and feel) with synthetic stones.
arkansas are great. a little slower but natural stones are awesome
As always a pleasure to watch 😀 It is almost better then meditation 🙏
OK, these are good for natural stones... but how do they compare with synthetic stones of similar cutting grit?
Arks don't go by grit they go by specific gravity. The grit on all of them is pretty much the same but the sg makes them behave very differently. I wouldn't choose them for any of the exotic, incredibly hard steels out there right now but for typical stuff they cut fine provided you maintain the surface.
They are actually great for naturals, particularly true washita stones. Particularly the coaser cutting ones. Most coarser naturals tend to be miserable.
OK, in reading the replies, these stones may have a place as primary stones to maintain quality cutlery and tool edges? Obviously flat,
If your a sharpening hobbyist collecting a range of stones and tools for fun, they seem important.. My only interest is pure function. I don’t care about oil or water choice, but as I look to improve upon the ‘beginner’ stones I started with some years ago, and the use of silicon carbide papers on my large granite flat, I want to get good ones.. These videos are very helpful, as I know virtually no-one locally that does Japanese blades or high-end cutlery. Even the top cutlery shop uses belt grinders with fine grits, no stones, no leather strops, and they don’t even know the names of Japanese cutlery, let alone the names of features on them. There is one remarkable Japanese blade specialist in the next city, the only westerner that has been admitted to the Guild of Japanese blade makers, but he is busy making custom knives, not offering advice to the advanced amateur sharpener like me.
@@jenniferwhitewolf3784 Arks can sharpen pretty much anything except ceramic knives. They can also leave a mirror polish and create hair poppingly sharp edges. That's where all similarity to synthetic stones ends, and also the point at which we can really compare them. Where synthetic stones are abrasive particles bonded together, arks are one big chunk of abrasive. There is no such thing as "comparable grit value" here to act as a guide, only "it feels like x-grit from y-company".
It sounds like you just want a solid upgrade to your current stones. In which case I'd recommend Naniwa, Gesshin, or Shapton stones, with maybe an Atoma 400 diamond plate for flattening. Treat arks as more of a side item, if your core items aren't where you want them it's probably better to stick with the known.