Should I add a translucent Arkansas stone to my regime

[Mike Ternan]

Hi

After the bench grinder for shaping I have a simple freehand sharpening regime involving a dia-sharp ultra fine diamond stone followed by a leather strop with jeweller’s rouge. This gives me a sort of polished surface on at least the bevel side of my edges. I say sort of because you can still see scratches on the blade backs. However, this gives me a thoroughly sharp edge that will cleanly pare pine end grain.


I’ve read that the ultra fine dia-sharp (1200 grit) is equivalent to a 3000 grit waterstone. So I’m wondering if this is too course for my final stone before stropping. With a finer stone in between the two I could probably shift the scratches that still remain after the strop?!


Why do I want to do this if I’m getting an edge that is razor sharp already? Durability. I just think that an intermediate step on a finer stone might give me a longer lasting edge. Plus, for much chisel work I could cut out the stropping and just finish with a few swipes on a fine stone – the dia-sharp is too coarse to stop at.


The stones that appeal to me are oilstones – in this case a translucent Arkansas. I just don’t think I could ever warm to the constant flattening of waterstones. Equally, I’d be concerned about the spyderco stones and very very fine diamond plates as I’ve heard they can often be a bit rum. In addition, having a ‘proper’ oilstone in the mix appeals to the galoot in me.


So how fine are the translucents? I’ve read various conflicting things. Apparently, Norton equates them with only a 4000 waterstone, in which case one probably wouldn’t be worth my while. But others say they are closer to 5000 or 6000, and I think I read that Joel Moskowitz rates them as highly as the equal of 8000 grit waterstones. The other reservation I have is that they are apparently very slow. But is this an issue when you’re polishing a small secondary bevel on your final or penultimate finishing medium?

Related to this possible decision is the fact that I’ve just spotted a second hand Salmen’s 50/60s hard Arkansas stone come up for sale. How would this old brand and type compare to the Norton hard translucent?

[Jim Koepke]

Mike,

Welcome to the Creek. Your profile does not show your location. If you are near southern Washington, I can let you try my oil stones if you like.

If we are lucky, someone like Bob Smalser will add their thoughts on this.

I am more familiar with water stones even though I do have quite a few oil stones around.

My feeling is there are a few things taking place in the differences and the actions of the different sharpening methods.

My thoughts do not really have anything other than my own observations to support them and may not be worth more than a bucket of donkey dung. That said, it seems that oil stones do not get into the polishing effect of the water stones until you get into the stones barbers used to use for honing their straight razors. I have seen a few of these and own one or two. They are usually marked as razor hones. My knowledge on their composition is zilch.

For the Arkansas stones, it seems the hardness of the stone tends to cause the surface to become polished as opposed to becoming a slurry. It seems over time it leaves a smaller scratch pattern and polishes more than it abrades.

Traditional water stones are soft and the material breaks off and becomes a slurry along with the surface to work the steel. More modern water stone technology has harder stones with a more stable compound that does the work. Less slurry equals longer surface life between flattening sessions.

This is my take on what happens with sharpening stones. As said earlier, it may be all wrong.

Maybe someone with a more scientific approach will come along and explain it all better.

BTW, the stropping will not remove any but the slightest scratches.

For my own work, if a blade is honed often enough, I usually do not have to do much more than a little touch up on the 8000 water stone. If the blade is used a lot, then maybe 4000 and 8000. I try to stop and take care of a blade before it needs to get more work than the 2000 stone.

jim

[James Taglienti]

i have a translucent arkansas and i use it frequently. i do not know the grit. some web sites who sell them will give an estimate.

all i can tell you is that it has a permanent place in my sharpening regimen. i do not get very scientific here. I just rub a piece of steel on progressively finer stones until it's razor sharp. sometimes there are scratches left, sometimes not. my translucent arkansas leaves a very reflective surface with barely perceptible scratches on it. sometimes i skip it if i am likely going to destroy the edge of the chisel in the next 5 minutes anyway (heavy mallet work and glue removal.)

[Don Dorn]

I hear you about the flattening of stones. It is the reason I too went to the DMT 1200. However, I use that as my medium stone (and first when refreshing a blade) to raise the burr, then I finish it on an 8000 waterstone. I don't have to flatten the 8000 much because all I'm doing is polishing what was done on the DMT. Additionally, the 8000 only has to be spritzed with water as opposed to being soaked. I see that DMT offers a equivilent 8000 stone too which is appealing to me but I haven't bought one yet.

In my limited experience, I do recommend using a 6000 or 8000 stone to polish what you are already doing. Then, be sure to wipe the burr off. There are two things I've learned about sharpening and the first is find a system that works for you and stick with it, regardless of all the dodads that tempt you elsewhere. The second is that by sticking with the first, you'll get better and better in a shorter amount of time and your edges will improve as your skill level does.

To test for sharp, I first use the old silversmiths trick in that I lay the edge down horizontally (bevel up) against my fingernail and lightly push against it. It should stick over the entire edge and not slide on your nail at all. Then, I think just because it makes me feel good, I grab a piece of receipt paper and slice the blade (as it would be in the plane) through like a knife action. I think you'll find that it will effortlessly run nearly though. Ron Hock said of that test "That's sharp!"

[john brenton]

If you are using green rouge you might want to switch over to the white. Although I have the Norton system for honing, for everyday whetting I use my black Arkansas bench stone followed by a few passes on a paddle strop charged with white rouge, finished by a quick strop on clean leather and I get scratch free, mirror finish, shave ready edges every time. Just a few brisk strokes on the white rouge strop does the job.