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Thread: Anybody tried out the new Arkansas water stones?

  1. #1

    Anybody tried out the new Arkansas water stones?

    Hey guys,

    I saw these new Arkansas water stones by RH Preyda in Woodcraft today. Anybody tried them out? Opinions? Where do they shake out vs the Japanese stone spectrum? Slow/fast, hard/soft?
    Last edited by John C Cox; 03-15-2018 at 8:09 PM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by John C Cox View Post
    I saw these new Arkansas water stones by RH Preyda in Woodcraft today. Anybody tried them out? Opinions? Where do they shake out vs the Japanese stone spectrum? Slow/fast, hard/soft?
    All of the products on their site are natural Arkansas stones, so all of them consist of Silica abrasives. Silica is softer then basically every carbide other than Ferrite (Iron Carbide) so you would probably want to stick to low-alloy steels if you go that route.

  3. #3
    For whatever reason - I couldn't find these on their site... These are clearly man made - they are colored specific colors for the different grits.. Apparently it's some sort of sized and graded novaculite which is then held together with some sort of binder and/or sintering...

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    Quote Originally Posted by John C Cox View Post
    ... water stones by RH Preyda in Woodcraft ....
    I guess I'm curious too, but my first thought when I saw those in the flyer was "Why?". It's not like they're (significantly) cheaper than the water stones that are well known & understood standards.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Patrick Chase View Post
    All of the products on their site are natural Arkansas stones, so all of them consist of Silica abrasives. Silica is softer then basically every carbide other than Ferrite (Iron Carbide) so you would probably want to stick to low-alloy steels if you go that route.
    The Woodcraft site's description says these are synthesized from Novaculite recovered from waste of processing traditional Arkansas stones. IIRC- David Weaver, on a different site, is quite the proponent of the quality Novaculite stones. Something about giving a better finish due to smoother less angular scratches.

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    First of all, this thread is like waving a bottle of single barrel estate rum in front of a recovering alcoholic. Darn you! I had stopped buying stones. Now my curiosity is up. I took the chance to google them and found this very long video. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yp-nYqjltfg
    They sure don't appear to be taking off much metal, and that 3k sure did look soft. I like a muddy slurry, but not when it isn't taking any metal off. Also, go to 15:19 in the video and he says there is something in the stone he is hitting. ??? I asked him to clarify what that was. Awaiting reply.

    Looks like they range from just under $50 to just over $70. Let me sleep on it, but I might try one for the team.

    RH Preyda sells a translucent stone that sure looks pretty in pictures but I have never tried it. As for these new stones- it's smart marketing: take the offcuts and the slurry from cutting, grind and filter it, and make expensive stones out of it. Seems their marketing department is a little creative- check out this statement from their website about their translucent Arkansas stone- "Prized by craftsmen worldwide, RH Preyda Bench Stone is the only known substance that can sharpen a blade and polish it as well"

  7. #7
    David,

    That guy is sharpening D2 on an Arkansas stone....
    He posted a follow up where he used a different (lighter) technique and it did a lot better....

    But I am not real sure that Arkansas is the right stone for D2... There is almost no stone that is "right" for connventional D2....

    I have a feeling that he is having a problem pulling the carbides out of the matrix rather than sharpening them... I think you posted similar things about A2 on true Washita stones..
    Last edited by John C Cox; 03-16-2018 at 9:56 AM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by John C Cox View Post
    That guy is sharpening D2 on an Arkansas stone....
    He posted a follow up where he used a different (lighter) technique and it did a lot better....
    Assuming you're referring to David Weaver, he's pretty consistent in his advocacy of plain high-carbon steels, so his choices of steel and honing media are compatible in that sense. He's well aware of the "carbide pull-out" issue (I've discussed it with him many times).

  9. #9
    Somehow I thought David posted that - but I see it was Malcom...

    Same feedback - the guy in the video is sharpening an Ontario Knife D2 blade... I am not surprised he didn't get a good sharp edge off that stone when "honing"..... He changed technique in the 2nd video from honing to "playing with the burr" - and seemed to get a better edge on paper... My guess is that this edge would not hold up particularly well in the field (you know.. Real life hard use like toe picking, opening cardboard boxes, peeling apples, and scraping glue off other knives. )

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    Quote Originally Posted by John C Cox View Post
    Somehow I thought David posted that - but I see it was Malcom...

    Same feedback - the guy in the video is sharpening an Ontario Knife D2 blade... I am not surprised he didn't get a good sharp edge off that stone when "honing"..... He changed technique in the 2nd video from honing to "playing with the burr" - and seemed to get a better edge on paper... My guess is that this edge would not hold up particularly well in the field (you know.. Real life hard use like toe picking, opening cardboard boxes, peeling apples, and scraping glue off other knives. )
    I held my tongue on his technique because I didn't want to go off topic. I'm only going to say that my knife sharpening technique is a little different. By the way, he did respond and said the 3k was cutting fast, and that the contamination in the stone was probably something from his hand that got stuck on the stone. I'm still thinking about trying one out, but while searching for these stones I found their Translucent stones can be ordered in large sizes like 3" x 12", which would be awesome for sharpening machetes. Thanks, OP for making me a "stoner" again. I had kicked the habbit. Now I'm back to looking for stones, even though I already have enough to build a full-scale model of the Great Wall of China. :-)

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    Quote Originally Posted by John C Cox View Post
    But I am not real sure that Arkansas is the right stone for D2... There is almost no stone that is "right" for connventional D2....
    Quote Originally Posted by John C Cox View Post
    Same feedback - the guy in the video is sharpening an Ontario Knife D2 blade... I am not surprised he didn't get a good sharp edge off that stone when "honing"..... He changed technique in the 2nd video from honing to "playing with the burr" - and seemed to get a better edge on paper... My guess is that this edge would not hold up particularly well in the field (you know.. Real life hard use like toe picking, opening cardboard boxes, peeling apples, and scraping glue off other knives. )
    D2 isn't *that* bad. The principal carbide-forming alloyant is Chromium, with only ~1% V. It has very coarse grain structure in non-PM variants, but those huge carbides are softer than alumina.

    Soft waterstones (ones that shed grit fast enough to keep up with the rate at which the steel wears out the abrasive) have no real problem with D2.

  12. #12
    A translucent Arkansas on a machete! You are a better man than I. I usually stop with the medium cut file on mine.

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    Quote Originally Posted by John C Cox View Post
    A translucent Arkansas on a machete! You are a better man than I. I usually stop with the medium cut file on mine.
    Gotta get em this sharp:
    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=B1Q8B03Lmus

    Edit: He uses a few “sentence enhancers” in this video.
    Last edited by Malcolm Schweizer; 03-16-2018 at 2:56 PM.

  14. #14
    That's one sharp machete! Granted they are a whole lot easier to cut green than brown... Still - My machete won't do that...

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    Quote Originally Posted by John C Cox View Post
    That's one sharp machete! Granted they are a whole lot easier to cut green than brown... Still - My machete won't do that...
    I hate to admit it, but neither will mine. They are VERY hard to cut when green. That is like slicing a 2x4 in half in one wack. A brown one like you buy in the states is the inner portion without the outer shell- like comparing cutting a pecan in the husk and just the brown shell part. This video started a challenge for me. So far I can get about half way through. The machete he is using is much thinner than mine, which may help.

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