Contributor
He was a masochistic, glutton for punishment.If Rambo would read this, he would laugh. He would shave with a serrated knife.
I tend to sharpen my kitchen knives with a smooth edge. They can cut very thin slices off a ripe tomato. Scratched or serrated edges tend to make a mess of a ripe tomato.
Of course if you have a tomato that is as hard as a baseball, then maybe the sawing action is helpful.
jtk
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
Contributor
IMO, one of the misconceptions about oilstones comes from charts like the one below comparing them to the grit of water stones.
Brand-Type-Density Chart.png
I wish my Dan's Soft Arkansas performed like a 400-600 grit water stone. My Washita stones do have a similar cutting feel as a 1-2000 grit water stone.
There is a wide range of stones with the label "Arkansas stone" of all varieties. Some translucent stones are going to be smoother than others. Same with all the other names derived by Man.
jtk
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
Contributor
Sharpening stones are 1/3rd art, 1/3rd science, and 1/3rd religion.
I have a few old Arkansas Smith brand stones, and one has a smooth side and a coarse side. It's not supposed to. It wasn't sold as if it should. But it does. And it's not a huge difference, maybe something like 800 grit and 1200 grit. But it's enough you can tell there's a difference.
And I have another that is a mostly black stone with a big translucent streak running through the middle of it, and both the black and translucent parts seem to be about the same grit and wear about the same. No real difference other than color.
So, from my experience, Arkansas stones are just natural stones that happen to be whatever nature told them to be. I wouldn't trust a manufacturer's word on one if you're serious about meeting specific parameters. If you need something 100% accurate, then you probably should get a man-made whetstone. But they're perfectly fine stones and a joy to use, so long as you accept them for what they are.
Contributor
Jimmy, I think better divided up in quarters with 1/4 being history. The mark of a good historian is being able to make it up on the fly, and there is plenty of that too.
My finest stone was bought as a Black around 1974. Once I cleaned it with carb cleaner, and all the black came out revealing it to be a Translucent. It has always done a beautiful job, black dye or not.
Member
Thumbs up to Nature that doesn't follow our strict categories and cliches and that shows a fair bit of "free will".Originally Posted by Jimmy Harris
By the way Nature will take back our dictatorship upon the world. Just give her some thousands years.
We get lost in the over-building and perfect material arguments that sometimes we simply loose sight of the making (Tom Fidgen)
Member
The makers of synthetic stones don't follow strict categories either. A 1000 grit stone can be quite different among different manufacturers.
If you expect a black Arkansas stone to cut like a 1200 grit stone, you will be quite disappointed. And if you expect a 1200 grit stone to polish like an Arkansas stone, you will be disappointed as well.
Arkansas stones are for polishing already sharp tools.
Member
Thank you Warren
We get lost in the over-building and perfect material arguments that sometimes we simply loose sight of the making (Tom Fidgen)
Member
This is correct. A natural stone is just that - a rock dug out of the ground. As such, each one can have some variation, both within the stone and from stone to stone. Some of them are more or less aggressive, some are more or less scratchy, some polish better than others. Thus it goes.
As such, if you find one you really like, keep it. Unlike synthetic stones, you may not be able to get another one exactly like it.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote