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McVeyMac Musings and Observations on Arkansas Honing (Originally Posted in Journal)

McVeyMac

McVeyMac

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More Ark Talk Than You Ever Could Have Imagined

Well this morning was just amazing. I took the 7/8" Barber's notch BRW that was finished on my newly lapped, sanded and moderately burnished 3x12x1 Black Ark. The very same razor that I shaved with over the weekend. After shaving with it over the weekend, I did my normal maintenance routine on my 2x8x1/2 Black to see if it would improve it. Well this morning, I gave it another 30 or so laps on the 2x8 Black in my den before shaving with it. The bevel on this razor feels amazing, and it gave me a grail worthy 3 pass heel kicking, dolphin skin smooth BBS that is probably in the top 2% of shaves ever.

Of the five Dan's stones that I own. the little 2x8x1/2 Black is the least expensive of all of them, and it is by far the best finisher. I never lapped this stone, I never sanded this stone, I have only burnished it with my chisels and honed razors on it. Keep in mind, I have been honing razors on it every day for over six months. If I can get my large 3x12x1 Black to finish a razor as well as this little stone does, then I can die a happy man.

Now the question becomes: Why does my little 2X8 do such a superior job at finishing a razor than does my big 3x12 Black or even the Trans. for that matter? One answer might be that the 2x8 stone is just inherently a better stone for finishing. As I have said before, Dan does a very good job of binning his stone types into specific gravity bins. The thinking here is that the specific gravity of an Ark is an indicator of what the stone is best used for. The higher the specific gravity, the denser the stone and the finer the crystalline structure of the Novaculite. All Ark stones consist of Novaculite. One can argue that his Soft, Hard, True Hard, Translucent and Black Hard designations are just ridiculous, especially Hard, True Hard and Black Hard, but what Dan has done is he has designated these names to fall within a range of specific gravities of stones which does loosely correlate to grit size. You might ask why the same material ranges in specific gravity, and the answer has to do with the pressures and temperatures that the material has undergone in its formation. You will also notice that in the finishing range of stones that Dan classifies, he only designates them as > 2.50 Specific Gravity, and >1,200 grit. This group includes the True Hard, the Translucent and the Black Hard. He goes on to call the True Hard and the Translucent Extra Fine and the Black Hard Ultra Fine. No other miner of these stones that I am aware of has gone to this length to try to classify them as usefully as Dan has. But at the end of the day, these are natural stones. Stones within the same category can behave differently for a given purpose (i.e. finishing a razor). So one answer might be that the 2x8 is just a superior razor finishing stone compared to my big 3x12 Black.

There are other explanations that I am hoping can account for the difference. The 2x8 stone has 16 sq. in. of honing (lapping, burnishing, etc.) surface, and the 3x12 has 36 sq. in. What this means is that I would have to burnish the 3x12 2.25 times as much and hone 2.25 as many razors to bring it to the same condition as the little 2x8 is currently in compared to when they came from the factory. I can inequivalently state that this is not the case. I have had the 2x8 probably 8 months to a year longer than the 3x12 Trans. or the Black, and the 2x8 was the only Ark I had for that period of time. I know I spent more time burnishing and clearly have honed many more razors on it. Now that I have produced a new surface on my 3x8 Black, it is really behind the 8 ball with respect to the amount of steel that the surface has seen. My hypothesis here is that my 3x12 will improve with continued burnishing and use to the point that it stabilizes, and the change is slowed down considerably with each use and burnishing. It is my hope that the big 3x12 will settle in at a point where it performs much like the little 2x8.

My observation on Saturday was that of the two razors that I had honed (one finished on the 3x12 Trans. and the other finished on the 3x12 Black), the razor finished on the Trans. had the smother finish of the two, but not by a great deal. It was noticeable though. I can hopefully account for this by stating that the Black is just not broken in fully yet. I have been asked before why I got a Trans. and a Black Ark of the same size, and the best answer I can come up with is wishful thinking. According to all of Dan's objective data that he has in his table (https://www.danswhetstone.com/information/stone-grades-101/) there is no difference between the True Hard, Trans. and Black hard stones in either specific gravity or in relative grit size. But there is a difference in the subjective indicator of Extra Fine and Ultra Fine. I was hoping that there would be enough difference in the finishing ability between the two stones that I would be able to notice it, and get a better edge from the Black than I could from the Trans. If this were the case, then a Trans. Black progression would make sense. In actuality, I can not say that this has ever been the case with these two stones. I got these two stones at a similar time. I did get the Trans. first, burnished it, and tried finishing some razors on it to pretty good effect, But it never wowed me. Soon after this, I pulled the trigger on the 3x12 Black. I burnished it and placed it in progression with the Trans., again to pretty good effect, but I was never completely wowed. And at the time, I was not seeing a huge difference between the razors finished on the 3x12 Black, or the 2x8 Black. Additionally, I was never convinced that the big Black improved the finish over the big Trans. Lastly, I think that my Trans. is broken in well, and will not be changing considerably with use. I might check again for flatness, and like the big Black, I might lap the opposite side of the surface I am using to see if I can improve upon the performance.

There is yet another observation regarding my big Black that might explain some of my observations, or it could be nothing. The side of the big Black that I have been using has some lines of inclusions that are tiny veins of lighter material. My smaller 2x8 does not have these, and is essentially uniform in appearance. I have never read of such a thing as toxic inclusions with respect to Ark stones, like I have with JNats, but this might explain the difference between the finish I get from the small Black compared to what I was able to get with the original surface on the big Black. These inclusions cannot be felt by either the finger or the razor, but they might be slightly harder than the surrounding material. When I lapped, sanded and burnished the opposite surface of the big Black over the weekend, I did not see these inclusions. When I look at the reflected light off of the freshly lapped and burnished side of the big Black, I see it reflects light more clearly than the side that I had been using. The new surface is uniform in color and appearance, and I am hopeful that, once completely broken in, will perform as admirably as my smaller 2x8 Black in finishing a razor.
 
More Ark talk on top of the More Ark Talk Than You Ever Could Have Imagined

In trying to put together a progression of Ark stones from bevel set to finishing, I also added a 3x8x1 Soft Ark and a 3x8x1 Hard Ark. Looking at Dan's Stone Grades 101, the Soft Ark has a grit size range from 600 to 800, and the Hard has a grit size range from 800 to 1,000. this means that my Soft could have an effective grit of 792 and my Hard could have an effective grit of 802, essentially meaning that they would hone a razor equally. On another note, I have never seen a Washita stone available on Dan's website, else I would have purchased one. I also have never contacted Dan to inquire about availability. To this day I have not shaved off of these stones to see if there is a discernible difference in the feel of the bevel, and clearly I do not know if I have a progression with these two stones. Again, it was more wishful thinking on my part.

To muddy the waters further, Dan does not measure specific gravity of every stone that he makes. He has been working with these stones for a long time, and has measured specific gravity on enough of them that he categorizes them based on his experience. His experience might be + 5%, + 10% or more. The point I am making is that my Soft and Hard Arks might be equal, and they might effectively be a redundancy in the progression. One day I do intend to set a bevel on the Soft, then shave with it. Then hone the same bevel on the Hard and shave with it to see what I can learn. Until then I blindly hone on these stones in progression.

If I were to describe my optimal Ark only honing progression it would be Washita with a specific gravity of well less than 2.25, a Soft with a specific gravity of 2,3, a Hard Ark with a specific gravity of 2.4, a trans with a specific gravity of 2.5+ (but less than the highest specific gravity ever measured, whatever that is) and a Black with the highest specific gravity ever measured. For those of you thinking of putting together an Ark progression for razors I think that you would best be served with a Washita, either a dense Soft or a less dense Hard, and either a Trans. or a Black Hard. I would suggest getting a Trans. then look for an exceptional Black to top it all off like my little 2x8x1/2. But I have to tell you, until my big 3x12 gives me the same performance as the smaller stone, it is not for sale!

Measuring specific gravity on a stone accurately and repeatedly is a tedious process. Depending on how crude or how precise the equipment is that you are using to make the measurements will dictate the accuracy of your results. However, one day when I have little else to think about, I do intend to measure the specific gravity of my stones. And when I do, I will certainly report my findings here.
 
So much information here. Thanks for posting it here Walt. Many members will find value in this for sure!
 
Good stuff Walt. I was going to ask when you planned to measure the specific gravity of your stones but it sounds like that is a task for a lazy weekend. Seems to me even a relatively crude measurement would accurately reflect the relative higherarchy even if an absolute specific gravity might not be known
 
CBLindsay said:
Good stuff Walt. I was going to ask when you planned to measure the specific gravity of your stones but it sounds like that is a task for a lazy weekend. Seems to me even a relatively crude measurement would accurately reflect the relative higherarchy even if an absolute specific gravity might not be known
Click to expand...

I was trying to think of ways to collect and measure displaced water, but you are correct that these are cubes of minerals where the volume can be pretty accurately calculated. Alternatively, I could use this method.

http://www.johnbetts-fineminerals.com/jhbnyc/articles/specific_gravity.htm
 
Great write up Walt!

A lot of good information and observations!
 
Since we are on the topic of Ark honing, and this in in the Honing subsection, I would like to take some time to discuss someone that has been influential in my journey into straight razors as well as honing. I really do not make a distinction between the two as I see honing as being an essential part of straight razor shaving, just as I see reloading ammunition as being an essential part of the shooting sports. In my opinion, these are one topic. At any rate, the most influential person for me at that other place was Keith Johnson, and what I have learned from him I think is worth learning for all beginners into straight razor shaving/honing.

If you know of Keith Johnson, you probably know he hails from Brooklyn, NY. Now I am not a New Yorker, but my family is from Philadelphia. I have lived in many parts of the nation, and I have to say, there is a common East Coast attitude that runs from Boston to Philadelphia that is unlike any other place in the country where I have lived. Of course there are differences in the way that the attitude comes out, and there are differences in the accents used to express that attitude, but overall there is a common East Coast attitude. I grew up with it, I understand it, and I actually have an appreciation for it.

I will start out by saying that there is very little in my life that I would recommend a beginner do like I did. For example, I went to college with a wife and a baby, and I had two babies before finishing my undergraduate degree. I would never recommend that a young person do what I did, even though my professional career would likely be considered successful for the casual bystander looking at my journey. But man was it ever hard. When I started straight razor shaving, I got an inexpensive new Dovo razor. Well guess what, it was straight from the factory, and was not close to being shave ready. Then I found that other forum, and I found the honing sub-forum. I did some reading, posted some questions, and decided that I had the basic ingredients (stones) to hone my razor myself. This is my second point, never try to learn to shave and hone a straight razor at the same time. Learn to shave first on shave ready equipment, and if it gets dull, have somebody who knows what they are doing re-hone it for you. Even if it costs some money. Well, my honing attempts did improve the bevel quite a bit, and through the process I learned to assess edge geometry issues etc. At the time I was honing on 100% synthetic stones, and I had a 1K and a 6K King, a 3K, 8K and 10K Naniwa progression, and this was enough of a progression for me to hone razors. So I did. Along the way, I determined that I did not actually know what a shave ready razor felt like. Well at the same time the acquisition disorder started kicking in, so I started acquiring straight razors from reputable people who were selling them as shave ready. Upon arrival, I discerned that the shave and the feel that I was getting from the shave ready razors was really no different than what I was getting from my home honed Dovo. I later learned that this was due mainly to my lack of skill on my shaving technique, and not due to a lack of the bevel on the shave ready acquisitions.

Fast forward a little bit, spending time in that honing sub-forum I learned that people were also using Arks for honing razors, and this intrigued me. See, I learned to sharpen knives as an adolescent using Ark stones, and it was always my fathers weapon of choice. My dad was a carpenter, a hunter and outdoorsman, and he was the first one to teach me about tool steels and sharp things as well as their maintenance. He always had little one liners that I do not subscribe to today, such as if it does not rust, it isn't any good. That was his way of saying that carbon steel made superior tools from a sharpen-ability standpoint than stainless steel. I know today that the stainless steels of the time tended to be significantly harder than the carbon steel that was being used, and it was in fact harder to sharpen. But not impossible. My dad was in the Navy in WWII, and his ship was placed in dry-dock in Liverpool, England after crossing the Atlantic and hitting 90 to 100 ft. seas. While there he got my grandfather (also a carpenter) three Sheffield wood chisels to give him as a gift. My dad used to say that Sheffield steel was the finest steel in the world. By the way, I have those three Sheffield wood chisels to this day. Interestingly, after his time in England, he was re-assigned a ship in the South Pacific and spent the rest of the war fighting the Japanese. After the war he had such a prejudice against the Japanese that he never was open to the long traditions and attributes of Japanese steel or JNat stones.

Well, this story is supposed to be about Keith Johnson, so how does it fit in you might ask? Like I said above, after finding several threads on Ark honing, and there were a number of honemeisters using them to hone razors (one of which was Keith Johnson), I started asking some questions. See I started frequenting that sub-forum in 2014, after the mods had come down on that particular part of the forum, so I guess the attitudes that I experienced were nothing like they had previously been. But I have to say there were several opinionated people there. So I started reading what they were saying about hones and honing all around the site. There was one particular post where a newbie like myself was asking about the proper way to hone razors, actually getting into specific questions. Keith Johnson chimes in with (and I am paraphrasing) "hone every day until you are sick of honing, then hone some more." On another instance a newbie asked a question as to how to tell when a bevel is ready to move to the next stone, and Keith's reply was "it is not done until it is done, then move on." Well I was very interested in the answer to this questions, and when I saw Keith was answering it, I got excited, up until I read it. You see, I wanted to know the same thing. Well I quoted Keith so I knew he would be notified of my post, and I tore into him stating that such a flippant answer was uncalled for with people trying to learn this art. What happened next was telling to me. His first sentence or two was full of Brooklyn attitude, which is what I expected, but then he went on to clarify his answer. In summery he stated that there was no substitute for experience honing. No amount of articulation on his part, or anyone else's, is going to shorten the learning curve, that the only way to become completely proficient is to hone, shave, hone some more, shave etc., until you figure it out. No this was not the answer I was hoping for as was apparent by my indignation in my initial reply to him (nor was it the answer the OP was looking for either), but over time I have come to know that his answer was the best, most accurate advice I could have gotten.

Of course later I found Keith's website tomonagura.com, and I have to say that I have learned more about hones and honing there than any single source I have found. If you are from the Midwest and find that typical East Coast attitude off-putting, try to look past it because Keith is a wealth of knowledge. I am still learning to hone going on four years later, and I have really come to appreciate Keith. Nothing that I have learned has ever contradicted anything that Keith has ever wrote or said in a video. The reason that I am saying all of this about Keith is one time he wrote, the finest edge that he had ever shaved with came off of his surgical black Arkansas. That the particular Ark stone was the finest finishing stone he had ever honed on. period. Here is a recent video of Keith finishing on a surgical black:

 
Another video of Keith honing on his Surgical Black Ark. Talk about honing until it sticks!

 
As a side note, the Arkansas stone that Keith uses in his videos has an appearance the likes of which I do not think that I have seen. It appears to be what Dan describes as Blue-Black with lighter (grey) Novaculite inclusions.
 
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