You have the most beautiful collection of sharpening stones I have ever seen. I have an Arkansas soft from Pinnacle, and it's all uniform in color. It works great, but I hope you appreciate what you have. Thanks to you I also just received an Arkansas black from Sharpening Supplies that I greatly appreciate. I have sharpened several knives beyond what I ever expected of them. Thanks for the great job you are doing.
Thanks to you, I just bought my first Arkansas stones. I got a Dan’s wide 6x3 soft, and I also bought a NOS vintage Smith’s 6” Soft, full of the dark & gold specks. (It was an old sk-2 kit, the one with the metal oil tin).
I was just checking out your channel yesterday wondering when you were going to post another video. I was happy to see when I got on RU-vid that you uploaded. Love watch the videos, hopefully you can keep uploading.
Victorinox uses X55CR14MO, it was me who corrected you. I do enjoy learning about arkansas stones from you even though I do just fine with my belt and a dmt single sided fine diafold. Waiting for your next upload, glad you're back.
Do you have a source for that info about the steel type. I am just curious as I couldn't really find a reliable source of info on their steel. Just about everything I read just says it is stainless steel (which as you know doesn't help much lol).
scottecooke I got it from a guy on youtube, for the life of me I can't remember his account name, he has also said it. If I remember right I got it from a video on the making of a Victorinox SAK.
No problem. Thats what I'm here for. And yea shes been gone for a bit over a year now. Still bothers me on occasion. Shes greatly missed. Glad you are enjoying the info.
Good to see you back mate. I had been hanging out for some more of your videos. I would love to see you do some videos on synthetic stones. Like the norton india stone and their silicon carbide ones.
I love using the Arks and I rarely go to my DMTs any more unless I got some heavy demolition to do. Especially if I'm just doing maintenance. Obviously it takes more time and effort but it's a lot more fun and a heckuva lot more rewarding.
Diamond stones are great for removing material quickly. If I want to put a new bevel on something, or need a plane iron sharpened up quickly because I'm in the middle of working on something,that's certainly what I'm going to reach for. But I get more control with a couple of Arkansas stones for the final bevel and edge on a nice knife. When I ease up on the pressure, they remove much less metal, unlike a diamond stone which continues to be aggressive even with light touches.
Nice video & explanation on the Arkansas stones. I didn't know much about them before your video. I wondered about your Grandma lately. Sorry to hear she is not doing well. I know you have been at her side from the beginning.
I wish you make more videos! I learned how to perfect my skills watching this guy's videos! Comment about colors of soft arks. all my new Norton and My vintage Norton soft Arkansas stones are always pure white. At least the ones I've seen. Norton still owns the old original mines! So, yes soft Arkansas stones can sometimes be one color.
I've just got a Buck vantage pro made with S30 V and these arks put a very shape edge on it. I did go up thur soft to blue/black, so you Sir do know of what you are talking about.
The soft is confusing me please help me understand!!! I have a small pocket stone that came with a survival knife sheath and it's really soft I mean it turns to powder after just a 6 or 7 strokes it's not coarse or that soft I can dent it with my finger nail or as bad as chalk but feel like if I use it like a normal stone imm pushing the edge through the sandy slurry and futile to use it. Does it s like your soft stone or have you got a tip on using it?? Also if I Was to soak it in superglue or epoxy would it maybe make it harder and stable or would that be bad to use it with any of my blades?
*Alex* V-i-P don’t soak it in glue bad idea. First of all them small stones that come in the “survival “ knives aren’t worth having. I’d recommend replacement. It shouldn’t be doing what you are saying
I had a hard Arkansas stone, grinding wheel dresser. In 5yrs had barely softened the corners. Then it was stolen. Anybody know where I can find a replacement?
Lon Porter I’ve wondered that myself. I’d imagine that they would have to be quite close in size. Using them a lot will tell you the most. In my opinion.
I like waterstones personally but I've relented and ordered a soft from dan's. I've got some knives that just do not respond well on the japanese stones so I'm trying an ark to get faster cutting.
No completely incorrect. You know kind of like the old saying goes together like oil and water it don't mix. This is pure common sense oil and water do not mix.. you can argue that with me to the very end and I will not agree with that oil and water do not mix no matter how you look at it no matter what you say it don't work
@@adamwhiteson6866 no they do not. Oil and water don't mix. I think you missed the whole point here. You don't use oil and dawn and water on the same stone.
How often you need to flatten them obviously depends on how much you use them. I guess I use each of my stones for around half an hour a week, and can generally go six months without flattening the soft ones. More if you're not very picky. And you don't need an expensive flattening stone either. As long as you have three stones you can use them to flatten each other, even if different hardness. A couple of minutes for each combination, repeated a couple of times, and they should all be nice and flat. Or use a wet-and-dry sandpaper on a glass plate - that's as flat as you'll ever going to need.
First time ever seeing your videos just subscribe and brother i am so sorry to hear about your grandmother ill keep u and your family in my prayers god bless 🙏
Sorry i didnt realize how long ago this video was but ill still be pray for healing i know how bad it is to lost your grandparents ive lost all 4 of my by the age of 30 just keep pushing and we'll be with them agian one day
Bartosz Sochaj i have both and use both. i would recommend getting both. But... the black Arkansas is so much finer than the uf ceramic. i would recommend getting a black Arkansas from Dans Whetstone's. and lap it a bit. i assure you that you will be happy with it.
Sorry to hear about your Grandma (thoughts and prayers). It's great to hear someone sticking up for Arkansas stones. I've read for years that they are pasé, by people who didn't use them. But they worked great for my grandpa - he was a cow-hand on the prairies in the 1920s (yeah, I'm that old), and he used them on his 1095 knives. If I weren't already inve$ted in water stones and diamond stones, I would seriously consider getting a soft Arkansas. Question 1: For a finishing stone after my DMT's, how about going from DMT Fine to a Spyderco Ceramic Medium or Fine? Or should I go to waterstones? I have lots of grits, and I'd like to get a little less toothy edge. Question 2: If waterstones, would you recommend the same sweeping motion that you use on the DMT's? I don't think I want to use the usual quick push-pull motion that a lot of waterstone guys use. At least not on a knife where I am trying to be super careful about the bevel precision.... Or do you really, really recommend an Arkansas as a finisher? I'm really trying to study your method seriously. It's starting to come together a bit. So I'll totally take your advice.
Greg Goode most of my sharpening for a toothy edge I use a dmt 220 xc if edge damage is present. Dmt coarse 320c to straighten up the bevel a dmt 600 f then a dmt ef 1200 grit. I also sometimes go to a spyderco uf stone then a black sometimes a translucent before that. Then strop. I dont use waterstones much
Lol, you've got me almost about to call Dan's! If you strop after the black Arkansas, what compound? OK, serious newbie question: can you or someone recommend a particular Dan's Arkansas to use after the progression you mentioned? You know, coming off the DMT EF 1200? I have a Spyderco UF too, didn't know that there's good stuff after that!
Let me call them and see what they say..... Oops, closed today. Will try Monday. Anyway, my skill is not up there yet anyway. I'm working with burrs and apexes on the XC and C right now.
I bought the the black & the translucent, used a profilometer to measure surface finish roughness. The difference between the two are negligible, a mere 15 Ra in. The Translucent was the lower number meaning slightly smoother surface finish!
Lon Porter the finish that was left on the stone after the lap makes no difference of the actual grit. I can take a cheap soft Arkansas and make it so smooth you could glide a plain blade across it with 1 touch. Or I can get a black ark and lap it down to 100 grit. What was the point of the test?
Seriously what was the point! Trying to determine which stone a translucent or hard black was finer grit. If i didn’t check after lapping but later after a sharpening or two would the readings be worth anything? Thanks..
Lon Porter the readings aren’t worth anything to begin with. You cannot determine the grit of the Arkansas by the surface grit. Arkansas are identifiable by specific gravity. Weigh them both and that will tell you. Thanks..
Ok surface grit means nada, only the density of the stone determines the cut. Can you tell the difference between a hard black and a translucent after polishing?
Lon Porter you literally just Repeated what I just said. Lol And yes I can with multiple stones in fact. I think you should learn a bit more on this subject before you attempt to test my knowledge and one up me.
If you only can get (or bring) one stone, a soft Arkansas or a true Washita is the way to go. Unlike most other "oil" stones, you can get Arkansas stones to work like finer grade stones just by easing up on the pressure. As long as the stone is nice and flat, you can go all the way to very sharp on a soft Arkansas alone, just by going lighter and lighter. Belgian coticule works much the same way, with fine crystal ridges doing most of the honing and not just particles like in Indian stones, Japanese water stones and man-made stones. But it takes a little technique, and sometimes the stone works better one way than the other for the light touches.
I've used both natural Arkansas and waterstone and I love Arkansas. In my opinion once I finish with my translufent my edges couldnt be any finer with a higher grited waterstone : i have abiut 7 dans whetstones and the quality is fantatic
hi rooster. i bought the dan’s combination just like you have there on the left. it was used and dished (although said new). i tried everything to flatten it and ended up using a poor quality dmt extra fine to get it flat. if i flatten all my different stones with the same dmt plate, will i end up with different hardness stones with the same scratch patterns? i have a 10X watch makers loupe but my eye is still very untrained. thanks man. great videos
...good too see you back ! ...Sorry too hear about your Grandmother...interesting, moving from the DMT to a softer Ark., on some steels...have you looked at the Fallkniven CC4 ? have a great week, c'ya
That's something I can't tell u how to do. It comes with experience. Sometimes you need more pressure for more metal removal. And when you hone like on a black Arkansas you don't use much at all. Practice practice practice. It'll come to you I. Promise. 👍
@@mklein5179 as highly recommend as them things come, I was really expecting a crazy edge. Not the case. I've gotten better edges off a soft Arkansas than I did shaptons 8k
Out of my soft/hard Arkansas stones, the Smiths are in a class of their own. They are by far the hardest/finest by a good margin (although my only Norton is a translucent; so I have no Norton soft in my collection), and they both have a hint of that orange/rust color, throughout. One is a "hard," one is a "soft," and they are more alike than different. Both are harder than any other ark stone I have (barring the true hard/translucent). My Lansky stones are the opposite. I have a hard and a soft lansky, and they are both softer than any other Arkansas stone I have. My Dan's stone is somewhere in the middle. The generic stones I have are all somewhere between a Dans and a Lansky, but typically more like the Lansky. I don't really have a favorite. They all work great. The softer ones cut a little faster and rougher, and they wear significantly faster. The harder ones are slightly finer, but they cut slower. They all cut fast enough and leave an edge fine enough for general sharpening with little need for anything finer unless for daily shaving nor anything coarser barring chips or tools with large flat bevels.
Mildy Productive arks are definitely different. The stones that have that lil bit of orange in them are nice stones. Just gotta find what works best with what steel
What steel, true. What kind of bevel is possibly even more important. What I find is that the harder the stone, like these Smiths, the smaller an area of steel you can sharpen on the stone before the blade just skates over the stone and the stone glazes over. So a knife that has a wider edge bevel will have the same effect as a knife with a harder steel. The straighter the blade is, the more the effect is. So a plane blade or large chisel is perhaps the most challenging blade to sharpen on a really flat ark stone. I have to put a pretty decent crown and edge bevel on the Smiths to get them to cut well. First one I owned, I thought it was junk for about 10 years, before figuring this out. When it was dead flat, it was just a (bad) finishing stone; with the crowned surface, it sharpens anything. The translucents, OTOH, I have had stones from 5 different sources. The initial surface finish aside, I couldn't tell any difference between any of them. The Dan's came with a super glossy smooth finish. The Norton came with a super rough machined finish. Underneath the finish, they are all the same to me. Norton, Dan's, Best, Smith, generic translucents - they are all super fine. And like all hard stones, they work better with a bit of curve to the surface, unless you like making and having to remove large tin foil-like burs. This is why I think David W can only sharpen a chisel maybe 4 times on one of his almost flat ark stones before he needs to take the chisel back to the bench grinder to hollow out the bevel again, and he has to periodically roughen/resurface his stones. If you maintain a slight bit of crown, you can sharpen a 3/4" chisel on just an ark stone, and it will continue to cut the full bevel of the chisel. It will never need to be resurfaced to regain bite; if you are maintaining it with the right surface shape, the surface will wear at the right rate to keep itself renewed. If you are trying to keep the stone very flat and you try to bite off more than it can chew, putting a straight blade with a giant bevel on it, you just dull the stone.
I have an Arkansas stone sold by Case and on the website they call it a washita but on the product it says it's a soft. I'm not experienced enough to know which it is in use but perhaps you know? I'm guessing it's a soft because it was only 16 dollars
@@roughroosterknifesharpenin5531 Alright thank you and thanks also for the quick reply! Are you gonna be making a video on washita stones? I've heard you talk about them a lot in your videos and I'm really interested in them but I can't seem to find one on washitas like you have for the other Arkansas grades
On the s30v part I think they ment it will affect edge durability or retention without using dimonds since it can't cut the carbides from your experience isn't the case.
I’m going to be getting me a 12 x 3 x 1 soft Arkansas in the near future I’m going to have to talk to her and see if they can find something unusual for me I don’t mind paying extra I will make sure to mention your name
Rough Rooster Knife Sharpening it was 126 with the discount I think it ended up being 113 she said she would write on that purchase order find something with character
Hahahahahhaha S30V won't work on an Arkansas hahahhahahahaa!!!! I would love to show them my carry blade it's a 808 Benchmade in S30V and it will treetop hairs. I have sharpened ZDP189,M4,S90V and D2 to insanity sharp!! I am talking sharp enough to cut the fabric of space-time!! Arkansas stones don't cut fast, but with some patience they will yield the best edges known to man. I have a huge collection of Arkansas stones like you do and I swear by them!! I start with my Pike Lilly White, and move to a medium Arkansas, then on to a hard black then I use my blue black translucent as a finisher, and strop with DMT compound and the edges will give you a nose bleed lol.
Chaparral Watch Restoration oh I assure you I can finish any steel available on my Arkansas. They do produce fantastic edges. People just don't wanna believe it
Rough Rooster Knife Sharpening I think most folks just want to be a special snowflake, and do things differently than the proven ways of the past. Heck I ain't found a better rock than a Arkansas for putting a screaming edge on. I think folks just either got lazy and want things without any effort or just want to do things a new modern way. I guarantee our Arkansas stones will give an edge that will crush anything out there. I know because I have tried it lol. I use DMT plates, but that's it other than Arkansas stones.
Rough Rooster Knife Sharpening I wasn't doubting what you can do at all buddy!!! I imagine you can make a STUPID LEVEL of sharp anyone that puts forth a real effort to master freehand can reach insanity sharp. Heck I wouldn't be surprised if you made me look like a moron doing this lol. Folks like you and me that have been doing this for YEARS can beat edges put on by an Edge Pro Apex or a Wicked Edge 99.9% of the time. One of my friends has an Edge PRI and keeps asking me to sharpen his knife lol. To me that's a compliment, and I always do it because I love doing it. It's fun and very relaxing for me to drag some steel over a rock. It's almost meditation to me.
