Entertaining Hard Ark Video

[HumbleHomeCook]

This popped up in my feed and I enjoyed it and thought I'd share. He's got some nice vintage stuff but I was also intrigued about his comments around RH Preyda. He's a straight razor guy.

He's got a video on Softs that I haven't watched yet.

 

[captaincaed]

Keith knows how to ramble, but I've learned to listen to what he's trying to say, and it's useful. Crusty as a French loaf.

 

[HumbleHomeCook]

Keith knows how to ramble, but I've learned to listen to what he's trying to say, and it's useful. Crusty as a French loaf.

Quintessential East Coast.

 

[Desert Rat]

Quintessential East Coast.

Does he seem a little up tight to you or is that just an East Coast thing?

Maybe it's just when he starts going into what is said on razor forums?
There is some straight up BS to be found on them forums....

 

[HumbleHomeCook]

Does he seem a little up tight to you or is that just an East Coast thing?

Maybe it's just when he starts going into what is said on razor forums?
There is some straight up BS to be found on them forums....

I've known some passionate and animated New Yorkers and New Jerseyans very much like him. Not all of course but many can have that certain East Coast quality. I generally find it entertaining, blunt, and often humorous.

I don't take him as being up tight as much as just having strong opinions.

 

[captaincaed]

Does he seem a little up tight to you or is that just an East Coast thing?

Maybe it's just when he starts going into what is said on razor forums?
There is some straight up BS to be found on them forums....

The razor thing seems to get pretty heated. Honestly, I just wanna shave.

 

[VICTOR J CREAZZI]

I watched the above video and the soft arks one and enjoyed them both. I've watched quite a few of Keith's other videos too and enjoy his vibe.

 

[Desert Rat]

Here is Keith's soft ark vid.


I suspect the large pores on the side of his colored soft were what they talked about in the old geological surveys as sand pockets. I don't have good experience with them but it looks like the face of that stone is clear and smooth.

I don't quite have the attention span to watch the video from beginning to end so just the first part of it.

 

[captaincaed]

I don't quite have the attention span to watch the video from beginning to end

 

[cotedupy]

Here is Keith's soft ark vid.


I suspect the large pores on the side of his colored soft were what they talked about in the old geological surveys as sand pockets. I don't have good experience with them but it looks like the face of that stone is clear and smooth.

I don't quite have the attention span to watch the video from beginning to end so just the first part of it.

I haven’t yet set aside an afternoon to tackle another one of these vids yet, so can’t comment on Keith’s stone. But here are sand pockets:

A straightforward number that does exactly what it says on the tin: little holes filled with sand. In the pic above I haven't yet dug those ones out, but it's very easy, you don't need a dremel or anything, you can just poke at them a bit with a corkscrew or something and the sand''ll come out. Perhaps I'll do it in a bit.

Below is the other side of the stone, which I use. It had one sand pocket in the middle of the surface, this is what it looks like having got rid of the sand, and makes no difference now in use. Though presumably at some point stone wear might mean that new ones get revealed and need further dealing with.

 

[Desert Rat]

I haven’t yet set aside an afternoon to tackle another one of these vids yet, so can’t comment on Keith’s stone. But here are sand pockets:

View attachment 179495


A straightforward number that does exactly what it says on the tin: little holes filled with sand. In the pic above I haven't yet dug those ones out, but it's very easy, you don't need a dremel or anything, you can just poke at them a bit with a corkscrew or something and the sand''ll come out. Perhaps I'll do it in a bit.

Below is the other side of the stone, which I use. It had one sand pocket in the middle of the surface, this is what it looks like having got rid of the sand, and makes no difference now in use. Though presumably at some point stone wear might mean that new ones get revealed and need further dealing with.

View attachment 179496

Dang that's a big one. I had one in the middle of a soft that I managed to catch edges on. I turned it into a divot. To much work to lap the whole stone and I don't use softs all that often anyway. Actually I bought the stone because it had a semi translucent paired with it. An interesting stone full of crazing and what looks like wood grain if sighting down the stone. I suspect the stone has weathered.

I was hoping for fast and fine and ended up with just fine. More like a black than a translucent and without the speed of translucents or semi translucent that I have. It's really odd...







I'm really interested to hear your take on the calico stones and you have been suspiciously quiet about them for quite awhile now. I'm beginning to think you are colluding with the the Russians or something...... .

 

[Desert Rat]

I actually have several stones that I would like to divorce from their mates. Does anyone have experience with this or know what kind of glue they used?

 

[stringer]

I actually have several stones that I would like to divorce from their mates. Does anyone have experience with this or know what kind of glue they used?

Not too much. Just a few clues. I have an old Smith's hard/soft combo. I soaked it in simple green for a few hours. The glue that bonded them started expanding. I can tell you that it must have been something pretty simple and water soluble and white. My Norton India-soft combo has made it through a few rounds of simple green without any noticeable change in the bond. I imagine that that would take some serious heat application to separate. Like boiling it or something. That one has a dark grey color to whatever is bonding it.

I've also removed a bunch of stones from wood tri-hones and paddles. Those seem to be attached with a dollop of wood glue. Which doesn't seem to be the best idea for stone-stone contact.

 

[Desert Rat]

Not too much. Just a few clues. I have an old Smith's hard/soft combo. I soaked it in simple green for a few hours. The glue that bonded them started expanding. I can tell you that it must have been something pretty simple and water soluble and white. My Norton India-soft combo has made it through a few rounds of simple green without any noticeable change in the bond. I imagine that that would take some serious heat application to separate. Like boiling it or something. That one has a dark grey color to whatever is bonding it.

I've also removed a bunch of stones from wood tri-hones and paddles. Those seem to be attached with a dollop of wood glue. Which doesn't seem to be the best idea for stone-stone contact.

I think I will try boiling them. I have boiled arks before with no ill effects but not glued together. A hot oven might crack them if they had much moisture in them. If that don't work I might go with some hash chemicals.
I will post later with results in case anyone is interested.

 

[cotedupy]

Dang that's a big one. I had one in the middle of a soft that I managed to catch edges on. I turned it into a divot. To much work to lap the whole stone and I don't use softs all that often anyway. Actually I bought the stone because it had a semi translucent paired with it. An interesting stone full of crazing and what looks like wood grain if sighting down the stone. I suspect the stone has weathered.

I was hoping for fast and fine and ended up with just fine. More like a black than a translucent and without the speed of translucents or semi translucent that I have. It's really odd...







I'm really interested to hear your take on the calico stones and you have been suspiciously quiet about them for quite awhile now. I'm beginning to think you are colluding with the the Russians or something...... .

Funnily enough I did another little video looking at Softs and Washitas yesterday. Though I need to watch back and probably edit, otherwise I fear I probably went on far too long, and it's probably half an hour something.

Curious looking combi you got there, very interesting! Also interested to hear back on if you manage to get it apart. I've had a few stones I would have liked to do that with, either ones that have been repaired badly previously, or stuff like India / crystolon combis to get a thin coarse stone to glue to something else.

I was asked recently somewhere else what if any difference I found between black and trans arks, and said I couldn't really discern much difference in finishing level but that the various trans I'd had seemed a little quicker than the (single) black. Sounds similar to your experiences...?

 

[stringer]

Funnily enough I did another little video looking at Softs and Washitas yesterday. Though I need to watch back and probably edit, otherwise I fear I probably went on far too long, and it's probably half an hour something.

Curious looking combi you got there, very interesting! Also interested to hear back on if you manage to get it apart. I've had a few stones I would have liked to do that with, either ones that have been repaired badly previously, or stuff like India / crystolon combis to get a thin coarse stone to glue to something else.

I was asked recently somewhere else what if any difference I found between black and trans arks, and said I couldn't really discern much difference in finishing level but that the various trans I'd had seemed a little quicker than the (single) black. Sounds similar to your experiences...?

A real nice Black is capable of finishing finer because it's the purest and so dense and fine. Translucent is faster because it's more porous. In general. But there's tons of variation. Yada yada.

 

[Desert Rat]

Funnily enough I did another little video looking at Softs and Washitas yesterday. Though I need to watch back and probably edit, otherwise I fear I probably went on far too long, and it's probably half an hour something.

Curious looking combi you got there, very interesting! Also interested to hear back on if you manage to get it apart. I've had a few stones I would have liked to do that with, either ones that have been repaired badly previously, or stuff like India / crystolon combis to get a thin coarse stone to glue to something else.

I was asked recently somewhere else what if any difference I found between black and trans arks, and said I couldn't really discern much difference in finishing level but that the various trans I'd had seemed a little quicker than the (single) black. Sounds similar to your experiences...?

I set a bonded pair on a wire trivet and boiled for a couple of hours, nothing. I'm going to go with either acetone or lacquer thinner next. Any suggestions out there?

I'm right with Stringer on the black being a little finer and translucent being faster. I have a translucent black that acts like a black as well, I can't tell it apart from a regular black. I suspect he might be right about the porosity as well. I would think we would see some discoloration from old oil in some blacks and I don't recall ever seeing that but we don't see lots of really old blacks. They are very comparable in finish but it seems like the translucent stones can be much faster. There is a difference in feed back between the stones as well but I can't feel it on oil.

Is the speed the reason we see so many translucent Pike stones? Where are the really old blacks?

Could just be I'm full of sht too, with a limited sample size.
When you have a hundred guys in a bar and 99 of them claim the black is finer it might add up though.

I think a soft vs Washita video could go pretty long. Don't leave good content on the cutting floor.
Did you get a Dan's Washita also?

 

[stringer]

I set a bonded pair on a wire trivet and boiled for a couple of hours, nothing. I'm going to go with either acetone or lacquer thinner next. Any suggestions out there?

I'm right with Stringer on the black being a little finer and translucent being faster. I have a translucent black that acts like a black as well, I can't tell it apart from a regular black. I suspect he might be right about the porosity as well. I would think we would see some discoloration from old oil in some blacks and I don't recall ever seeing that but we don't see lots of really old blacks. They are very comparable in finish but it seems like the translucent stones can be much faster. There is a difference in feed back between the stones as well but I can't feel it on oil.

Is the speed the reason we see so many translucent Pike stones? Where are the really old blacks?

Could just be I'm full of sht too, with a limited sample size.
When you have a hundred guys in a bar and 99 of them claim the black is finer it might add up though.

I think a soft vs Washita video could go pretty long. Don't leave good content on the cutting floor.
Did you get a Dan's Washita also?

I have a bunch of smaller vintage Norton translucents and the one oddball unlabelled near bench size butterscotch. I also have another chunk of gray hard Arkansas that's just as hard. None of them come close to the fineness of my Dan's surgical black. But they are faster for sure. More suited to finishing knives than razors actually. Very peculiar feeling if you keep them a little coarse. You can feel it cutting almost like grating a hard cheese on a brand new microplane. I also have a full-sized Dan's soft now. I haven't had a chance to use it yet since my operation. Still on the lookout for a Dan's washita and a Dan's True Hard.

I have a theory that most of the old black ones got sold off to medical supply places. I used to think that surgical black was Dan's invention but now I've seen several vintage dental and surgical branded whetstones on the bay that are actually labeled "surgical black". I should have wrote down the brand names but it's not Norton or Washita Mountain. They were branded with a medical supplier name like Russell's or Rutherford's or something. I'll keep my eye out for another one. But I think that's where they went because they were considered too fine and slow for general tool work. Much better for scalpels and dental picks. That's my theory anyway. Straight razors were mostly getting finished on barber hones and then pasted strops. The doctors and dentists were probably willing to pay a lot more than the barbers.

 

[stringer]

I found the most recent one I saw

Russell's

And I know there are some good old ones left out there. But the translucents seem to be way more common.

Here's another old one labeled surgical black. The brand is Gutman Cutlery, NY.

 

[stringer]

Here's another vintage Russell's box labeled surgical black

 

[stringer]

Dixon is another brand I've seen for dental stones. Look for the translucent or surgical black Arkansas stones that are made in Germany.

 

[Desert Rat]

Is Russell's the same as AG Russell's and just mined by War Eagle?