Flattening Arkansas Stone

I've decided to try to flatten a large (roughly 10x3") Arkansas stone I bought off of Ebay. It was sold as a hard Arkansas stone and is non-translucent white/gray color. I'm planning to use silicon carbide grit on plate glass.

Any advice on which grits to buy? I've found a site that sells grit from 60 to 800 grit.

I assume that larger grit will flatten more quickly, but I'm uncertain how high to go for finishing the stone. I plan to primarily use this stone for setting the apex on kitchen knives.

Cal_Bowie,
There are a few things to think about: How fast do you want to flatten the stone, and what is the desired finish you are seeking for the stone, and how out of flat is the stone, how large is the stone? (Also SiC breaks down under use into smaller pieces.) The larger the Arkansas stone, and the more out of flat it is, the longer it will take to flatten. I would get a sample of various grits from #36 up through #400, maybe 4 or 5 grits all together, and see what works. Keep posting here with updates and I will try to help as much as I can, but try not to overthink this, I have flattened a few stones and once you get the basics down, it is pretty simple. One person's video's I would suggest to watch are the late Stefan_Wolf's video's on YouTube: [www.youtube.com]

jasonstone,

Thanks for the advice and link to Stefan's videos of flattening.

The stone isn't horribly out of flat, but I think I want to do most of the flattening work with the coarse grit while going slowly and checking what's happening.

I won't overthink the conditioning/finish. If I use too high of a finish for my liking, I'll just recondition the stone with a lower grit.

Even if the thread is a bit older, here are my experiences with flattening arks or other stones made of novaculite.

When we talk about flatening, I always start in the area #36 - #60 and because loose sic powder breaks down so easily into finer grits, I replace the powder every minute. When the stone is flat, I condition the surface with finer powder, with a hard ark I would try stopping at #220 and try that on some knives. If the surface is still too coarse then finer powder. As a rule of thumb, my upper limit (for stones for knives) is loose sic powder #400

Thanks KingShapton. Really useful advice. I still haven't started on this project as I've been busy with other things. I also need to acquire a good piece of plate glass.

I'm planning on using this stone primarily for kitchen knives. These days I put the apex micro-bevel on my kitchen knives in most cases either with a fine Norton India stone or a hard/medium Arkansas (I don't have a soft Arkansas). I'm a big fan of the Norton India stone for knives meant for cutting meat.

Quote
KingShapton
Even if the thread is a bit older, here are my experiences with flattening arks or other stones made of novaculite.

When we talk about flatening, I always start in the area #36 - #60 and because loose sic powder breaks down so easily into finer grits, I replace the powder every minute. When the stone is flat, I condition the surface with finer powder, with a hard ark I would try stopping at #220 and try that on some knives. If the surface is still too coarse then finer powder. As a rule of thumb, my upper limit (for stones for knives) is loose sic powder #400

I agree wholeheartedly!