Father had a nice board with three(3) sharpening stores with wood covers.

The wood covers are labeled: Hard Arkansas, Soft Arkansas and Washita.

Running my index finger over them, the Washita seems to have a few bumps on it and the Arkansas stones seems to be about the same.

Can any one share some insight into what I have and in what order to use them in sharpening knives?

Thanks

fdf

Start with Washita, then soft arkansas, then hard arkansas. If the stones aren’t flat, you can buy a flattening stone online. I doubt the hard arkansas will need flattening in another lifetime. I replaced the first two stones with diamond plates - medium and very fine, then use the hard arkansas and then a leather strop.

The secret is to never let the knife blade got too dull. Then you can skip the courser stone in your sharpening rotation. And, as I tell my neighbor, quit cutting or chopping bone with the fine edge blade. The nicks are tough to grind out.

Thank you.