Arkansas stone

Her goal on this early October trip to Waldron was to revisit the work of three Arkansas stone carvers, Isham or Isom Daniel, his daughter Lucy, and A. Pitasky - or at least that’s Burnett’s best guess.

Her goal on this early October trip to Waldron was to revisit the work of three Arkansas stone carvers, Isham or Isom Daniel, his daughter Lucy, and A. Pitasky — or at least that’s Burnett’s best guess.

The best quality of Arkansas stone is of a milky white color, of very fine and even grain, and very hard, being impervious to a file; but there are softer grades.

Three kinds of oilstone are in general use, Turkey stone, Arkansas stone, and Washita stone, the latter being softer and of inferior quality to the two former.

Arkansas stone is rarely obtainable in lengths above 6 inches, on account of the presence of fine seams of hard quartz, which wears less than the stone, and forms a projection that scores the cutting edge of the tool, and the same applies to the Turkey stones.