Thread: Which is faster as bevelsetter? The Belgium Blue or Yellow on heavy slurry?

I have a smal 4 X 10 cm standard grade yellow coticule (yes, I didn't want to spent to much), get a nice shaving edge on this stone and actually also managed to do a couple of light restaurations on it using thick slurry (honing out some small chips of I guess <1 mm) but this was a long proces which I would like to do quicker next time*.

Now I'm thinking: the belgium blue is coarser than the yellow, it must be quicker, right?

I'm thinking about buying the following type of stone: http://ardennes-coticule.be/en/produ...yrénées.html

Do you more experienced honemeisters think this would be a good idea?

*Their will be next times, I'm already scouting for beat up SR's and nice wood to start making scales ..

Welcome to SRP. This is the first I've heard of the La Pyrénées stone. I wouldn't want to have to set a bevel with a Begian blue or a yellow coticule, but if they were the only choice I had I would go with the yellow with slurry and dilute if I ever got it set well enough to begin to sharpen. IME it is a very slow tool to accomplish bevel setting. YMMV.

Originally Posted by Bram

I have a smal 4 X 10 cm standard grade yellow coticule (yes, I didn't want to spent to much), get a nice shaving edge on this stone and actually also managed to do a couple of light restaurations on it using thick slurry (honing out some small chips of I guess <1 mm) but this was a long proces which I would like to do quicker next time*.

Now I'm thinking: the belgium blue is coarser than the yellow, it must be quicker, right?

I'm thinking about buying the following type of stone: http://ardennes-coticule.be/en/produ...yrénées.html

Do you more experienced honemeisters think this would be a good idea?

*Their will be next times, I'm already scouting for beat up SR's and nice wood to start making scales ..

For bevel setting, a man made stone is more suited. The best choice is the Chocera 1000 grit.
The belgian blue stone does have coarser particles, but a smaller percentage of them (per weight?), making it actually slower. Coticule slurry is much faster than Belgian blue slurry.
The Pyrénées stone is also coarser than the Belgian ones, making it more suitable for bevel setting, but still slower than man made ones.
You can try with the all natural progression, but you will regret it at some point. From the natural stones, the finishers are the ones that most people are interested in, for this reason.

Sorry, coticules are fun stones and can do a decent job when honing razors, BUT, they would never be my choice for a stone to set a bevel with regardless of how much time I might have on my hands.

Have fun.

Thanks for the quick response guys!

I agree, the coti is a slow tool to hone out small chips and set a decent bevel, found that out the hard way, I guess I was just hoping to hear that the belgium blue would be faster.

I know that the Chosera 1K seems to be the all time favorite around here and that probebly has valid reasons but since the blue isn't quicker combined with the fact that I don't mind spending some time on my coticule I'm thinking towards the oposit direction at the moment, what about the DMT 1200 ? I understood it's realy quick, followed by some persistance on the coti with slurry ?

I used to use a DMT 1200 to set bevels but found, while it will do the job, I don't like the aggressiveness of diamond plates, whatever the grit, on my razors. I'd rather use rocks. A naniwa superstone 1k or a chosera 1k are much friendlier to the razos edge IME.

I find my King 1K a good friend for my coticule. Those two stones have covered most of my shaving needs for the past few years. I've not tried any other synthetic bevel setters to compare it with but it was cheap, I picked up the 1K/6K, and I've not felt the need to upgrade it in the past five years or so. I don't need to drop down to the 1k very often these days but in between bevel sets it keeps all my knives happy.

I think you'd be better off with one of the choices mentioned. The Chosera 1k, The King 1k or even the Norton 1k.

The DMT 1200 as a bevel setter can be an option.
To me though, that is like hunting rabbits with an Abrams tank.
Way too abrasive.
And the after-work on that bevel/spine would negate the potential benefit of such a move.
IMHO that is

Originally Posted by Bram

I'm thinking about buying the following type of stone: http://ardennes-coticule.be/en/produ...yrénées.html

Do you more experienced honemeisters think this would be a good idea?

I don't think its a good idea. I've used a BBW for a bevel set & minor chip repair but only once. Too slow for me.
Tho you could ask Maurice for an aggressive BBW something like a King 1k or 1200 will be faster & cheaper. The other 1k's other than the DMT are also good choices.