Thread: BBW as a one-hone?

Originally Posted by JimmyWetshaver

You cannot ignore the fact that there was a relationship between that site and the only company current mining ans selling coticules. Coincidence, I think not.
Also at some point coti's will run out but there is plenty off BBW left, hmmmmm. Again coincidence I think not.

That's quite a conspiracy theory. Not at all contributing to the thread.

Though you'd think better strategy would be to rather tout the capabilities of the coticule and, thereby, raise demand for the more expensive (higher profit margin) product.

Originally Posted by JimmyWetshaver

^^ Yes but he is asking about BBW specifically, not coticules. Not saying one might not say the same but they are 2 diff stones even though they are found together...

Rhetorical. Same thing in my experience.

Originally Posted by Deckard

Rhetorical. Same thing in my experience.

Yeah, kind of like redheads and blondes...

Originally Posted by SpikedLemon

Could a BBW be used as a "one-hone" solution to maintaining a blade? Or, more precisely, as a one/only hone for life (with slurry stone)?

The answer is .... Maybe.

It's already been said you can't class all naturals by their name alone, e.g. Are all Nakayama Asagi good finishers ? Definitely not.

However if the particular BBW you have can give you the optimal edge you like then you can use it to maintain an edge. Another person may not have the same parameters as you.

To use it as a one hone setup may be dependant on how much free time you have.
Personally I haven't owned or used one that rates as a finisher but I have used one of mine to remove small chips from a Rodgers wedge with a heavy slurry. I was impressed that it was possible but it was very slow compared to a synthetic & I have better uses for my time.

Originally Posted by SpikedLemon

Could a BBW be used as a "one-hone" solution to maintaining a blade? Or, more precisely, as a one/only hone for life (with slurry stone)?

Sure.

Originally Posted by SpikedLemon

Perhaps I've read too much into the Coticles.be article comparing results between BBW, Coticle and Coticle/BBW stones on straight razors but I want to put it out there. Yet many websites list it as a 4000-grit equivalent stone - as though they intentionally want to sway opinion away from it.
Link to study: http://coticule.be/heritage.html?fil.../BBW-study.pdf or http://www.coticule.be/the-cafeteria/topic/1452.html

Yes, I think you are reading a bit too much into it. Before all else you have to understand what the grit measurement means. Firstly, it is almost never applicable to a natural hone. Secondly, it has some correlation with removing steel but not too much because it completely ignores the hardness and shape of the abrasive media as well as the properties of the embedding matrix, which are more important than the grit measurement.
Misuse or misleading information from supposed experts normally would raise red flags.

Originally Posted by SpikedLemon

From all that I've read elsewhere: it's functionally similar composition as coticle through slower due to the lower garnet content. I would assume that make it easier for new users from causing damage but, based on the results, could still equal the final output of more expensive stones.

It isn't straightforward conclusion. Slower hone removes less steel in a single stroke, which means that mistakes in the stroke lead to less damage. However the increase of the number of strokes required to accomplish the job means that there is higher probability for strokes with mistakes which would need to be corrected.
Mathematically inexperienced honer is better off with as fast hone as possible. Ideally one that can accomplish the job in a single stroke (we're talking idealized case) - if you had such a hone then you can presumably correct an error with the next stroke and you only need one more error-free stroke to get the razor honed. Single error-free stroke is far more likely than a series of several such ones (remember you're talking novices here).
So, from this basic stochastic model the BBW is the worse choice for a novice, but it's also the significantly cheaper one, that's why you should give it a try (as far as I can tell your only considerations are BBW and coticule).

Originally Posted by SpikedLemon

Are there users that use a BBW to refresh their blades?

Probably, though I think it is not likely to find them around here because as you found out there are better options. So I'd assume one would pick an inferior honing option either because they don't know better (unlikely on SRP), or because they are ideologically biased towards it (e.g. they want to use a local hone, or a hone that looks in a particular way), or want to master a harder way of accomplishing something that can be done easier, or even financially biased (e.g. they get compensated to promote a particular hone).
But there are many people who use straight razors, so chances are that there is a number of them who use BBW to maintain them.