Thread: Question about BBW

As a newbe honer i buy a lot of old stones on the local fleamarket , old razor hones .80 % of the Coticules are heavy dished in the midle of the hone , and looks like a BBW hone with 2 higher white coticule spots on the ends . I use them like a slurry stones , and usualy the BBW side . when lapped is ok for honing . So i got few old BBW . They are diferent ,as coticules are one from another .
I notice that there are generaly 2 kinds of a BBW - pinkish , with some fine shiny flakes in it ,soft and fast - no patern on them.
The second kind is a harder stone with a destinctive , beautyfull wave and dots patern , snake skin like , darker blue and finer , mutch slower stone from my humble observation .
I like my Belgian blue whetstones , a lot and i am a fan of the first kind of stones from them . I love the edge they leave , witch is enought for a comfortable shave . They are amazing prefinishers , i use them after 3 K with sucsses , every time i hone .
My question is have you observation on the first kind of BBW and opinion on using them - they are coticules after all , i notice that Dilucot works pretty well on them every single time .

As you've found out, BBW can be used for razor honing. People claim that it's not as fine as the coticule layer, but that statement seems to be based on one study of dubious accuracy. In my hands, BBW can finish as well as coticules, but cuts much slower (especially on slurry). This seems to match your experience.

Now, about the different types of BBW: the consensus seems to be that the BBW with pink spots on it is better for honing (probably because it's faster). I have a few examples of BBW with and without the pink spots, and they seem to be about the same.

One thing I like to do when honing on a coticule is to hone mostly on the coticule side on slurry, then dilute that down. Then I switch to the BBW side on slurry for a few strokes before returning to the coticule side on plain water. Things like this are what attracts me to the coticule as a hone - it allows me to play around with the technique and finish.

Secondly, you should also try honing on the side with the slivers of coticule. I don't personally have any cotis with the BBW showing on the coticule side, but I'd be interested to see how that worked.

Finally, having said all this: while I do use the BBW as part of my coticule honing routine, I tend to not use it as the sole hone for any of my razors much. I cannot clearly state why this is - it's just a 'feel' that I prefer from the coticule.

Yes BBW is a slower stone , but the feedback is so much silky , and gives smoother edges /at least mine BBW does / Man i love this stone and it is underestimated . Im catching myself more and more into honing on them.
After 3 k or even 1 K synthetic you can make a dilucot on it and it leaves a perfectly smooth 8 k edge /at least / A fast diluting on the thuringian and the edge is amaizing .
On My last natural combo 12 x4 sm the coticule side is very damaged and after truyng it i notice that the BBW side is a finer that a white side and gives smoother edge .
I wont forget what told me an old bulgarian honer once as we talk abbout coticules.
The purple side is better than the white boy , he said it is beautifull stone . He aways uses Cretan hone and natural combo as he sais that the purple stone is the finer .

I actually played around with Theirs Issard Frameback on BBW tonight. I usually will use mine as an intermediate between bevel set and Coticule but tonight I seemed to get a really nice scratch pattern off just the BBW side of a vintage Pike Coti. I stropped the hell out of it and got it to pass HHT-3 with ease. I might attempt to shave with it tomorrow and see if it doesn't remove my face with the hair. In any case, if you have the stone then why not play around with it? What's the fun in just following a routine every time. Personally I play around a bit with every stone I have and try and see if I can get the best edge possible.

I have always went from bevel on a coti or 1k - bbw , I never felt I really needed to but I always do ..lol.. but I do like the idea above in a earlier post about slipping it in after coti with slick slurry ...

Shout out to a fellow NEO gent

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6HMAd6Ktj0

Originally Posted by RusenBG

As a newbe honer i buy a lot of old stones on the local fleamarket , old razor hones .80 % of the Coticules are heavy dished in the midle of the hone , and looks like a BBW hone with 2 higher white coticule spots on the ends . I use them like a slurry stones , and usualy the BBW side . when lapped is ok for honing . So i got few old BBW . They are diferent ,as coticules are one from another .
I notice that there are generaly 2 kinds of a BBW - pinkish , with some fine shiny flakes in it ,soft and fast - no patern on them.
The second kind is a harder stone with a destinctive , beautyfull wave and dots patern , snake skin like , darker blue and finer , mutch slower stone from my humble observation .
I like my Belgian blue whetstones , a lot and i am a fan of the first kind of stones from them . I love the edge they leave , witch is enought for a comfortable shave . They are amazing prefinishers , i use them after 3 K with sucsses , every time i hone .
My question is have you observation on the first kind of BBW and opinion on using them - they are coticules after all , i notice that Dilucot works pretty well on them every single time .

I mainly only use my BBW with pressure and slurry to further grind out a sharper edge, then I move onto the coticule side with just water.

You see ,there is no need for presure ,when using slurry . And the ilusion that BBW Is coarser stone that the coticule , fall down for me . I have 2 stones , that the BBW side is finer , yes, and they finish the edge beter , than the coticule side . I of them is la dresante au bleu .