Originally Posted by
Oldengaerde
There can be a lot of difference between one BBW and another, but I don't think the BBW on natural combinations is better than the separately mined ones, nor, as some seem to think, that vintage BBW is better than recently mined BBW. There are some natural combination BBWs that work great, but I've seen many which performed sub-par too, or which had inclusions that rendered them practically useless. The same goes for vintage BBW. You have to keep in mind that BBW was not mined as a hone; it was just used as backing. It was never selected for its honing properties.