Thread: Use of the BBW?

I have gone through a few razors with Bart's Dilucot method and I am feeling pretty comfortable. However, I have a combo stone and that BBW is just staring at me mocking my ignorance.

I have a Norton 4/8K combo, DMT 600, 1.2 and 8K, Naniwa 1K, 5K, 8K, and 12K.

Any ideas where I can work the BBW in with this set of hones? Basically, I am looking for what it is supposed to do well and some ideas of where I should place it. Thanks.

I'd incorporate it into your coticule routine. I find that's where you can bring out the best in them.
Set the bevel with the Coticule as usual.
After that, move onto the BBW with a thick slurry, watering it down every ten laps with a few drops of water.
When it's just water, do another twenty or thirty very light laps.
After that it's back to the Coticule with just water for a hundred laps.
You may find the laps required are completely different, due to the nature of a natural material.

Personally, I don't see a use for the BBW in normal honing. It may be more coarse than a coticule, but it seems most coticules will still cut faster with slurry than BBW's with slurry. Without slurry, the BBW is extremely slow. I guess try and see how your BBW with slurry compares to your coti with slurry and decide.

If you are honing tons of razors with slurry on the coti, you may want to use the BBW just so you don't wear through the coti as fast, but IMO you'd have to be doing a lot for that to matter.

I think of the BBW as a plan B hone, in case a "normal" progression isn't working on a razor.

I go along with Ben here again IME. My only difference is that I don't dilute to clear water on the BBW. Whether I set the bevel on a yellow coticule with slurry or on a synthetic, I can sharpen on the bbw with slurry and it will bring keenness to the edge IME. Bart pointed out that the garnets are larger in diameter within the bbw.

So I don't know if it is coarser or just cutting differently than the yellow. I do agree that bbw with slurry will sharpen and then moving to yellow with water only to refine works well for me when honing with the coticule.

It is interesting that the Begians used the bbw for paving stones and other construction material. The older coticules had bbw glued to the yellow to reinforce the fragile coticule and the bbw was not considered to be a sharpening stone at all. I have a labeled "Old Rock" natural with the label glued to the bbw.

At the time it was only added to protect the yellow. When they discovered it's efficacy as a hone is unknown to me but in the '80s more than one barber told me the yellow was the side you hone on and the other side is "no good".

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

When they discovered it's efficacy as a hone is unknown to me but in the '80s more than one barber told me the yellow was the side you hone on and the other side is "no good".

Because you're probably interested, Jimmy.


Lifted directly from Rob's website here.

"In 1996/97 working together with the laboratories from the University in Liège, we had the geological deposits of rock close to the traditional „Yellow Whetstone“ closely analysed. With amazing results. We discovered a high quality whetstone with identical sharpening properties as the „Yellow Whetstone“ but only blue in colour, which derives from deposits of iron oxide. Almost 30 % of it’s weight is garnet, as opposed to the yellow which has approx. 35-40 % garnet, this means it works just a little slower."

Sorry but might be of interest.

Very interesting Ben, thanks. Makes me wonder if the reason some coticules cut faster than others would be because they happen to have a higher percentage of garnets ? Probably that and/or the composition of the binder in that particular layer of rock.

AFAIK they concluded it was a combination of garnet quantity & size.

The larger garnet found in the BBW gives a smoother edge than an equivalent grit alternative due to the shape of the cutting media. It doesn't carve such a jagged trough through the steel.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

It is interesting that the Begians used the bbw for paving stones and other construction material.

It's also quite crazy as the curbs made in BBW tend to be very slippery when wet or snow-covered, and Belgium is known to be "agreeably moist". Maybe I should ask the public works department of my home town if they still have some large blocks they would want to get rid of I seem to recall they were removed from most streets during the 90s.

I place the BBW in between bevel setting and the coticule. With a fairly thick slurry, it seems to work well for me. It is a bit slow, but I use it more for sharpening, then I finish on the coticule. Maybe I just don't want to use up too much of my coticule, but I always find myself using the BBW to do the work in the middle of my progression.

take a look at heavy dutys honing progression he uses 1.2 dmt set bevel then 60 laps on 4kn then 15 on 8kn then 75 on bbw with milky slurry and then 75 laps on coti with just water. i have used this progression and it truly works and leaves a very good edge