Thread: About to buy a Belgian Blue Whetstone

These are all excellent points. IMHO, The best stone(s) a new guy can learn on are the: Norton 4/8 or the Naniwa SS 3 or 5k and 8k.

Stones new guys should avoid at all costs:

J nats: Way too many choices. Understanding and learning Japanese and Kanji helps greatly. Lot's of counterfit stones out there too with high price tags.
I've heard guys doing thousands of lapps on J nats, (Seriously) If that's not enough incentive to make your grab a Mach whatever, I don't know what is.
Then there's Nagura, Don't even get me started on those. Eventually, you'll be out on the net trying to score a "Koma Nagura" You'll also hear terms like, "Pre Polisher"

Coticules: Again, Natural, and too many choices. Now you have vein names and special honing techniques, including cool sounding names. I also understand the quarry charges a premium for certain veins deemed "Superior"

Prior to "Vein Names" We bought Coticules as "Selected" and "Standard" only. Selected being most popular (prettier) These stones can be very confusing for new guys trying to learn how to hone. Until recently, There was an entire website devoted to just these hones. You use them with slurry, and dilute, and finish with water. Sometimes you tape, sometimes you don't. Each Coticule kind of has it's own personality


BBW: The poor man's Coticule. This would be my last resort if I had nothing else to hone on. At one point in time, they were simply used as backing for Coticules. Someone decided they can be used as hones. A study was done not too long ago on how to use these on the aforementioned website.

Bottom line, Naturals are great, actually fun to use and collect if your so inclined, but costly too. So, learn first with stones that give you consistent results before you move onto natural. Here's a pic of some 6x2 Coticules, they are select grade, and different veins. Each cuts differently.

Lynn has his Norton pyramid technique on here. Start with that. It's for the Nortons shapening stones. At least you'll have a base technique. You can tweak it from there. Everyone should learn to hone and shave off an 8k when starting out.

So now that I've learned a little more about this, I'm considering the Norton 4/8k OR a barbers hone. What is better for me? I've used my straight for almost 6 months now, with juuust a strop. I want to sharpen the edge on this. And keep it sharpened as long as possible. So would a 4/8k be necessary, or would a barbers hone do the job? If so on the barbers hone, what are some good ones?

I would go with the Norton. Barbers hones in my experience are not much better, and the Norton is bigger, much more versatile, and gives a nice shave. If you are a regular shaver, this can be the only hone you will need for the rest of your life, and maybe a pasted strop.

Norton's. They are more versatile. A Barber hone is good for quick touch up's, and keeping shave ready blades, shave ready....

You want the same i did one year ago when i started, one stone only, i read this forum through and bought a coti/bbw combo (and slurry stone) and learned how to use it with great results. I figured i'm set for life and i very well could be. But one year later here i am buying more hones, i loved honing so much i couldn't settle with that little, hard to use experience...So my advise go ahead get the one stone hone use it to it's fullness and fall in love with your hone but i'm warning you you wont be able to stop there.