Thread: About to buy a Belgian Blue Whetstone

So this will be my first honing experience with a straight razor. Mine is getting realllllly dull, even after stropping. I was told this could be used as one of those "all in one" honing stones. I can use this to pretty much get my blade back in shape, for the life of the stone. Just want to make sure I don't need to get other stones or anything, I'm trying to just get one and get away with it. If this doesn't look like a good idea, LET ME KNOW

Buying the:

BBW (Belgian Blue Whetstone) 6 x 1.4" (150 x 40mm)
w/ Free Shipping (USA/Canada ONLY)
$39 In-Stock

Calling a BBW an all in one stone is a pretty far strech of the imagination...

Can it be done yes, but it would not be even in my list of top 10 stones to try this with...

Then what stone would you try this with? I just don't want a collection of stones, or a large price tag.

Glen's Buy One Stone and Done List

Norton 4/8
Naniwa 3/8
Henckels 3/8
Coticule w/slurry stone
Thuringen w/ slurry stone

Below this line your pushing the price or the performance

Hard J-Nat with nagura(s)
Escher w slurry stone
Barber's Hone
PHIG w/slurry stone
Spyderco UF w/Diamond grit powder or a nagura
King/Cerax/Bester 1/6
BBW w/ Coticule and BBW slurry stone
TOS

And even many of those I listed are not really great choices either

ps: Any natural stone listed above is subject to not working at all for you they are after all natural and yours is not going to be the same as mine..

If I were to buy 2 hones, would it be cheaper? And what hones would I get?

You would just have to see if the retailer offers package deals. Many do, but it's usually for a full range of a single brand of hones. That would not be cheaper.
The combination hones that Glen mentioned consist of two hones in one block. Norton 4/8 is 4000 on one side and 8000 on the other. That is two stones in one, and it's a lot cheaper than getting the separate 4000 and 8000 stones.
I'd get a combination stone. If you want a little something extra get some CrOx or .5 or higher diamond paste to make a pasted strop for occasionally refreshing an edge that doesn't quite need an actual honing yet.

For starters I would buy the Norton 4/8K. ITs very easy to learn how to hone on and they all work the same so everyone's results can be comparable when it comes to asking for help on the honing.

Coticules are expensive unless you buy a small size for a pocket hone, which works fine for hand honing but you may want a bigger stone for more work eventually. Some people like the smaller coticules and use them only, but others don't like the small size. Even a 6"x2" coticule (Which is the smallest I'D buy myself) is about 150USD.

You can hone from bevel set to finish on a coticule alone BUT it takes a lot of practice to learn this and you may end up frustrated after several months of practice. I learned how to hone this way myself but it took me several months to get the sharpness right for me to be satisfied on the shaving results. I know a lot of coticule guys may think I am not being truthful or honest about my experiences but I am just being honest, that method was tough for me to learn and the Belgian Blue was even harder to get a good result from. All those natural stones work differently and my stone may not be the same speed, etc, as yours so explaining how to help you is less effective. You will need to learn those on your own with YOUR stones.

Barber's hones are on Ebay all the time, they are synethic man made pocket hones that are no longer made. They sell for 20-50$ on ebay. They are all you need to keep a razor shaving sharp, with stropping, for pretty much ever. The only downside is if you need to reset a bevel or damaged a razor, then you will need more hones to set the bevel and resharpen. A barber's hone is a touch up hone it will not be effective for full honing. I think these should be the first hones anyone buys unless you want to hone a full start-finish.

Can you hear the cash register dinging in your ear yet? lol. Here's my viewpoint: The guys here that have given advice so far are all on my "Read every post they submit" list. Meaning to say, their advice is highly valued IMO. I have barber hones, the full Norton set, and an old coticule with belgian blue backing. I got carried away. Now I've got a ton of stones, and a featherweight of skill with any of them. Except maybe the coticule, which seemed like it was put on this Earth for me and me alone. That stone seems to tell me when I'm doing something wrong...I digress. If you want the BBW, get it! And then devote a whole lot of time and effort in learning how to make it work. Cause it WILL work, as everyone has said, and it'll be just what you wanted to start with.

The first stone I bought just over 3 years ago was a Belgian Blue Whetstone ("BBW"). I didn't know of SRP neither did I have any knowledge of available honing options save for the marketing literature thereof on the vendor's website.

It worked for me then and it would still work for me now. Would I advise that you go and get one? No. It is not the best option for edge maintenance neither is it the most user friendly nor is it the cheapest.

I have one and never use it. I hardly ever use my coticule, so that speaks volumes about what I think of the BBW having become more experienced with hones. I am an advocate of naturals for edge maintenance and use mainly Eschers and vintage Thuringians, which are the essentially the same thing. I no longer view the BBW as a finisher or touch-up hone in light of the latter and see it as a sharpening stone.

Get a Norton 4/8 or a Naniwa 3/8. You'd need a lapping stone. Or get a vintage Thuringian. Coticules are a bit more iffy - as I find that objective instructions on their use regarding edge maintenance are less applicable. You really need to know how to use each one for they are less consistent that the aforementioned.

Don't learn the hard way. If you go on to, and likely will, acquire other stones, it is likely that your BBW will be rendered useless, whereas should you become proficient with a Norton and go onto purchase a finer finishing hone to complement it, you will still have a useful sharpening stone and a more complete progression.

Originally Posted by Scipio

Don't learn the hard way. If you go on to, and likely will, acquire other stones, it is likely that your BBW will be rendered useless, whereas should you become proficient with a Norton and go onto purchase a finer finishing hone to complement it, you will still have a useful sharpening stone and a more complete progression.

That part bears repeating again

Also there is an entire thread just getting started about using none other than the Norton 4/8 for the month of January there are Experienced "Honemeisters" to Newbies and everyone in between that are going to post in this thread over the entire month... You should really get a idea of what we are talking about when we keep saying Norton 4/8 or one of the other combo stones...

http://straightrazorpalace.com/honin...on-2012-a.html

That thread might be something to watch, as there will be many successes and failures to learn from