Thread: Honing on coti that hit the bed in spots

If one had a vintage natural two sided coticule that on the yellow side had hit the bed and had some blue spots showing here and there. Would that change the way you needed to hone on it? It is just a few spots the rest seems deep.

Posting a photo might help. From what I've read the garnets, the abrasive that is where the rubber meets the road, are larger on the BBW than on the yellow. So if there is enough BBW exposure it might make some difference. If your hone is large enough to use the yellow without hitting the blue that is one thing, if it is not, all you can do is try it as it is and see how it works for you. My guess is that it will be alright, if it is a good hone. Some are better than others.

Blue spots as in the back layer of the coticule showing through or blue spots as manganese lines or spots?

I don't have said hone just from looking at pics it looks like the blue in one or two small spots came through.
from the depth of the yellow on the sides I think it is just that spot. My guess was with slurry being it would mostly be yellow ir wouldn't matter much. Then final polish on blade wouldn't matter much either from what I have read. Just wondering what others thoughts or experience might be.

Like SolitarySoldier pointed out, there are coticules with manganese spots, lines, and they don't negatively effect the honing. Some guys think they enhance it. If it is a coticule that is worn down, or that was cut close to the blue substrate I don't know how that would be. I've never had one like that, though I've seen photos of them. Here is one with the manganese. I used to have this, and it was okay, but it is long gone now.

I have one with bbw showing and some smooth light spots with no abrasion at all that I only bought because I thin it is cool looking .. .. but I cant use it on razors as I feel every change in surface , but I will say the part that I can use does wonders on pocket knives and I wish I could find the same vein without the flaws !!!
!!

If some of the blue stone is showing on the coticule side, I wouldn't think it would make much of a difference, as the blue and yellow parts of the stone don't vary much in the way they work ie. they both contain similar garnets that are responsible for abrasion. But then I think that the Belgian blue whetstone is an underestimated hone in general, and I'm aware that this puts me in a minority.

An interesting note: I have an older mined coticule whith a blue side. In the blue side there is a small patch of yellow exposed. As a result, the slurry it produces is predominantly white, with only the faintest hint of pink. It works and produces edges like a coticule, even though it's somewhat on the slow side when using slurry. I only recently started to play around with it, so I can't say much more about it.

If the whole yellow side is very thin, I probably wouldn't slurry it very much, if the yellow side is thick with a few blue spots I would use it as normal it probably won't make much difference.

I scout antique stores and have found hard Coticules that were used for straights that were dished well into the BBW and when i tried them, I found no difference in the edge produced. That said, Some Coticules were not for straight razors and are coarser in grit. They did put a different bevel on the razor due to the angle produced by the curve. I have also found strop & razor boxes that had a BBW on the top of the box. Some also had Coticules.
Try it and see!
A natural hone is an individual and so is the person using it!
~Richard