Thread: Advice on hones required

Originally Posted by loueedacat

If a yellow coticule is 6-10k based on slurry v. water, what is the range of the blue coticule?

This is something that I have not for the life of me been able to figure out. I know a number of guys here get good results with the Blue in place of the Norton 4K, but I cannot seem to get benefit from it. It seems to be as fine as my 8K or Yellow - and slooow. I'm frustrated with it.

Jordan

Originally Posted by jnich67

This is something that I have not for the life of me been able to figure out. I know a number of guys here get good results with the Blue in place of the Norton 4K, but I cannot seem to get benefit from it. It seems to be as fine as my 8K or Yellow - and slooow. I'm frustrated with it.

Jordan

With a slurry going?

Originally Posted by littlesilverbladefromwale

With a slurry going?

Yup, I even bought the Blue slurry stone from Chrisl.

Jordan

I have used the blue stone on razors, as a mediator between the DMT 1200 and the coticule, but I have moved away from that practice. I now use a DMT 1200 for bevel-settting (if neeed), a coticule with slurry as a go-between and the same coticule with water to finish. It's faster and very consistent for superb results.
I use my blue stones quite a lot... in my woodshop. The blue excels in smoothing out the scratch pattern from coarser stones. I often jump from a DMT 600 right to the blue. (for chisels and plane bades) It's actually quite fast in polishing that 600 grit scratch pattern. But as soon as it has eaten the scratches it stops doing much of anything. I have an unconfirmed theory about that. I think that as soon as the granates, that do the cutting action, stop being caught by the previous scratch pattern, they just start rolling like microscopical billard balls between the stones surface and the metal. That's just a hunge, of course.
Anyway, as much as I like the blue, I don't really see the advantage of it, if you already have a coticule, which is absolutely faster and finer.

Never, ever think of the blue as of a Norton 4000, even though they are often rated the same grit.
I think of it as a great and cost-effective replacement for a coticule, as long as you only need a polishing hone.
One of the big things I like about the DMT - Belgians approach, is that none of those hones needs to be soaked in water. You can keep them nice and dry in a drawer, put on a little splah of water and start honing right away.

If you want to get things done fast, or want to hone a lot of razors, then the Norton 4/8K plus a finishing stone is what you need.
I you don't mind expending the extra time, then all you need is a yellow coticule and a slurry stone

Originally Posted by Navaja

I you don't mind expending the extra time, then all you need is a yellow coticule and a slurry stone

ME! I hope?

i think you should go to the general section and watch the honing video on honing it is a nine part video i can hone all of my razors but when i watched the videos it realy help me out a lot it gave me a look at someone that knowes what he aws doing, it makes a defernce when you can see it done.

Originally Posted by jnich67

This is something that I have not for the life of me been able to figure out. I know a number of guys here get good results with the Blue in place of the Norton 4K, but I cannot seem to get benefit from it. It seems to be as fine as my 8K or Yellow - and slooow. I'm frustrated with it.

Jordan

I'm glad you said that because that is why I asked. There does seem to be an absence of hype about the blue coticule compared to the yellow coticule, and absence of hype on these boards always seems more damning than criticism becasue if someone is getting good results from something we all hear about it.

So are people getting 4k like results from a blue coticule?

The blue is technically 4k like the Norton 4k, but the similarity stops there. And I'll add that the frustration begins there as well, if you treat the blue like a Norton 4k substitute.

The blue will not – at least not if you don't have the patience of Job – cut a bevel for you. Nor is it efficient at removing chips, unless you're talking tiny microchips.

What it will do is make short work of the scratch patterns left from DMTs, and if you've got a good bevel it'll keen up the edge to the point of popping hairs, and the coticule or similar will take it from there.

Those who use it for these purposes usually find it to be a very nice hone and a useful one. But a Norton 4k it ain't.

Hone width??

3" wide is more expensive, but allows you to hone the full edge of the razor without the X movement.

2" wide better allows you to hone blades that don't set evenly. Is there also a risk of the central area of the edge wearing more quickly as it will be in contact with the hone more than the heel or toe?

Does the price of hones dictate more people choose 2" wide hones?