Thread: New Belgian Hone

This is my first "real" hone. What exactly do I have here. Is it a combination stone? Or, is one side a backing? Anybody have any experience with this brand? Does the brand even matter? It's 5" long and 1 1/16" wide. Any insight would be appreciated.

First off, if it is a belgian hone, it is most likely the venerable Coticule, in which case you have a very nice stone!

If you can lap it (diamond hone or sandpaper on flat surface with water) see what color slurry the darker side forms, if it's a purple-ish-blue-ish color then that is a combo stone, if the slurry is any other color it's just a slate backed Coticule, which is still great.

Awesome. Unfortunately (if it is a combo), I'll need to take at least a 1/16" off the blue side to get it flat. Would taking this much off risk the integrity of the stone?

This is a vintage belgian blue and yellow glued together.
you can lap it to flatness, no problem, it's just a stone, will be a tad thiner, but you've got a lot of thickness for many lifetimes.
What is the size?
Enjoy

It's 5" long, 1 1/16" wide, and 1/2" thick. The yellow side is very flat, but the blue side has some shallow craters.

Originally Posted by Sandcounty

It's 5" long, 1 1/16" wide, and 1/2" thick. The yellow side is very flat, but the blue side has some shallow craters.

Lap both sides for good measure and be done with it, you'll be glad you did!

Originally Posted by JMS

Lap both sides for good measure and be done with it, you'll be glad you did!

Will Do...

That's a Coticule for sure.
In the old days, the blue side was not considered to have honing qualities. They just used it as a backing stone for the yellow, because they had to mine tons and tons of blue stones to have access to the yellow coticule. The yellow is prone to break, so they backed it with something stronger. The blue was just the cheapest thing available.
It was only much later discovered and confirmed by scientific research that the blue contains honing particles much alike the yellow. It cuts much slower and leaves a slightly coarser scratch pattern.
Those old stones are often backed with a piece of blue stone that's nowhere near flat and can require a lot of material removal to be lapped succesfully.
I have one that resembles yours a lot. I didn't bother with lapping the blue side. I have stopped using the blue on razors all together. In my opinion, it does not do anything that a yellow can't do quicker and better. I do use my Belgian Blue Whetstones as final polishers for chisels and plane blades, and I like them a lot for that, but those tools never touch the coticule.

Best regards,
Bart.

Have you lapped it to confirm the blue side is in fact a Belgian Blue stone?

Yep, it's definitely got a blue-purple color to it. Wow, these stones are pretty when they're wet.