Thread: Should I buy a belgian stone?

I'm thinking of buying an yellow and blue stone.

I've looked at "The Perfect Edge" and I was wondering if you could give me your opinions on these stones. Should I go to the Norton combo or should I stick with these?

Thanks

You can never go wrong with a yellow and blue coticule - I have both and like 'em both

i love my blue belgian, easier for me to use than a norton, i then go to a fine scottish hone then spyderco fine and ultrafine strop 70 passes or so and it is ready to shave

Coticules are great. For centuries they have been THE stone for honing razors, and the yellow one produces a very comfortable shaving edge. They are fun to use, give a lot of "feedback", which means that they offer sound, vision and feel about how your edge is developing while honing. They don't need soaking. Just take them out of a drawer, sprinkle a few drops of water on, and you're good to go. If you use the yellow with slurry, it's remarkably fast for such a fine hone, and it can be used (with some patience) to hone out very small chips or to reset the dulled bevel of old secondhand razors. You can also use it for kitchen knifes and other cutlery. It doesn't hurt the coticule and you 'll be up for quite an epiphany. I own two Belgian Blue Whetstones as well, but I stopped using them for razors. They didn't offer me anything more that the yellow coticule could not provide, so they have moved to my woodshop where they see even more steel than my coticules do. The blue is a great polisher, slightly coarser than the yellow, but too slow to remove much metal. It excels in eating the 600 grit scratches from the DMT diamond hone that I use for bevel formation on my woodworking tools.
For razors I use a DMT 1200 grit for bevel formation (if needed) and the yellow coticule to refine and polish that bevel to shavereadiness. A coticule will last you a lifetime, but beware: some of them carry some kind of bug. If you get bitten by it, they start reproducing themselves, and before you know it you'll own a full drawer.

Can't comment on the Norton. I don't posses one.

Best regards,

Bart.

Yes you should buy a Belgian hone if you ever need to sharpen a straight razor.

I see you've gotten your answer.

I wouldn't compare the coticule and blue to a 4K/8K. The belgian combo is really for finishing and polishing while the 4K/8K is for restoration and general finishing. the blue acts more like a 6K but it is very slow. If your just looking to maintain and touch up you razors the coticule is perfect for that. If your going to be doing Eboy razors the Norton is better. Eventually you'll probably buy both anyway.

Personally I don't see the point of the belgian blue. the blue doesn't do anything that the norton 4/8 doesn't do better AND faster

I own a good number of hones, and I will end up owning more still. Different stones for different tasks and all that... I have 2 blues, but I never use them on razors.
Of course several people here use the blue / yellow combination with good results, and they probably think differently.

Highly recommended! The blue side (I have a combo) is great at removing the scratch pattern from my DMT 1200 (resetting bevels/restoring problem razors) and leaves a very fine edge in itself. I'm told, it's finer and faster cutting than a Norton 8K, but I can't comment on that as I've never used a Norton.

I use the coticule side with light slurry, then w/ plain water, then w/ shaving lather for a final polish (just like the old barber textbooks). I'lltouch up razors as needed on the coticule side with just water and then lather. Maybe every 4-5 times or so, I'll go all the way back down to the blue and work up through the progression.

One word about bevel setting, though: while it should be possible (I've never actually tried) to reset a dull bevel on a blue (doesn't have any chips and isn't set too steep), something coarser (like the DMT) will be needed if there's any serious metal removal to do.

I have to agree with thebigspendur. The Nortons are very effective at a number of tasks and are of a more consistent quality than the belgians.

The belgians are great for a razor with no problems, if you get a good belgain. The Norton will take care of almost anything, 1000 grit sandpaper takes care of the rest.

Just my two cents,