Thread: belgium blue

This is a great thread. It answered many of my questions. I was becoming discouraged with my BBW/Coticule combo. After going through every post, I'll have another go at it.

One question though: Is it OK to build a slurry on the BBW with a 1K wet/dry sandpaper? I don't have a DMT. Thanks.

Originally Posted by TstebinsB

This is a great thread. It answered many of my questions. I was becoming discouraged with my BBW/Coticule combo. After going through every post, I'll have another go at it.

One question though: Is it OK to build a slurry on the BBW with a 1K wet/dry sandpaper? I don't have a DMT. Thanks.

Yeah, it really is a great thread... I'd be worried about building a slurry with sandpaper. The 1k sandpaper abrasives might be left behind on your coticule. I could see lapping, and then thoroughly rinsing, your BBW/yellow with 1k sandpaper, but I don't think raising a slurry with it would be the thing to do.

Originally Posted by FloorPizza

Yeah, it really is a great thread... I'd be worried about building a slurry with sandpaper. The 1k sandpaper abrasives might be left behind on your coticule. I could see lapping, and then thoroughly rinsing, your BBW/yellow with 1k sandpaper, but I don't think raising a slurry with it would be the thing to do.

No need to worry. Just use 320 girt sand paper of a decent quality. Or even coarser. At work I keep a Coticule for sharpening knives that are being used to cut paper and cardboard. That particular Coticule is too hard to generate enough slurry with a slurry stone. Hence I use sandpaper. The sandpaper hardly ever looses a particle, but on the rare occasion it does, the stray particle is easy to spot (as long as you use black, blue or brown sandpaper) and easy to remove with a fingertip.
I have also used this method while testing out very hard Coticules for razor honing. I basically sand the Coticule dry till enough dust is present on top, next I add a few drops of water and mix with a smearing motion, adding more water for the appropriate consistency. This is a great method for those Coticules that don't produce a decent slurry with the regular slurry stone method.
I never found any adverse effects in the use of sandpaper, as long as decent wet & dry sand paper is used.

Bart.

Howard (the Perfect Edge) sells slurry stones. He calls them cotigura stones. On stones I've gotten that didn't include a slurry stone I have used a credit card sized DMT 325 plate that I have. Very convenient and it will outlast a mess of sandpaper. I don't think it will leave any particles and it is relatively flat.