Thread: belgium blue

You can actually see the garnets if you hold the stone at the right angle in good light. They look like tiny polka dots. The blues cut quickly and I always use them with a slurry. After it looks like the edge is completely done by the blue (I look at it under magnification), I then finish on the coticule. Light strokes then strop on natural leather. Gives me a smooth face.

Originally Posted by Howard

You can actually see the garnets if you hold the stone at the right angle in good light. They look like tiny polka dots. The blues cut quickly and I always use them with a slurry. After it looks like the edge is completely done by the blue (I look at it under magnification), I then finish on the coticule. Light strokes then strop on natural leather. Gives me a smooth face.

If you are referring to the purplish dots, those are not the actual garnets. Those dots are in the 100-300 micron range. I think the garnets are the smaller specks that can be seen with magnification They're in the 10-20 micron range. See the attached picture.
In my experience the Belgian Blue is not a fast hone. I would rather rate it as slow, when I compare it to how fast some Coticules remove steel. I think the Coticule garnets are not only present in a higher concentration, but they also penetrate the steel better. I speculate that Coticule garnets are less fragmented, which causes the spiky corners of the garnets to be sharper. Hence the faster performance, but also more abrasion on the tip of the edge. The Blue is slower, more gentler to the edge, and therefor, with slurry, allows for a keener edge than the Yellow. (less "slurry-dulling").

Bart.

Sounds about right