Thread: Belgian Blue 8k

Rob at Ardennes Coticule get's them out of the same quarry, but they're two different stones. Ardennes Coticule is the company name though, not that of the stone. Very versatile stones with the use of slurry.

Originally Posted by sparq

A photograph of your stone would help.

If you go to the website,it's the picture at the bottom.
http://www.theinvisibleedge.co.uk/belgiancoticule.html

I believe that a Belgian blue produces a same result of 6000 to 9000 artificial stones, depending of the use of slurry or water only.

But 6 strokes are insuficient for this type of hone
My oppinion is to try begining with 30-50 with slurry and finish with 30 -40 with water only. If needed increase the number of passes with slurry and
keep the finishing strokes with water only to 30-40

Originally Posted by charlie762

If you go to the website,it's the picture at the bottom.
http://www.theinvisibleedge.co.uk/belgiancoticule.html

You have bought another BBW. Ben got it right - the box says Ardennes Coticule but that relates to the manufacturer, not the stone.

Originally Posted by charlie762

If you go to the website,it's the picture at the bottom.
http://www.theinvisibleedge.co.uk/belgiancoticule.html

Ben.mid has it right. You have a Belgian Blue Whetstone (BBW), supplied by the company called Ardennes Coticule.

There is some info here: http://uk.ardennes-coticule.com/imag...le_english.pdf

Interesting quote on the BBW:

a high quality whetstone with identical sharpening properties as the "yellow whetstone" but only blue in colour ... Almost 30% of its weight is garnet, as opposed to the yellow which has approx. 40% garnet, this means it works just a little slower.

Identical sharpening properties? Maybe that's a simplification, but I bet a BBW on its own still makes a very fine hone. Especially if you use the trick of starting with a slurry but watering it down during the honing until you end up with just water.

Here is a copy of the reply I just got from theinvisibleedge :

Hi Charles -

Belgian Blues and yellow coticules are both around 8k grit, as the garnets - the bits that do the cutting - are the same size and composition in both clays. The difference lies in the garnet density per m2 - in BBW's it's about 30%, in coticules around 40 - 45%. This means that BBW's cut just as finely but with less speed than a yellow coticule. Both respond very well to preesure variations on the razor and you can get an extremely fine and polished edge with either.

Glad you like it!
Regards
Steve Dempster

----- Original Message -----
From: To: [email protected]
Sent: Friday, February 20, 2009 4:42 PM
Subject: Belgian blue grit number?


Hi,
I recently bought a belgian blue Coticule from you which I am very pleased with but wondered what the grit size was.It is the one in the beech wooden box.I assumed it was an 8k.
Thank you,
Charles Steele

Gosh,Y'learn sumthin' new every day,dontcha?!

I'm not sure he's right. Even his supplier, who has has both stones annalysed contradicts his email.
Ardennes Coticule - natural sharpening stones from Vielsalm Belgium. - Whetstones
Rob Has the coticule down at between 6-8k, & the BBW at around 4k.

Bart did a study on them & found the BBW to be a very capable stone in it's own right.
http://straightrazorpalace.com/advan...s-yellows.html

They're both members though, so maybe they'll help clarify if they see this.

No, not only the density but and the size of garnets is different
In the blue are 3-12 micron and red in color.
In the coticule are 2-8 micron and translucent white



http://www.belgischer-brocken.com/
Go to " INFOS "
Then go to " Mikroskopisches Ergebnis der Schärfpaste des BBB´s... " for the belgian blue
and " Mikroskopisches Ergebnis der Schärfpaste des GBB´s... " for the coticule

All I know is I already had a 4k BBW and this new one is a different stone.It feels smoother and harder.Also, when I flattened the 4k. stone I stuck sandpaper onto a black marble surface and produced a slurry in no time but when I did the same with this new stone it took a while with hard rubbng to produce just a little slurry.
Now I'm more cofused than ever.