I have done the scratch test on my coticules they do not mark there defanatley not soft i'd say medium to hard my other two one from rob and one from invisable edge and i have combo 6x3 on its way from howard. The bbw all seem the same why they say use bbw first then yellow i don't no some say the blue does the cut and yellow polihing. With my experimenting i would say yellow makes a smoother edge i have shaved straight of blue slurry and no probs i have shave of yellow light slurry and shaved but felt likevelvet not sharper.As for how many laps it does'nt matter they both it a peak and level of i have never over honed you carn't. I had a razor that was sharp but felt real harsh i reckon it was over done on my norton , i did 100 sl/yellow bbw/50 /yellow water and it was smooth it took care of the over honed edge. You could do less laps and just repeat untill your happy. invisable edge explained to me blu and yellow are both the same stones yellow is faster cutter blue is slower he prefers to finish on his blue in most cases he hones many razors and he says slurry has to be used he does. I 'd say he is probably right . they both cut and polish so slurry just speeds it up. I have had one experiance when i used thick slurry it did dull my edge but 100 laps on water brought it back. that is why i always like to finish on water.When i shave tomorrow straight of yellow slurry i will see let you guys no.