Thread: Belgium Coti vs. Norton 4k/8k

Originally Posted by Alpsman

Hmmm, seems to be a general consensus here and I thank you. However, I should have provided better info - sorry about that. I don't know if it will alter your recommendation - which of course I will follow.

1. I have a very soft Arkansas stone to bevel with (220 g).

2. Really can only afford one (1) stone this year.

3. I have good experience honing knives (from scratch, ie. from dull, creating progressive angles, honing on ceramic to polish, etc). Never done a straight razor though

So,

Option A = I bevel with the soft, use the Norton 4k/8k, and finish with 100 careful passes on my watered black surgical to "finish" as it were?

Option B = I bevel on the soft, use a slurry on the BBW (following Bart's) progression, finish on water only, then dry as a finish.


Thanks for voting,

Alspman

Just to clear one thing up... the BBW and coticule are different. The BBW is a Belgian Blue Whetstone and is blue, and the coticule is yellow. They are mined from the same region, but have different properties. The coticule with slurry actually cuts faster than the BBW with or without slurry, and the coticule with just water also finishes finer than the BBW. The BBW is usually used with slurry during the sharpening stage, but Bart's recent research is starting to phase out the need for it (potentially) by basically using a much more watery slurry on the coticule which seems to achieve the same (or better) results as a BBW with slurry.

If you were to get only one (as in Option B), it would be a coticule (to follow Bart's progression). Based on his most recent postings with his "one coticule honing" idea, you could get away with only the coticule. I assume with your arkansas stone you meant 220 grit? If that's the case, then you really wouldn't be using it on your straights, unless they needed some SERIOUS work. Maybe some particularly bad ebay specials. The good news is that you can set the bevel on a coticule with slurry.

You may have known all of this already, but since you mentioned using a BBW as option B to follow Bart's progression, I thought maybe you might have the two stones confused, and didn't want to see you end up with the wrong stone for what you are trying to do!

Anyhow, to answer your newest question, based on the fact that you really are only looking to get one stone at the moment, I would say go for the coticule. You may (or may not) have a little steeper learning curve, but that one stone really can do it all as Bart has proven, and the edges off of it are all you need. If you aren't completely satisfied with the edge, you can further refine it by building a balsa wood paddle for < $10 and then buying some chromium oxide from Chris L. So, based on your situation, I would say grab a coticule, at least 6x2, IMO.