Natural Belgian Ebay Find?

I found this on eBay last Thursday evening. The seller thought it was quarried in Holland or the Netherlands (same place?). He didn't have any more info than that.
The seam between the colors is a wavy, naturally occuring seam and the yellow side has a better finish. The blue side is not as smooth of flat.
Is the blue really a blue Belgian or simply a natural backing and not designed to be honed on like the yellow side.
Measures 5 3/4" x 2" x 7/8".
http://straightrazorpalace.com/image...ize/stone1.jpg

http://straightrazorpalace.com/image...ize/stone2.jpg


Tony

That looks like a natural Belgian stone. Good catch!:)
The dark side is about 4000 grit but is very slow cutting. I would use a 4000 Norton instead or any other medium grit stone.
The Belgians are generally used with water.

That's brilliant Tony. Let me know if you're ever thinking of letting it go.

X

Tony,
The stone you purchased is what the Belgians call a "natural" stone which is their term for a combination stone. The stone is actually fairly rare in that gradable stone that straddles the seam where the yellow coticule vein intrudes into the blue base rock is unusual. In this country we would call such a stone a "combination stone". It took me two years to get a natural stone from the belgians but I'm now receiving them occasionally and have recently sold several in the 8"x3" form factor.

The stones are used with water but you don't have to soak them like Norton Waterstones as the Belgian stones are not porous. They don't soak up water. It's because of that fact that the belgians don't "load". "Loading" is when "swarf" becomes embedded in the stone's pores reducing your ability to sharpen steel on that stone. Loading is bad. "Swarf" is the combined product of stone particles, water or oil, and steel.

I have revived many stones such as India stones or artificial waterstones or oilstones by lifting out the swarf with Easy Off Fume Free. Works like a charm and several applications have brought back some of the most poorly cared for stones I've ever seen.

Nice purchase!

Howard
hschechter@theperfectedge.com

Howard,
Thanks for the info. It did sem an unusual piece and a stroke of luck catching it. It was listed just moments before I found it and had a a Buy It Now.

The little dark patch in the upper corner of the dark side was the original price sticker from the store the seller found it in.

I have just started fooling with my barber hones and wanted a Belgian as well. I do have a Norton for the heavy work..........and no, I'm not giving up on pasted strops <g>.

Tony

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tony Miller

I found this on eBay last Thursday evening. The seller thought it was quarried in Holland or the Netherlands (same place?).
Tony

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very same. Not far from Belgium either.

BTW, what happened to Theo?? :hmmm: Hoek, where are you?

Nenad

The seller sent me a little more info this morning. He bought it new in 1995 in Soviet Georgia at a store that had shaving supplies from Germany. He said at that time there were many European item available there but now it is like here, everything is from China.

I didn't realize the seller was from Russia whgen I photographed the stone with my Soviet Paketa razor.............. good Karma I guess, same thing that lead me to the stone.

Tony

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Howard

Tony,
The stone is actually fairly rare in that gradable stone that straddles the seam where the yellow coticule vein intrudes into the blue base rock is unusual.
I have revived many stones such as India stones or artificial waterstones or oilstones by lifting out the swarf with Easy Off Fume Free. Works like a charm and several applications have brought back some of the most poorly cared for stones I've ever seen.
Nice purchase!
Howard

hschechter@theperfectedge.com

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Nice Post Howard. I saw some of those recently; I guess they were yours. Wow, a 3X8 sounds like a very rare find. I'm curious about the oven cleaner trick. I have a 15k Shapton that loads up pretty readily. I have never seen this solution on the knife forums. Do you know if its ok on Ceramic stones?

Thanks

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tony Miller

I didn't realize the seller was from Russia whgen I photographed the stone with my Soviet Paketa razor.............. good Karma I guess, same thing that lead me to the stone.

Tony

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Tony, that reads "Raketa" in Cyrilic, which means Rocket...

cheers,
Nenad

I would hold off on using the oven cleaner on that Shapton!
Howard was referring to Arkansas and Carborundum stones. They are very different from a Shapton. You might dissolve the binding in the Shapton.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Korndog

Nice Post Howard. I saw some of those recently; I guess they were yours. Wow, a 3X8 sounds like a very rare find. I'm curious about the oven cleaner trick. I have a 15k Shapton that loads up pretty readily. I have never seen this solution on the knife forums. Do you know if its ok on Ceramic stones?

Thanks

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Just my two cents,

Tony, I have a similar stone in 3x8, and I love it. Got it from Howard, as a matter of fact. Take a look at his site, some good info on the stones there. http://www.theperfectedge.com Randy is right the blue side is a bit slower (and smoother feeling) than the Norton 4k. The way I use it is after the Norton 4k, I then go to the Belgian blue side, yellow coticule side, then to my Shapton 15k.

Larry, on my 15k I keep it VERY wet at all times while honing. I mean I keep pushing water back and forth on it. I lie it on a wet washrag to catch all of the water that runs off. This seems to prevent it's loading and makes for easy rinsing afterwards. If I let it start to dry then the particles try to soak in. Maybe that will help you. After use I just rub it with my thumbs under cold running water, then lean it against the mirror to dry along with my other stones. .................Jeff

How can you tell when it's a two sided stone or one with backing. I have one with a yellow and blue side with the wavy interface, instead of a straight line. Does that make it two sided? It's just that the blue side doesn't seem very abrasive.

Joe,
The wavy, uneven interface is the clue. One stone almost melds into the other without a sharp deliniation. actually in some spots it may be a fairly distinct line but in others if just fades into the other stone. take a look at the seam with your RS scope. A newer Coticyule will be bonded to a slate backing and should show a definite line between the two.
The blue is around 4000 grit, the yellow around 8000. The actualt grit is from 5 to 20 microns in size but the odd shape prevents them from penetrating more than 2 or 3 microns into the steel makeing them so fine. The yellow has a higher percentage of garnets too.

Is this the one you got off ebay a few weeks ago? I was atching it but the photos were not that great and it looked as if the surface was deeply scratched. They can be flattened on a DMT diamond hone.

Tony

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tony Miller

Is this the one you got off ebay a few weeks ago? I was atching it but the photos were not that great and it looked as if the surface was deeply scratched. They can be flattened on a DMT diamond hone.

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It's not, but that one also has the uneven interface. I went for it because when I blew up the photos I could see that the marks were not really scratches at all. They came out quite easily with just a pumice stone.

The stone I was referring to I got a while ago. What I like about it is that it's about 5-6 inches long and about 2 inches wide, a very convenient size to hold.