Thread: Grits

Tony, thats interesting. Some time ago I read a description of the belgian hones and they said the avarage size was 6 microns and that the garnets splintered thus giving a finer grit. Oh well, whatever it is it does work well.

How much for the 3X8?

http://www.ardennes-coticule.com/engels.htm

t's due to the garnets. As soon as you start the sharpening, these garnets will leave the stone and, used with water, they create a very "abrasive milk". The garnets have a round or oval form. You can compare it withe a football, that consists of a lot of small leather planes, stitched all together. These planes form obtuse angles. The bottom of these angles are in contact with the steel while sharpening. When the garnet grains are more or less 15 micron, the penetration is only 2 or 3 micron. This is why the stone sharpens so fast and delicately.

Stone of Vielsalm or Coticule
Colour: yellow-white
Fineness: till 8 000 grit
Garnets: 30% till 42%

Belgian Blue Whetstone
Colour: dark blue-grey
Fineness: 4 000 grit
Garnets: 20% till 30%

What's the best stone for my application?

If you need to sharpen very rapidly, till 8 000 grit, the yellow stone is the best one. To sharpen normal knives as carving knives, graver, scissors, the blue stone is sufficient.

Have a look at the source and end the discussion ....

Hoekie

hoekie,
Yep, that would be the source. They alkso mention the yield of yellow to blue stone. Only .66% is yellow Coticule which explains the price.

Tony

A thank you for the link goes out to Jan (no clue what his online name is), a Belgian "silent" srp member.

Credit to those who deserve it.

Hoekie