Belgian Blue Grit

[jalapeno_peppah]

Hi Team,


I just got a beautiful natural stone from Howard at ThePerfectEdge, with one side yellow coticle, and one side belgian blue.

There's been a lot of talk about the effective grit of the yellow coticle.
Although it's usually listed as 8000 grit, Lynn says it cuts like its around12,000, and other people seem to basically concur.

There doesn't seem to be much talk about the Belgian Blue though.
It's listed at 4000, but what is its effective grit? What does it cut like?
Thanks yall

c

[thebigspendur]

I think the general consensus is it cuts like a 6000 but its a very slow cutter unless you use slurry.

[heavydutysg135]

This thread is useless without pics!

The belgian blue is a very slow cutting 4-6K stone that leaves a very smooth scratch pattern for its grit because of the slurry cutting action. Many German's actually shave directly off this stone. The edge should be very smooth and sharp off the belgian blue, but the yellow coticule will improve the sharpness somewhat. FWIW there was a lot of information on this stone in the forums, but unfortunately it was lost in the Great Crash of '08. Maybe I'll swing by and take a look at your new stone one of these days, I am sure that it is a beauty.

[jalapeno_peppah]

OkOk Here's some glam shots of what it looks like. Thanks for the info on the blue!

This thread is useless without pics!
The belgian blue is a very slow cutting 4-6K stone that leaves a very smooth scratch pattern for its grit because of the slurry cutting action. Many German's actually shave directly off this stone. The edge should be very smooth and sharp off the belgian blue, but the yellow coticule will improve the sharpness somewhat. FWIW there was a lot of information on this stone in the forums, but unfortunately it was lost in the Great Crash of '08. Maybe I'll swing by and take a look at your new stone one of these days, I am sure that it is a beauty.

[poona]

You sure that aint just the slate base? Looks identical to mine.

Nice stone btw.

[Bart]

You sure that aint just the slate base? Looks identical to mine.

Nice stone btw.

If it were a slate base, the line where the yellow touches the blue would have been straight. Only nature bonds two different rocks with such curves.

[poona]

If it were a slate base, the line where the yellow touches the blue would have been straight. Only nature bonds two different rocks with such curves.

Cool, thanks for the info.

Nice stone.

[JoshEarl]

Very nice hone. It's hard to tell from the photo, but I'm pretty sure that is a blue side. It could be naturally bonded to the slate, I guess, but I doubt it.

I find the blue to be difficult to categorize. It produces a very smooth edge that for me is more comfortable than a Norton 8K edge. It's duller, but smoother. So 6K might be about right.

To make the comparison harder, the blue cuts a lot slower than a 4K waterstone. You could use a Norton 4K to take out chips, but good luck doing that on the Belgian blue.

Josh

[jalapeno_peppah]

Thanks very much for the info guys.
Yeah its absolutely not a slate backing, it is the blue belgian.
I've made a slurry on the blue side, not honed with it though. The slurry on the blue side, wow does that feel cutty. smooth and cutty

I liked it so much that I bought a second combo stone! (pictured).
I had much less success with that one though. all it does is make this frothy lather. WTF!?

[Dewey]

Thanks very much for the info guys.
Yeah its absolutely not a slate backing, it is the blue belgian.
I've made a slurry on the blue side, not honed with it though. The slurry on the blue side, wow does that feel cutty. smooth and cutty

I liked it so much that I bought a second combo stone! (pictured).
I had much less success with that one though. all it does is make this frothy lather. WTF!?

I think I have a combo stone of my own in my bathroom cabinet!