Thread: What is the best honing stone available?

Originally Posted by Kees

As I am a nostalgic guy I think I'll buy a Belgian blue and a coticule.

I had the same thinking when I went for barber hones initially. I continue to fail to achieve a shaving sharp edge from them. The Norton is less costly than Belgians and most effective. I've been branching out from that foundation. Not trying to disuade you, just trying to open your mind in case things don't go your way. Good luck with whatever you decide.

Also, rather than simpy looking for cheap Begians if you still decide this is your direction, ensure the highest quality. My Belgian coticule bout had some blue veins running trhough it and I'm wondering if it might be foiling my attempts to refine the edge after using the Norton 4k/8k. Can anybody answer this?

X

Originally Posted by xman

My Belgian coticule bout had some blue veins running trhough it and I'm wondering if it might be foiling my attempts to refine the edge after using the Norton 4k/8k. Can anybody answer this?

X

Well, Artur Boon from Nassrasur mentioned that newely mined Belgian stones are inferior to synthetic ones because of the stone irregularities and embeded particles which are preventing the stone to perform like it's elderly predecessors. The one Belgian that I've seen, though, was with nice clean surface...

Nenad

Dear X,

You may have a coticule with some veins of Belgian blue in it. Coticule is considered to have a grit of 8-12k while Belgian blues have a grit of 4-6k.

Coticule and Belgian blue often run together in a rock. Both are presumed to be of volcanic sedimentary origin. Click on the following link and you can see what it looks like underground in the mine: http://bxl1.free.fr/coticule.htm. Scroll downward, below the French text and you will see some pictures of the inside of a coticule mine. The 7th and 8th show the veins of coticule and blue whetstone run side by side. Between the pictures it reads "Les filon de coticule...". If you want to know more about the mineral content of coticule and Belgian blues click here: http://www.belgischerbrocken.com/. Click on the Union Jack and then on "Information about the Belgian sharpening stone". If you scroll downward you will find below the order form some interesting info. on Belgian whetstones.

Apart from the differences in grit size you should take into account that te coticule wears more easily than the Belgian blue. So after using it more and more your stone will become less than perfectly flat. I am not a honemeister but I can imagine that humps on the honing surface may damage your edge.

The gist of it is that your coticule might be "adulterated" with Belgian blue. I will check my stone carefully as soon as it arrives for blue veins... Thanks for the tip-off.

Kees

There are definetly differences i the Coticule stones. Some have a distinct grain pattern in them in which a more coarse crystaline structure is seen. Most of the "Old Roc" or "exta-extra" stones as a solid, homogenous yellow with little on no grains/crystals evident.

I have gotten my best results with the more homogenous stones, other do well with the more crytstaline ones. I recently sent a very grainy looking stone to Lynn for testing and he seemed to get decent results from it.

Most natural stones have variations. The vintage Eschers I have tried all seem a little different too. Some hard, some soft with colors ranging from jet blac, to charcoal grey to a greenish/yellow tint. With any of these the underlying garnet crystals can usually be seen with a microscope.

Tony

Kees, I use barber hones and get great results with them. I do agree with the other posts that they can be hard to identify as far as the grit is concerned. If you can afford Belgians then you at least need to get a Norton 4k/8k first. You can check with Tilly aka redtrader99 and see what barber hones she has.

Glen

Kees, I've mailed you but let me know and I'll help you get a coticule for a decent price. You live in the Netherlands and it's not too bad getting one.

I like my coticule and have one of similar quality that Xman has. Although mine is a size smaller. For me it was a cheap, well working stone that I've used with everything I've honed so far at it works just fine without much hassle.

I had a great shave today!!

So thanks everybody for their honing advice. What did I do differently? I did alternate the medium and extra fine Arkansas, using water and no oil as the oil clogs up the pores. A few strokes for either side of the blade on the medium stone followed by the same on the extra fine stone and then stropping and hand hair test. This sequence repeated a couple of times until the hand hair test was satisfactory. I did it within half an hour so I guess overhoning was my problem.
The other thing I changed was to let the spine rest on the stone and the storp. I used to keep the spine suspended if you like a few millimeters above the stone and the strop.

Thanks again everybody for their great advice!

Kees

Originally Posted by Kees

I had a great shave today!!

I used to keep the spine suspended if you like a few millimeters above the stone and the strop.

Thanks again everybody for their great advice!

Kees

uh, that figures why you had lousy results so far... That way you'll never get a shaving edge, because your angle is never the same.

Anyways, nice you finaly got the honing thing down, we learn something each day...

Nenad

Originally Posted by LX_Emergency

I like my coticule and have one of similar quality that Xman has. Although mine is a size smaller. For me it was a cheap, well working stone that I've used with everything I've honed so far at it works just fine without much hassle.

How are you using it?
Water only or a slurry of some kind?
How many laps?
How much pressure?
Are you following it with pastes or anything?
What stone are you coming off of to the coticule?
I must admit I'm a bit stymied by mine right now.

X

I use water and make some slurry with a piece of very fine sandpaper.
I'm not sure what stone I'm coming off but it's a fairly rough one that I bought years ago to hone my pocket knives.
I start with lots of pressure and decrease after a while. I have to admit that I don't really know how many laps I do. After a while Ijust test it to see how sharp it's gotten. If it can cut hairs on my arm I consider it ready for a strop.

Then I do 100 passes on linnen and 100 passes on leather. Usually that's all I need to do really.
I'll be looking for a better rough stone I think.