Thread: Honing videos

Thanks Utopian, yes maybe…and thanks everyone else for the pointers. I haven't had time to look at any vids yet and I had previously tried to find gssixguns vids but not found them? Anyway guys the BBW just arrived. It's an Ardennes coticule brand and it looks like it needs a fair bit of lapping. At least on one side before I put my blade to it. I'm going to use a naniwa 220 flattening stone on it to see how that comes up first. Failing that, sandpaper etc. I also have a BBW (yellow) slurry stone with which to start the honing and then dilute…as I've read about on several different sites. I'll let you know the results when I've had a go later. Any tips in between would be greatly appreciated. Thanks guys, J

I have never used the Naniwa flattening hone but I would assume that it was not designed for natural hones. Use a straight edge to check for any dishing in it. If you find any then you will need to use sandpaper or loose grit to lap your lapper.

BBWs in general have larger garnets but fewer of them so they tend to be much slower and produce a less refined edge, so you may have a challenge ahead of you!

thanks again U. so i've hit the BBW for the 1st time. I think you're right about the flattening stone… a sheet of 600 wet to dry paper was much better, faster to lap the BBW. come to think of it, this might also be the best way to raise a slurry on it because the BBW(yellow) slurry stone was very slow. I will try that next time perhaps. My results using the BBW(yellow) slurry stone on the BBW and diluting as i went were pretty good. certainly not outstanding though. however after a good hemp and leather strop i had a pretty nice shave. I was tempted but refrained from finishing on a nani 12k before shaving…i was hoping i wouldn't need it but not sure yet if that would have been an improvement. another one for next time.
During that consideration I was wondering about raising a slurry on the nani 12k with the BBW(yellow)slurry stone and finishing on that. Have I gone completely mad??
BTW I found gsixguns vids but nothing with simply a BBW

Really bad idea to use wetndri for slurry as you will have coarse sandpaper particles in your slurry.

Same thing using a bbw on a nani 12k you will mix coarse particles on a finer base stone.

How come your blue slurry stone is yellow ?

yeah I kinda realised that as i'd finished typing…about the sandpaper der!
When i say BBW (yellow) I mean that it's actually a piece of yellow cuticle as opposed to the blue so perhaps i should call it the BYW. from what i know (which is clearly limited) or at least what i thought was that the yellow particles were extremely fine and very capable of cutting a very fine edge.(finest even??) Finer even than that of the nani 12k…..and now i'm confused even listening to that. help required! I guess, I'm just trying to find whats most suitable to achieve the finest possible edge with what tools i have. like everyone else.

When you bought your BBW did you tell them what you were going to use it for? They will recommend stones for razor use.

BBW and Coticules are some of the most difficult stones to lean to hone on and can vary greatly, few are capable of producing razor quality edges.

http://www.coticule.be/ is full of good coticule information.

Learn on synthetic stones, once mastered, then experiment with naturals.

Originally Posted by Euclid440

Learn on synthetic stones, once mastered, then experiment with naturals.

He has made no mention of synthetic hones other than his lapper, so as far as I know, naturals are what he has to work with.

Originally Posted by jonjo

yeah I kinda realised that as i'd finished typing…about the sandpaper der!
When i say BBW (yellow) I mean that it's actually a piece of yellow cuticle as opposed to the blue so perhaps i should call it the BYW. from what i know (which is clearly limited) or at least what i thought was that the yellow particles were extremely fine and very capable of cutting a very fine edge.(finest even??) Finer even than that of the nani 12k…..and now i'm confused even listening to that. help required! I guess, I'm just trying to find whats most suitable to achieve the finest possible edge with what tools i have. like everyone else.

Well, I'm confused. I asked if a coticule was involved and you said no so I was under the impression that you only had a BBW. Would you please clarify what it is that you have to work with for hones?

A BBW is dark blue and a coticule is yellow. Do you have a BBW hone and a coticule bout for slurry?

If you do have a coticule of any size, is it backed by a BBW or a piece of slate? (you can tell by its slurry--BBW produces purple and slate produces white)

You also have the Naniwa lapping hone, but what else do you have for hones?

And here I thought I couldn't get more confused!! Tc