Belgian Blue Whetstone

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MarcelNL said:
are we talking about 'Arduin' aka belgian blue ? The stuff I used the diamond blade on the angle grinder to cut to size to fit it in the downstairs toilet? Or am I wrong and is the stone you all refer to something completely different?

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If referring to 'leisteen'. Blue-grey. No spickles, but rarely polished. Cheap. Used a lot in the southern part of Belgium.
 
How does the BBW compare to other 4k stones such as naniwa chosera/pro 3k or shapton glass 4k?
 
Chasingsharpness said:
How does the BBW compare to other 4k stones such as naniwa chosera/pro 3k or shapton glass 4k?
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I go from Chosera 3k to BBW in my progression. Chosera will form a burr more quickly than the BBW and the BBW is much harder. Your edges will be more refined off the BBW and as others have mentioned, it's easier to remove a burr without creating a new one. I used the Chosera 3k as my final stone for a long time, it's lovely and certainly doable just removes a bit more metal than the BBW.
 
In addition to @SwampDonkey 's comments I'd also expect that if you looked under a microscope the edge would be less uniform, contributing to the toothy/bitey feel.
 
Can I jump from a 400 grit stone to the BBW?

Or is it more appropriate to use a 1k in-between?
 
MarcelNL said:
are we talking about 'Arduin' aka belgian blue ? The stuff I used the diamond blade on the angle grinder to cut to size to fit it in the downstairs toilet? Or am I wrong and is the stone you all refer to something completely different?

View attachment 260466
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Strange place to sharpen knives. But ah well, guess we're all a bit off the beaten track here
 
Benuser said:
It is certainly not the most appropriate stone to get rid of the 400 scratch pattern, if that were your purpose.
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I'm thinking of using it just to revive slightly dull edges between full sharpenings on a 400-1000
 
Chasingsharpness said:
Can I jump from a 400 grit stone to the BBW?

Or is it more appropriate to use a 1k in-between?
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Depending on the type of edge you’re looking for, a 400 -> BBW edge could create a very toothy, but well-deburred edge that would be good for either butchery or cases of peppers and tomatoes. It wouldn’t necessarily create a keener edge, but it could help make a cleaner edge.

Like others mentioned, the Belgian stones may not create burrs easily, but it also means that they help to remove burrs fairly well. It’s one of the reasons that are used in razors. A razor edge is not a nice place to find a burr.
 
Chasingsharpness said:
Can I jump from a 400 grit stone to the BBW?

Or is it more appropriate to use a 1k in-between?
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I've jumped from my SG500 to BBW. Natural stones are usually slower than synths, so your resulting edge will be something between 500 and ˜4k, depending on how much time you spend on the BBW (and also how easy your steel sharpens - probably best to try this with simple carbon steels). To get a "pure" ˜4k BBW edge you need to spend quite some time on your BBW, and it would be more practical jumping to a 1-2-3k synth and finish on the BBW. It's a great stone for the final deburr.

But, there are no rules. Many people here like big jumps between synths. These days I go from SG500 to Gesshin 4k frequently. Try it and let us know how it works :)
 
Choppin said:
I've jumped from my SG500 to BBW. Natural stones are usually slower than synths, so your resulting edge will be something between 500 and ˜4k, depending on how much time you spend on the BBW (and also how easy your steel sharpens - probably best to try this with simple carbon steels). To get a "pure" ˜4k BBW edge you need to spend quite some time on your BBW, and it would be more practical jumping to a 1-2-3k synth and finish on the BBW. It's a great stone for the final deburr.

But, there are no rules. Many people here like big jumps between synths. These days I go from SG500 to Gesshin 4k frequently. Try it and let us know how it works :)
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Ditto, for knives that I want a very aggressive edge on, I will go sg500-> bbw
 
Thanks everyone, will give it a try and see how it goes.

Looking forward to receiving my big beautiful Belgian soon!
 
Choppin said:
"and also how easy your steel sharpens - probably best to try this with simple carbon steels":)
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This is something that I have been wondering about. Garnets can supposedly be harder than silica... Has anyone noticed thier BBW and coticules abrading steels that other naturals struggle with? I have some vg10 that doesn't agree with my washitas that I plan to test when I find the time.
 
Interesting. This is my first natural so I haven't much experience. Which steels would they struggle to abrade?
 
JustAnotherJoe said:
This is something that I have been wondering about. Garnets can supposedly be harder than silica... Has anyone noticed thier BBW and coticules abrading steels that other naturals struggle with? I have some vg10 that doesn't agree with my washitas that I plan to test when I find the time.
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uh I mean my coticule definitely seems really fast both visually and in terms of feeling done, but I havent tried it on super abrasion resistant steels because I dont own any knives in that stuff tbh
 
JustAnotherJoe said:
This is something that I have been wondering about. Garnets can supposedly be harder than silica... Has anyone noticed thier BBW and coticules abrading steels that other naturals struggle with? I have some vg10 that doesn't agree with my washitas that I plan to test when I find the time.
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can't speak about different steel types as most of mine are simple carbon, but my BBW / Coti combo feels faster than other naturals in the same grit range (the BBW is an usual type though, faster than most)
 
JustAnotherJoe said:
This is something that I have been wondering about. Garnets can supposedly be harder than silica... Has anyone noticed thier BBW and coticules abrading steels that other naturals struggle with? I have some vg10 that doesn't agree with my washitas that I plan to test when I find the time.
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I'd say my coticules are faster than my BBW, though I specifically ask AC for fast ones for kitchen knives not razor honing. I've got this pinkish one on the left (not from AC) that feels quite hard and glassy on carbons, but when I was screwing around and used it for an S30V pocket knife it self-slurried more and put one hell of an edge on it. Same with an SG2 knife later. I don't really know what's going on with that one, I don't get as good edge results on my carbons with it but now it's the masochist stone and travels with me.

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JustAnotherJoe said:
This is something that I have been wondering about. Garnets can supposedly be harder than silica... Has anyone noticed thier BBW and coticules abrading steels that other naturals struggle with? I have some vg10 that doesn't agree with my washitas that I plan to test when I find the time.
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When I start from a good 1K edge, my coticules don't have any problems refining (vg10 and r2). actually quite fast.
 
riba said:
When I start from a good 1K edge, my coticules don't have any problems refining (vg10 and r2). actually quite fast.
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A soft coticule delivers coarse garnets, around 1k, who get refined up to perhaps 8k. The garnets in the BB get directly available at 4k. Must have to do with the coticule's clay binding. If you manage to raise a thick paste of coticule and don't dilute it, it's quite abrasive. Have reprofiled a SAK with it. No way that's possible with a BB.
 
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