Ardennes Belgian Whetstone

A

alongoria

Joined
Dec 13, 2009
Messages
174
Hello. I've been carry, using, sharpening knives since I was a young kid (I'm 60 yrs old now). I've "sharpened" knives using many different stones, diamond plates, sandpaper, ceramic rods, etc.

I believe I was able to put a pretty good, "hair popping" edge on a knife that would do the usual pop arm hair, push cut phone book paper, etc. BTW, I've never been able to cut a free hanging hair, lol.

I usually set edge bevels using a diamond plate and use diamond and wet/dry sandpaper to smooth and polish the edge bevels.

Maybe a couple of months ago, I came across a YouTube vid of a straight razor shaver honing a blade. He was using "Coticule". I had never heard of it, but watched a few vids and read a little online about them.

Ardennes Belgian natural whetstones (Belgian Blue and Coticule) are hard and have a fine particle composition. I ordered a Blue and 2 Coticule stones and have been working with them for several weeks. I can only comment from a subjective position regarding edge/apex "sharpness" (thin, low angle bevels, polish/finish), but I'm experiencing a new level of edge sharpness that I haven't achieved before.

I'm a little intimidated because I'm pretty sure there is a deep "rabbithole" of different natural sharpening, polishing, fininshing stones and I don't know if I want to go down that path, lol.

Just FYI. Best regards and God bless.
 
Hello. I've been carry, using, sharpening knives since I was a young kid (I'm 60 yrs old now). I've "sharpened" knives using many different stones, diamond plates, sandpaper, ceramic rods, etc.

I believe I was able to put a pretty good, "hair popping" edge on a knife that would do the usual pop arm hair, push cut phone book paper, etc. BTW, I've never been able to cut a free hanging hair, lol.

I usually set edge bevels using a diamond plate and use diamond and wet/dry sandpaper to smooth and polish the edge bevels.

Maybe a couple of months ago, I came across a YouTube vid of a straight razor shaver honing a blade. He was using "Coticule". I had never heard of it, but watched a few vids and read a little online about them.

Ardennes Belgian natural whetstones (Belgian Blue and Coticule) are hard and have a fine particle composition. I ordered a Blue and 2 Coticule stones and have been working with them for several weeks. I can only comment from a subjective position regarding edge/apex "sharpness" (thin, low angle bevels, polish/finish), but I'm experiencing a new level of edge sharpness that I haven't achieved before.

I'm a little intimidated because I'm pretty sure there is a deep "rabbithole" of different natural sharpening, polishing, fininshing stones and I don't know if I want to go down that path, lol.

Just FYI. Best regards and God bless.
 
Nice.

Quality stones make a world of difference. If you are a good sharpener with "generic" stones, you will often surprise yourself by experimenting with the myriad of stones that exist, many of them quite obscure or relatively unknown.

I have used dozens of different brands of stones over the years, including some very expensive Japanese water stones. However, I also bought an Edge Pro Apex many years - even though I rarely use it now. I am quite proficient at freehand sharpening after 40 years, lol. And I don't often sharpen beyond 600 grit anymore (but that's another rabbit hole, and a story for another time.....). What I will say is that although Edge Pro is well known, their stones are amazing even when used without the system. They have been my go-to stones for freehand sharpening for a very long time. I tried to find out who makes them for Edge Pro, but they would not tell me. I was hoping to be able to get a benchstone size, rather than the 1" x 6" stones that are used with the system. Regardless, the system's stones work just fine for my freehand sharpening.
 
The bbws generally have more garnet concentration than the yellows. I have used on straight razors as a prefinisher. And to finely lap natural stones. They been using them for many years. Personally I don't refine higher than 1000 to 1200 for my knives. But use what works for you. If someone says they aren't good? Lol. You have to believe your own eyes!
 
alongoria said:
Hello. I've been carry, using, sharpening knives since I was a young kid (I'm 60 yrs old now). I've "sharpened" knives using many different stones, diamond plates, sandpaper, ceramic rods, etc.

I believe I was able to put a pretty good, "hair popping" edge on a knife that would do the usual pop arm hair, push cut phone book paper, etc. BTW, I've never been able to cut a free hanging hair, lol.

I usually set edge bevels using a diamond plate and use diamond and wet/dry sandpaper to smooth and polish the edge bevels.

Maybe a couple of months ago, I came across a YouTube vid of a straight razor shaver honing a blade. He was using "Coticule". I had never heard of it, but watched a few vids and read a little online about them.

Ardennes Belgian natural whetstones (Belgian Blue and Coticule) are hard and have a fine particle composition. I ordered a Blue and 2 Coticule stones and have been working with them for several weeks. I can only comment from a subjective position regarding edge/apex "sharpness" (thin, low angle bevels, polish/finish), but I'm experiencing a new level of edge sharpness that I haven't achieved before.

I'm a little intimidated because I'm pretty sure there is a deep "rabbithole" of different natural sharpening, polishing, fininshing stones and I don't know if I want to go down that path, lol.

Just FYI. Best regards and God bless.
Click to expand...
Must be " Karma", just sat down to my computer to have a sandwich and check into the forum. Having a tomato sandwich that i sliced with a knife that i just finished touching up on a Belgian Blue stone. They do give a fantastic edge, i don't need to go any finer. Welcome to the money pit.o_Oo_Oo_O😁😁😁:thumbsup:

IFxx8K9.jpg

S0bZiF6.jpg
 
Hello. Thank you for the comments. I don't have any need to take a blade edge to that fine/refined, polished, etc level. But, about 6 months ago I decided I wanted to try different abrasives and progressions to see what I would get. Edge trailing, edge leading, etc. Multiple passes one side, then the other. Alternating passes per side. I've always free hand sharpened... that's the way I learned a long time ago and just stayed with it.

It is an education and interesting experience. FYI, my carry knives are definitely sharp, but not to the degree that I have with the knives I use to test and practice the sharpening, honing, polishing, etc.

Best regards and God bless.
 
shane45-1911 said:
Quality stones make a world of difference. If you are a good sharpener with "generic" stones, you will often surprise yourself by experimenting with the myriad of stones that exist, many of them quite obscure or relatively unknown.
Click to expand...
Yes, as you say, even going from a cheaper stone to a better quality stone can make a world of difference. And you can tell straight away.
shane45-1911 said:
What I will say is that although Edge Pro is well known, their stones are amazing even when used without the system.
Click to expand...
Yes, their stones are really good quality, and i bought some not long ago for $6 each, not from them. There was another knife retailer that carries them having a sale. Six buck each, the cheap Chinese knock-off AO stones cost not much less than that. o_O:eek:;):thumbsup:
 
The abrasive is garnet, very very small garnets.
The coticles are about 10K JIS - much finer than diamond stones go.
 
shane45-1911 said:
What I will say is that although Edge Pro is well known, their stones are amazing even when used without the system. They have been my go-to stones for freehand sharpening for a very long time. I tried to find out who makes them for Edge Pro, but they would not tell me. I was hoping to be able to get a benchstone size, rather than the 1" x 6" stones that are used with the system. Regardless, the system's stones work just fine for my freehand sharpening.
Click to expand...

The OEM is Boride Engineered Abrasives. They don't make the ones Edge Pro uses in bench stone size but if you write and ask they may sell you a 2" x 6" x 1" stone which I believe is the full size of the mold.

The newer Diamond Matrix stones are from https://cgsw.us/ (Diemaker here).
 
cudgee said:
Must be " Karma", just sat down to my computer to have a sandwich and check into the forum. Having a tomato sandwich that i sliced with a knife that i just finished touching up on a Belgian Blue stone. They do give a fantastic edge, i don't need to go any finer. Welcome to the money pit.o_Oo_Oo_O😁😁😁:thumbsup:

IFxx8K9.jpg

S0bZiF6.jpg
Click to expand...
Love your setup cudgee cudgee , did you make it yourself?
 
777 Edge said:
Love your setup cudgee cudgee , did you make it yourself?
Click to expand...
Yes. Made it on the Edge Pro principle, but it is all metal bolted to a polished wood base, and the bearings for the guide rod are all metal. It's compact and neat, was not expensive to make, and most importantly it works. Not perfect, but i'm happy with it.:thumbsup:
 
Oh the Natural stone rabbit hole is very deep.... :-)

I spiralled into that rabbit hole about 15 years ago with my straight razors and have a collection of Natural stones to start a small shop. 8-) Some of them (like an Escher, Belgian Coticule, Japanese stones and a Guangxi natural stone (about 12k grit) are some of my favorites.

Beware though, you can get some pretty awful natural stones from the second hand and new market, quality control can be non-existent and you end up with a lot of expensive paperweights.

In hindsight, if I knew better back then I would have skipped purchasing naturals altogether and just stuck to my set of Naniwa Chosera stones for my razors. With synthetic stones like the Chosera stones, the quality control and predictably is excellent and you know exactly what you get when purchasing.

But honestly, for knives, my favorite bench stones over the last few years or so have become my Venev diamond bonded stones.

I still revisit my Naturals when I feel nostalgic and do enjoy them, but they generally gather dust.
 
alongoria said:
Hello. I've been carry, using, sharpening knives since I was a young kid (I'm 60 yrs old now). I've "sharpened" knives using many different stones, diamond plates, sandpaper, ceramic rods, etc.

I believe I was able to put a pretty good, "hair popping" edge on a knife that would do the usual pop arm hair, push cut phone book paper, etc. BTW, I've never been able to cut a free hanging hair, lol.

I usually set edge bevels using a diamond plate and use diamond and wet/dry sandpaper to smooth and polish the edge bevels.

Maybe a couple of months ago, I came across a YouTube vid of a straight razor shaver honing a blade. He was using "Coticule". I had never heard of it, but watched a few vids and read a little online about them.

Ardennes Belgian natural whetstones (Belgian Blue and Coticule) are hard and have a fine particle composition. I ordered a Blue and 2 Coticule stones and have been working with them for several weeks. I can only comment from a subjective position regarding edge/apex "sharpness" (thin, low angle bevels, polish/finish), but I'm experiencing a new level of edge sharpness that I haven't achieved before.

I'm a little intimidated because I'm pretty sure there is a deep "rabbithole" of different natural sharpening, polishing, fininshing stones and I don't know if I want to go down that path, lol.

Just FYI. Best regards and God bless.
Click to expand...
Great stones for sure!

Coticule to a translucent ark or black ark is about as sure thing as I have ever found to pass hanging hair tests.
Nobody needs to have a knife that passes a HHT and there is just a world of difference between what hair from different individuals. It might give you you a sense of satisfaction to pass one though.

Information here in HHT's and Coti's too.

Hanging Hair Test - home of the famous Belgian Coticule Whetstone

HHT: How to probe an edge for sharpness with the aid of a single hanging hair
www.coticule.be
 
Hello. Agreed, I don't need a blade HHT sharp, lol. Although, I do enjoy and use blades with good thin, even, properly apexed, and crisp edges!
Very good web site!! Great info! Thank you.
Best regards and God bless
 
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