Belgian Blue/Yellow Stones

[Confederate]

My brother just sent me some links for places selling Belgian Blue and Belgian Yellow stones. They're very expensive and I'm wondering what the advantage is of these stones over ceramics and less expensive stones.

I have a difficult time keeping an angle on some knives. I bought a Lansky and found that trying to clip on the blade and do everything correctly made me feel like I was all thumbs. I've done very well with the Spyderco Sharpmaker, though. But cleaning the rods are a chore and I imagine it would be difficult to do in the field.

Does oil work on ceramic to keep the metal from binding to the rod? Also, are these stones good investments? I've heard you can buy smaller versions and that they last nigh onto forever.

Any thoughts?

 

[BJE]

Belgian Coticule stones are extremely fine and don't remove much metal at all. They are good if you need a very fine and polished edge like for a straight razor. I don't see how they could be much use on everyday edc's, unless you are an edge freak. They are so fine that it would take too long to bring back a dull edge. I tend to stop at a soft Arkansas for everyday knives. I would like natural stones and the Coticules are interesting, good enough reason for me to own one.

 

[matt321]

Coticules are a gold standard for straight razors. They are used for that purpose with very little pressure and using precise bevel angle control provided by the razor's spine. The razor guys like the smooth tactile shaving edge produced by these stones so prices are very high. In my opinion the high cost makes them somewhat impractical for knife sharpening.

I have a surgical black Arkansas that is 10"x3"x1". I got it for about $75. A similar sized coticule in select grade would be several hundred bucks. However, there are lower grade coticules as well as begium blue stones that are less expensive.

 

[sodak]

I have the Belgium coticules, and never really developed a touch for them, even with my straight razors. The ceramics work much better for me, and yes, they are very expensive. YMMV.

 

[RobbW]

By coincidence, I was in Howard's shop yesterday. I won a Dovo straight razor in the Wilderness subforum, and the Perfect Edge shop is just over an hour from my home, so I drove out to meet him, get my razor sharpened, and talk sharpening/polishing.

We looked at my razor under magnifying glasses and under computer magnification. The blade turned out to be straight and well ground. No remediation was needed, so Howard honed the edge on Shapton GlassStones--8K, 16K and 30K. The razor tree tops hairs with ease now. The hairs pop. He showed me how to hone the razor, and also showed me how to lap the GlassStones, chamfer the edges, and discussed how frequently they need lapping. I purchased a 16K and plan to get a 30K when I feel like shelling out that kind of money!! The 30K is not cheap!

I got to see his supply of stones and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each. Howard has an amazing collection. The Belgian stones were really nice. The blue are coarser at 4000 grit, while the yellow are finer at 8,000 grit. You can even get hones with both blue and yellow. They are not joined, but are cut where the blue and yellow mineral veins naturally meet in the quarry. Razor guys like Belgians because you can make a slurry and they cut like coarser stones, or you can use them dry and they polish without removing much material.

I asked Howard what he recommended for me as a straightrazor user, he said Shapton because they cut much faster, leave a finer edge, and as a man-made material they are more uniform. I don't think you'd need them for knives, but if you want an old fashioned way to hone a straight razor, Belgians are your ticket. They are around 20-40% garnet, which is the abrasive mineral that makes them work. They do need lots of lapping because they don't come perfectly true. Diamonds work well for lapping Belgians, just as with GlassStones.

 

[cj65]

My brother just sent me some links for places selling Belgian Blue and Belgian Yellow stones. They're very expensive and I'm wondering what the advantage is of these stones over ceramics and less expensive stones.

I have a difficult time keeping an angle on some knives. I bought a Lansky and found that trying to clip on the blade and do everything correctly made me feel like I was all thumbs. I've done very well with the Spyderco Sharpmaker, though. But cleaning the rods are a chore and I imagine it would be difficult to do in the field.

Does oil work on ceramic to keep the metal from binding to the rod? Also, are these stones good investments? I've heard you can buy smaller versions and that they last nigh onto forever.

Any thoughts?

I have bought Bar keepers friend at a grocery store. It is for removing the metal from your stones. It has oxalic acid, you can smell it working. I found it worked great on my lansky stones, restored to almost brand new. It comes in a cylinder such as comet. 2.99 retail A must have for a knife nut.