I have a Coti/BBW combo stone but only have a Coti slurry stone. Can I use it on the BBW side or should I avoid it?
BBW Slurry Stone?
- Thread starter mbrossar
- Start date
hhmm.. good question. I'm going to follow along and see what the answer is!
Thanks Bart,
Is that because using the coti for slurry on BBW is in essence the same as honing it all the way through with just the coti side... just using the BBW as a lapping plate?
Is that because using the coti for slurry on BBW is in essence the same as honing it all the way through with just the coti side... just using the BBW as a lapping plate?
That's odd that your slurry stone isn't a combo, because my slurry stone for my coti on slate is a combo.
- Thread starter
- #7
Want to trade? 
Not quite. While Coticule and BBW garnets don't cleave or fall apart, they do wear and loose their "bite". But while we rub the razor over the surface, the garnets don't only abrade the steel. They also abrade the surface of the hone, releasing a constant stream of fresh, vigorous garnets. It's safe to assume that the speed of a Coticule or BBW is partially defined by its ability to release fresh particles while honing.
At the end of the day, the garnets present in the initial slurry gradually loose their influence while honing, certainly on the field of honing speed. A BBW with Coticule garnets on top will loose that speed advantage rather quickly. If that weren't the case, it would be sufficient to have a piece of glass and a slurry stone. That does work with diamond spray (hardness of 10 on the Mohs scale), but unfortunately not with Spessartine Garnets ("only" 7.5 Mohs).
But abrasive speed is not our only concern. There's also the limiting effect of Coticule slurry on the keenness that can be achieved. That's why we need to bother with the dilution strategy or other solutions to get our so desired keenness.
That limit is directly related to the garnets, and there are significant differences between Coticules. BBW slurry has a much "keener" slurry limiting effect than the average Coticule slurry. And that effect is not something that dissipates so rapidly together with the garnets loosing abrasiveness. Abrasive or not, the impact with the edge remains the same.
If you add Coticule garnets to a BWW, expect to add some of the "slurry limits" of the Coticule as well. Slurry limits vary as much or even more as speed of Coticules, so it really depends on the properties of the slurry stone used.
If you're going to dilute slurry or rely on some other honing strategy for hitting sufficient keenness, it is not going to matter at all. But if you plan to stay on the BBW till the keenness maxes out and finish on a Coticule with water after that, the yellow garnets in the slurry might have a slight negative impact on the end result.
Reversely, (and perhaps surprisingly) I have played a with Blue slurry on a Coticule, and on some Coticules it seemed to facilitate the "Dilucot" procedure. That was with the old "no pressure" Dilucot. I later discovered that a bit of pressure facilitates the procedure even more, and I haven't played with mixed slurry since then.
That's the full story, as I currently understand it.
Kind regards,
Bart.
- Thread starter
- #9
Wow Bart. Thanks for all your insight and sharing all of your findings with coticules and BBWs. I just have one question remaining. Do you sit in a chair when you hone or do you actually float above it in a mystical zen like state?
