Belgian Razor Hone

[W_B_K]

I haven't really gotten into honing as I haven't needed to. I've only had to do minor touch ups using my Chinese 12k. I also have an old red barber hone which I suspect is aluminum oxide or something of that nature but haven't used it.

So my question is, what do I have here in this photo? Which side would I use first and should I follow up with the Chinese 12k afterward? I have a few straights that I'd like to practice with; won't be using it on my active straights until I am comfortable with it.

 

[wdwrx]

Sure looks like a Coti to me, though I'm sure more experienced gents will pipe up.

IMHO it'll make your People's Hone obsolete.

I love using mine, the feed-back is tremendous, though I have yet to get the most from mine.

Bart and the Coticule Crew at Coticule.be are experts at using the coticule. Well worth your time to browse that site a bit.
Nice stone, BTW!

 

[funkadelyk]

Sure does look like a Coti maybe even a Coti/BBW (Beligian Blue Wetstone) combo easy way to tell is to raise a slurry (I'd use water not oil for this) if it produces a purplish blue, ink-like slurry then its probably a combo, if its not then the dark side is slate and not useable for sharpening a razor. Coticule.be is a great place to get a ton of info in these stones anything from how they are mined to different methods on using them.

Hope this helps and enjoy nice rock!

 

[mainaman]

Sure looks like a Coti to me, though I'm sure more experienced gents will pipe up.

IMHO it'll make your People's Hone obsolete.

I love using mine, the feed-back is tremendous, though I have yet to get the most from mine.

Bart and the Coticule Crew at Coticule.be are experts at using the coticule. Well worth your time to browse that site a bit.
Nice stone, BTW!

Looks like coticule to me.
Your the statement about C12k is not entirely correct IMHO. Some C12K stones are amazingly smooth and very fine, they vary in quality just as coticules do, some are fast some are slow. You never know until you try them.

 

[SliceOfLife]

That's a coti/BBW combo.

I don't use BBW, the coti (yellow side) works great start to finish for me. And in my opinion Coti's finish better than China stones. Congratulations on a nice little hone.

 

[wdwrx]

Looks like coticule to me.
Your the statement about C12k is not entirely correct IMHO. Some C12K stones are amazingly smooth and very fine, they vary in quality just as coticules do, some are fast some are slow. You never know until you try them.

That could very well be. I know that I haven't done justice to my Peoples Hone. It's just sitting there gathering dust. Between my Thurry and my Coti, I just can't be bothered. Maybe some day I'll pick it up again. More likely i'll dump it to help fund another Coti purchase. (I think I still have a BST thread to that effect gathering dust as well in the bowels of the archives)

I do love my Coti though. It speaks volumes to me. Something my People's Hone of Indeterminate Grit never did. Or maybe it was speaking Chinese and I just didn't understand

 

[DavyRay]

Dude,

You got a good deal on that one. I had it on my watch list, convinced that it was a Coti. Congratulations on a good deal. Actually, you outbid me by 57 cents (plus some, I'm sure). I'm glad a B & B guy got this one.

What are you going to do with all that other junk?

 

[W_B_K]

Thanks all for the replies. I will check out the site and do some reading. To be totally honest, I'm not really interested in getting deep with honing, simply because I don't have the time. If a razor still isn't working well for me after a touchup, I'd just send it out to a pro. So I guess I'll compare how this works as a finishing stone compared with the 12k .

@davyray: actually got it for my max bid. Funny thing is I totally forgot about the auction. I wanted to do some research and had meant to cancel since I got too busy. Saw the email come through and was a bit surprised . I told them to keep the non-shaving related items and case to save on shipping. Figure they can resell the other stuff to someone who would like it. I don't really know the value of this stone but I suspect I got a decent deal .

 

[TravisJ ohnson]

wait... is this from the "Vintage BARBER Hair Kit BELGIAN RAZOR HONE Sharpe NR" on evilbay?

 

[W_B_K]

Yes indeed

 

[Utopian]

The bbw side, which your combo coticule definitely has, releases a coarser slurry, so if needed you would start with that side. The coticule side looks to be a good one, though the only way to know for sure is to use it. The coticule side is excellent for simple touch ups. In general, you can do a simple touch up with 25 to 50 strokes with just water. If you need further touch up you can create a slurry or do more strokes with water.

 

[Scotchhound1969]

That looks like a very nice BBW/Yellow Coti combo. Nice score! Visually, the yellow coticule looks like it should finish quite nicely. As another member said, do some comparative honing between it and you Chinese natural and decide on your own, which finishes better. Finishing stone, comparative research, is one of the most addictive aspects of hone collectiong, imo.

 

[TravisJ ohnson]

haa haa... I bid on that too. Should have known it I was bidding against ogther B&B's.