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Honing with my BBW

J

justalex

Well-Known Member
Hi there guys, I just thought while honing with my coti, I would mess around with its poorer sibling - in price only as I found out.

My BBW was £26 inc shipping and compared to my coti, its really fast and super easy to get an edge of it. My coti, starts to slow down dramatically once I start diluting(its very hard and super slow on water, like honing on a marble worktop, my nail doesn't register a mark probably even if I got my loupe out), so I tried my BBW and its so easy to use and gets an edge mirror finished in 15 minutes - which is quick for me, usually I'm half an hour to 45 mins on me coti. I dilucotted the edge diluting to water from a milky slurry after setting the bevel on a naniwa 1k.

I've only got one coti and BBW and haven't had any others but, would beginners be able to use a BBW before going onto a coti? As I see it the BBW is very easy to use (compared to my coti) and gives a very good edge(I haven't finished on my coti yet but I'm sure it would be a better edge) but the BBW edge would still be good enough for a beginner to learn coti technique and then move onto it.

Its just that everyone mentions that beginners shouldn't go near coti's until their more confident in their honing abilities - which I totally agree with - but could a BBW not be a recommendation for beginners? especially being so cheap and - in my case - much easier to use than my coti. Its the easiest stone I've used incl. other synthetics.

This is just from my experience so far, so if I'm completely off mark here and my BBW's an exception, just tell me to shut up;)


regards Alex
 
Very interesting. In theory BBW should be slower than a coticule due less garnet content . If i'm not mistaken.
 
Yeah, exactly what I was thinking, and it seems to be more consistent, sorry I'll rephrase that, I'm more consistent using it:) I only ever used it to bring an edge up after trying to get a HHT off the coti usually, but it feels pretty quick to polish/finish.

My BBW has orange specs all over it, which I've heard speeds it up a bit.
 
I'll really have to try out honing start to finish on a BBW, since I read the paper it's been high on my list of things to try out with a razor. I'll take the old Veinette for a spin tomorrow, maybe even try to set a bevel with it.
 
In my experience the BBW is not any easier to master than the Coticule, both stones require a learned degree of skill, and consequently both stones deliver wonderful shaves, far more important is that the user sticks to one stone until he has the skills to get the most out of it, I have found no shortcut to that, no stone will make up for any short comings in the users skill, however some may find a certain stone better suits them than another

Regards
Ralfson
 
My coti's a bout and the BBW was bought separately as a shaped hone, so I don't know if that makes a difference, but the shave is nice. I also noticed that I much prefer the feedback I get from the BBW.
 
I've always found the BBW much more forgiving than a coticule and to start with I got my only useable edges from BBW.

I think because it's slower - there is less risk of slurry dulling during dilucot procedures so you are more likely to end up with a good edge.

More recently I've mastered the "feel" of feedback on some of my coticules and now can get similar results on the yellow side if I'm more careful.

Anyway - what's important is that you've got a good result and you can get more practice with accuracy of your x-strokes and half-strokes safe in the knowledge that you're getting somewhere. You can always go back to the coticule and have another bash later - they are faster if you know when to stop and dilute!

Well done!

Squeezy
 
Funny thing is i switched to my lv bbw side the other night. I acatuly liked the feel better , it felt more soft and buttery . the results was no better , might i add. stil lovely stone.

gary
 
garyhaywood said:
Funny thing is i switched to my lv bbw side the other night. I acatuly liked the feel better
Click to expand...

On slurry, I have the same thing, which incidentally I find easier to build (or at least getting a clear idea of the amount of slurry, maybe it's just my eyesight :p ) on the BBW side. Mark, my la veinette feels buttery smooth either way, which can be a bit tricky because I don't hear a lot of feedback, which means I have to rely on edge probing quite a lot (and of course the feel on the hone).
 
That's true Gary. I think that there's probably as much variation between different BBW "layers" as there is with Coticules - it's just that they don't have names. I was referring to using the BBW attached to my La Petite Blanche combination stone.

Cheers

Squeezy
 
i have lpb combo. yellow side fels brill, i've had good shaves of that, not been an easy ride. the bbw on that side feels a little firmer to my la vainette, i'd say my lv bbw feels nicer. to me that is. i hardly use the bbw , but have atinkle now and then. the yellow side is what interest me.

gary
 
Same here Gary.I have La petite blanche combo ,la veinette combo and la dressante combo. My favorite blue side is la dressante. But always i am interesting for the coticules for many reasons.
Best regards
Emmanuel
 
Have any of you guys noticed how your BBW's are with different razors? I've found it more indifferent on the two razors I honed on it than with the coti. On the coti, One was harder than the other to hone up but on the BBW it was relatively easy on both.
 
That's correct justalex.BBW cut always more slowly than the cotcules.That's the reason that the different from layer to layer isn't noticeable. One of my heritage combo coticules is the faster I've tried so far but the blue side remains slow and smooth like all others.
Best regards
Emmanuel
 
Hi Justalex,

I do love honing a razor in that rich purple slurry of the BBW!

I have three coti's and three BBW yet my favourite finisher on water is a bbw strangely since they are normally too slow with water alone. You may find this thread interesting titled: Super BBW!
There are pictures of that stone in the thread titled: Les Latneuses layers and BBW
I think this BBW is similar to the hybrid side of the les latneuses which I also own.

Bart has been exploring BBW and has found one that behaves like Japanese stones and another that is a great polisher with water.

As Squeezyjohn said "there's probably as much variation between different BBW "layers" as there is with Coticules". The trouble is it is difficult to tell which layer they are mined from unless they are naturally bonded to an identified coticule layer.

I think some people find BBW easier because of the higher keenness limit with slurry and so not much dulling when diluting although they may take more laps between dilutions.

Have any of you guys noticed how your BBW's are with different razors? I've found it more indifferent on the two razors I honed on it than with the coti. On the coti, One was harder than the other to hone up but on the BBW it was relatively easy on both.justalex
Click to expand...

I haven't found this. I've found that most razors respond exceptionally well to BBW honing as with coticule honing, some easier than others. A Crown and Sword razor and an Es-ex didn't seem to respond very well to coticule honing but that's all in my experience.

Karl
 
I've just been using an unbonded BBW, on its own, which on close inspection has alot of what I've heard called 'coticule specs' but they're beige and my BBW is relatively hard and quite quick at cutting and I've been using it like a coti on water; 15 halfstrokes each side 30-50 x strokes and repeat if its not sharp enough, and its worked brilliant.

Its handy to have a stone that I can get a shave ready edge off of until I can master my coti, I get good edges from the coti, just not like the BBW edge. The only thing I can compare it to is one of Gary's edges which he finished on crox paste. very sharp but very forgiving.

Crown and Sword razor and an Es-ex didn't seem to respond very well to coticule honing but that's all in my experience.
Click to expand...

its weird you mention C&S razors because I bought eight of them and the 4 I've honed so far have honed up really well on my coti and BBW, One had a very pronounced shinging sound to it, I love those ones! Man do I love coti's :)


regards Alex
 
Really? That's very interesting.

I honed a crown and sword up for my dad. The steel did seem notably softer than most razors. With the test shave it had a very smooth edge but seemed to lose its edge half way through the shave :O

I unicoted the edge and in the next shave same thing happened.

I never have a problem achieving keeness with my coti's these days.

My dad found the same, we both have very thick stubble so don't know if it is more suited to finer hair types :-/

If anyone else wants to have a go feel free.

Karl
 
If anyone bothered to spend a few seconds searcing this site,you would have found this:

http://www.coticule.be/heritage.html?file=tl_files/PDF%20articles/BBW-study.pdf

Torbs
Click to expand...

I've read the study you are referring to a long time ago. I think we all have.
Does reading and understanding this study mean that we shouldn't be discussing our own finds and preferences? :huh:

Karl
 
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