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About the Belgian Hone™ sharpening
stone
Discover
the pleasure of sharp tools using Belgian
Blue and Ardennes "Coticule",
our Yellow garnet sharpening stone. Join the legions
of users: wood workers, straight edge razor shavers,
violin and surgical instrument makers, and many others.
Amazing combination of speed and fineness of cutting.
You may not believe it until you see it!!!
No burr! The remarkable cutting abilities of the stones
are due to their embedded hard, rhomboid-shaped garnet crystals, millions of them, which both cut and hone,
rolling underneath the steel.
So durable are these stones that you may pass them
on to your grandchildren.
Two types of sharpening stone: the blue is equivalent
to 4000 grit and the yellow to 8000 grit.
Just add water and go.
Belgian whetstones can sharpen any
kind of steel, including
stainless steel and high speed steel (HSS), such as knives,
chisels, scissors, axes, adzes, draw knives and more.
A legendary, natural sharpening
stone known since Roman
times, quarried and fabricated in the Ardennes Region
of Belgium.
We LOVE these stones. You will too.
How they work - garnet crystals
The stones contain a large percentage of garnet crystals.
Garnet is only third in hardness behind diamond and corundum
(ruby and sapphire), giving these stones their fast
cutting action. The soccer-ball faceted
shape of the garnet crystals provides an ideal cutting
angle. The crystals cut lightly into the metal, producing
very fine shavings. The garnet crystals are only 10-15
microns in diameter, and penetrate about 2-3 microns
into the metal. The crystals' edges cut lightly into the
metal, producing very fine shavings, while the following
flat facets cut the resulting burrs (wire edges), effecting
the polish or hone. All in one stroke!
The stone is non-porous and is used with water only.
Two grades of sharpening stone
The blue whetstone, 20-30% garnet by weight, is available
in many sizes, even large bench stone sizes, and produces
a 4000 grit polish.
The yellow sharpening stone, "Ardennes
Coticule",
is available only in small thin layers, and therefore is
glued to a slate base. It is often odd-shaped to make use
of all the pieces. The yellow coticule contains about 30-42%
garnets of about 10 microns in diameter, for an 8000 grit
polish. There has never been a better sharpening stone.
You will own it for life. [top of page]
If you need an even finer hone, check out our Escher
sharpening stones from Thuringia in Germany.
Combination
Belgian Blue with Carburandum (Silicon Carbide)
Belgian Blue whetstone (4000 grit) bonded to synthetic
Carburandum with 600 grit. Use the Carburandum side to
do the hard work of restoring a blunted edge and the Belgian
Blue side to do the real sharpening and final honing.
The
combination stone is also available in a "kitchen" version
with a wooden handle — excellent for sharpening
knives.
Prices
This is only a sampling of sizes available. We have a wide
variety of shapes and sizes of these stones. If you have
special applications, we can custom size many of our stones.
Please phone us at 1-800-350-8176 with
your requirements.
How to use the Belgian Hone™ whetstone
Unlike currently popular water stones, the Belgian stone
is surface wetted, never soaked in water. The stone quickly
creates its own slurry, releasing garnets, cutting and
honing in the same stroke. To create a long lasting sharp
edge, simply use any of your already successful techniques
or follow the method shown.
Curved cutting edges
Place the stone on a flat surface. Move the blade obliquely
on the stone in the usual "cutting" direction, at the correct
angle. Whet the faces of knives, lancets etc. alternately.
Straight cutting edges
Use any technique that is successful for you, or:
Place the stone on a flat surface. Move the blade in circles
on the stone at the correct angle, pushing harder in the
"cutting" direction.
History and Geology of the Belgian Hone ™ Whetstone
The stones are quarried from 480 million-year-old grey/yellow/pink
sedimentary rock which has metamorphosed from clay and
volcanic ash and now contains garnet crystals. It is non-porous.
Known and mined since the days of the Romans,
the source of the Belgian Coticule yellow whetstone, or Stone
of Vielsalm, was long thought to have been exhausted and
was shut down for 50 years.
Recently, a new high quality whetstone was discovered
with identical sharpening properties as the yellow, but
it was blue in color because of iron oxide in the sediment.
By mining for "Blue" stone, a small quantity of "Yellow"
now became available, from industrial to surgical quality.
See a video of the mining
and cutting of these exceptional stones:
[top of page]
Yellow garnet sharpening stone from Belgium bonded to slate
backing 
