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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]
More pictures:
Building-grade blue stone at the factory - which
is built of the same stone.
Grinding the coticule at the factory.
Yellow coticule layed out on backing stone, ready
for bonding.
Yellow
garnet sharpening stone from Belgium bonded to slate
backing 
