Description
This is a Belgian coticule bout (“bout” = polygon), bonded to slate. One axis has been aligned to a ~6.5’Ø form, with a ~25’Ø shape affected across its the axis which is 90° to the ~6.5’Ø-shaped axis.
You can work with a little stone like this with the razor and stone in hands, or with the razor stationary in a vise and rubbing the stone on the razor’s edge that way.
For the primary shape of your bevel, face the stone’s length toward the spine-to-edge axis of the razor, and rub it along the length of the cutting edge while aligned in that fashion to the razor. Remember, there is a 25’Ø axis *across* the stone, so as you rub, when you’re nearer to the heel angle that border of the stone closer to the heel, and when you’re nearer to the toe angle the facet that’s closer to the toe a bit. This leaning effect will give sufficient grinding to the heel and toe without overcooking the middle.
Repeat the process with the stone oriented 90° to the razor, and then go on to a pasted strop, a flat/hard/fine finisher, etc., for a three-stage compound bevel, just like mentioned in the old forbidden German grinders’ text from the 1840s!
