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Coticule Selection Offer. Performance Reviews.

So I gave the Blue a go this morning. It's such a beautiful stone, especially with the slurry on it. The feel is very different than a Coticule. I started with the slurry and I got the razor shaving arm hair with ease. It took a little longer than it would on a Coticule, but not too much longer (razor was shaving previously, dulled on glass). After adding tape the trick was to dilute the slurry just the right amount to cut the secondary bevel. At first I diluted it too much and I wasn't getting very far. So I gave it one back and forth rub of the slurry stone, and then I was in business.

Using the stropping strokes on the finishing stages felt really odd, but I got used to it quickly. So after working on it a bit I decided to try a HHT. I felt awkward just honing on the Blue, kind of like switching from driving my Explorer to driving the van. So I was thinking 'this thing isn't going to pass', but it passed with flying colors.

I've never used the stropping strokes before, should I be reading the HHT differently than I would regularly? I'll shave test it tonight to see how it turned out.

Justin
 
I have a Bowdin's Wedge razor, actually a near wedge, that has always been a bit of a "crispy" shaver... just a wee bit more harsh than I would like.
Yesterday, I did a full dilucot on the La Petit Blanche I bought from Gary, and I considered it a highly successful endeavor. Very keen, and the smoothness improved, but still a bit crispy, and the alum block gives me a good indication of just how harsh a shave is.
So, today I took it to the La Grise Bart so kindly chose for me. This stone is notably softer than the other coticules in my possession. Those being La Veinette, La Grosse Blanche and the aforementioned La Petit Blanche. I wanted to use it just as a finisher to compare edges. The stone appears to be extremely slow on plain water. I could not get any darkening of the water, or visible steel residue. I did four sets of 30 half strokes each, followed by four sets of 35 X strokes to be sure i was refreshing the edge somewhat.
The wipe with the tissue showed some telltale gray, so I knew some steel was being removed. The HHt was great with my wispy fine hair, even before stropping, and improved from cotton to leather so I knew the keenness was there still, even slightly improved.
The shave told the tale! Remarkably more mellow, and I can tell it immediately! So, this stone has already earned it's keep and found a home...
The coexistance of extreme keenness and superior smoothness almost seems a bit counterintuitive, and I'm still trying to process all the information mentally, but I guess the results speak for themselves!
I requested a mellow finisher, and that's what Bart delivered. I'm very happy with it!

IMG_3373-1.png
 
Here is my La Grosse Blanche that the ever so kind Bart hand selected for me. It was at the post office for some time as I missed the delivery and had been busy during post office hours. Any way here are some photo's of this lovely stone/layer.

SOTD_LGB035.jpg


SOTD_LGB024.jpg



Thank you sooooo much again Bart!! I will post a performance review once I get some time in with it. BTW what makes the LGB layer so sought after?
 
Here are a couple shots of my Le Dressante, from Bart's pilgrimage, after I finished the surface.

2dbsen7.jpg

2j284sh.jpg


The initial things that I have noticed, about this stone, in comparison to the only other stone I have (LPB ) is that the surface feels hard and smooth, which I am finding that I prefer over the more grainy feel of my LPB. The slurry on this one seems to get very bubbly, almost frothy, as I am honing. It takes slightly longer to build slurry than the LPB, but not by much. While honing, the slurry turns grey pretty quickly... but not dark, like the LPB. I don't have enough consistent information yet to comment on the particulars of the edge it provides, but the first razor I honed with it was successfully shave ready.

I can hand-hone with this rock because of the size, which I am actually really enjoying. I find that I am picking up more about the relationship of the blade and the stone by hand honing.

I will try to add more notes as I get more time with the stone.
 
I find that at the end of each stage of honing on my lpb, the feedback goes from a little grainy to almost slimy slick. It reminds me of the clay we used to use for directional boring when I worked construction. But, you're right, at the beginning of each stage, there's a bit of grittiness. I find the transition from that to slick really helps me read the stone, but I can understand how some may not care for it :)
 
richmondesi said:
I find the transition from that to slick really helps me read the stone, but I can understand how some may not care for it :)
Click to expand...

I completely agree with this! After reading the advanced feedback section of the sharpening academy I started taking note of this with my LPB and it is very helpful.

I don't mean to say that I don't like it's surface... but a firm, glassy surface seems to be preferable to me. I would actually like to know what other veins have a similar fast and glassy surface, like this Dressante seems to have.
 
Well I can't give a full performance review yet, but I did get my lovely La Veinette last night in the mail :w00t:

I took a razor that I thought needed to go back to a very light slurry and worked back to water again. I made one pass on my slurry stone and proceeded to dilucot with very light strokes. Within 10 half strokes the slurry was already darkening! Holy cow Bart - this most definitely is a very fast stone and I appreciate everything you did on this trip to appease all our requests! Ardennes even threw in a slurry stone despite the fact that I forgot to ask. It did however break at the coti/bbw line, but my last slurry stone did this as well and I just epoxied it back together so it won't be an issue.

I could not have asked for something better to fit in with my other coticules. This most definitely will be my fastest and the size is just perfect for me (I've actually been progressively moving towards 125x40mm coticules and this bout is about 125x50-60mm).

I then proceeded to take an MK 31 I just restored up and took it through a full dilucot. I was tempted to even set the bevel with the La Veinette, but it was getting late last night and I just used my new trusty chosera 1K. On most my other coticules I use somewhat heavy pressure in the early slurry stages and progressively go lighter, but this one I just used light pressure throughout. Slurry darkened very quickly and after the dilucot it was popping arm hairs with ease. I can't wait to give it a shave this evening.

Really excited to try out the BBW side as well as this is the only natural combo I have in my hands at the moment (Jared has my other one that he's been testing out). I have an Otto Deutsch Hans that I just restored that might make a perfect candidate for this.

In general, if you have a very fast coticule side will this also translate over to having a fast BBW side? Or is there no correlation?

I'll get some pics up this evening of what is sure to become one of my most favorite coticules. Thanks again Bart :thumbup:
I cannot say enough about the generosity and patience you've shown in making this offer to all of us.
 
Heck. I know I don't need any other stones than I possess, but looking at those speckled La Dressantes makes me want one! aargh! :lol:

Matt
 
Drybonz said:
Here are a couple shots of my Le Dressante, from Bart's pilgrimage, after I finished the surface.

2dbsen7.jpg

2j284sh.jpg


The initial things that I have noticed, about this stone, in comparison to the only other stone I have (LPB ) is that the surface feels hard and smooth, which I am finding that I prefer over the more grainy feel of my LPB. The slurry on this one seems to get very bubbly, almost frothy, as I am honing. It takes slightly longer to build slurry than the LPB, but not by much. While honing, the slurry turns grey pretty quickly... but not dark, like the LPB. I don't have enough consistent information yet to comment on the particulars of the edge it provides, but the first razor I honed with it was successfully shave ready.

I can hand-hone with this rock because of the size, which I am actually really enjoying. I find that I am picking up more about the relationship of the blade and the stone by hand honing.

I will try to add more notes as I get more time with the stone.
Click to expand...

I just got my LPB from jarrard at superior shave . it is 200x40 and i have to say i love the size. the width of 40mm is by far my ideal width. this is my second lpb. Bill brought my last one .

I honed a razor and got a nice hht first time round and the shave this morning was as good as any coticule i shaved of. this one does'nt feel as grainy , in fact it feels very nice on slurry and on water is not as quik as my last one. the surface on water feels more glassy. My last lpb would generate a slurry on water with some pressure on the blade. This one does not generate any slurry at all. So i guess they can all vary. I found the lpb easier to reach hht of the hone compared to my LV. Both stones produce a good shave :thumbup:

gary

btw thats a very nice looking coticule. I love coticules with the spots.
 
garyhaywood said:
btw thats a very nice looking coticule. I love coticules with the spots.
Click to expand...

Thanks man... I like the spotted stones as well. Both my stones, this one and my LPB, are spotted.
 
Gary's previous La Petit Blanche has found a good home here...

I love it, and it will not be going anywhere!
 
I’ve spent quite a bit of quality time with my Bart-picked La Grosse Blanche & I’ve found it to be very similar to number 36 in the vault.
http://coticule.be/coticule036.html
Moderately fast on slurry & maxes out on a very high level of sharpness coming of slurry.
And No#36 was rated +++
(+++ sufficient to shave my face)

Another interesting aspect is that it actually improves sharpness after a Naniwa 10K superstone.
Other coticules certainly improves the edge after a 10K too, but mostly in a smoothing/refining way, this one adds noticable sharpness to the edge.
And still it’s as smooth as anything.
This is what Bart wrote about No#36:
“Finishing properties, water only: excellent. hone leaves an amazingly smooth edge.”
And that is exactly how I feel about the edge this one leaves.
The results are similar if I finish after a synthetic progression or after a coticule dilucot.

Most coticule edges are forgiving & so is this one. Lovely, good-hearted edge.

I recently honed a razor for a colleague who has just started his straight journey.
He bought bought a new DOVO shave-ready, from a very reputable dealer who almost exclusivley finishes on high-grit synthetic & follows up with & diamond pastes.
Maybe not the edge you want to learn with…Especially if you have sensitive Scandinavian skin.
He’s been having weepers all over everyday & when I talked to him about technique, he didn’t seem to far off.
So, I offered to re-hone it for him, took it home, gave it a little gentle honing with light slurry & finished with 50 laps on water only.

I saw him 2 days after, not a weeper & he was very happy & talked about “my magic honing”

But I don’t contribute that to my honing skills, it was the coticules lovely smoothness that gave him that extra room for small mistakes that did it!

It’s really too small to do several razors from bevel to finish, but I’ve done a few & it certainly is possible.
But this one allready has a steady place as a finisher.

I’m now in the process of trying out some ultra-high grit compounds,.including Cubic Boron Nitride & 50 nanometer mono-diamond (0.050 microns)
I will do some testing on what happens if my LGB is used after these.
Will it be possible to get an ultra-sharp edge that is still resonably coticule-smooth?

More to follow…
 
I always love stories in which shavers are pleasantly surprised by a Coticule edge. :)

Thanks for keeping us posted,
Bart.
 
The "replacement" arrived! It's a beauty. It's actually "only" 164mm long instead of 175mm, but I don't think I'll be missing those 11mm, especially considering that I got to keep the cracked one and that Ardennes threw in another slurry stone--and that the stone will make a nice 28mm wide stone too. I am hoping to use it tomorrow night. Thank you again, Bart, for the help!

The affectionately named La Crackette is drying for its second gluing. After drying when I first got it, the loose piece stopped being springy. I glued it before I got a chance to test if lapping it again would make it springy once more. After lapping off the excess glue right now, some of it is springy again. I'm going to dry the stone for longer this time then glue some more. I will probably also glue the ends with epoxy too just to be sure. I'll then try to lap past the chipping on the top (caused by the shallow angle of the crack) and see if the glue job still holds. If I ever have this sort of problem in the future, I think I need to make sure that the stone is as dry as can be, then glue the stone while it is heated.
 
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