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First Post, First Coticule!

T

teekay6

New Member
Hello,

Have just started getting into straight shaving, and having studied as much as possible and read a lot on here, decided that instead of going down the man made hone route I'd much prefer to learn to maintain my blade on a Coticule even if it may initially be a little harder.

I have a shave ready Iwasaki razor, and am taking things slowly, so hope that I won't be needing to use my Coticule just yet but want to have my Coticule ready for when I need to touch up the blade.

Anyway, my Coticule arrived this morning and I think it looks beautiful. I tried comparing it to the ones in the Vault and am guessing it may have come from the "La Vignette" layer. Was I right? Is this a good hone for a beginner to learn on?

I was planning on lapping my hone before use however was slightly surprised at how textured the surface of my Coticule at one end. Is this normal and does it just need lapped out?

Sorry for asking so many questions. I really look forward to learning how to use this amazing stone!

Jamie



 
Hi Jamie, welcome!

If you bought a new coticule from Ardennes or a reseller, there's absolutely no need to lap it and waste your stone as long as it is flat. Even though their wheel may be a little coarse, that won't affect honing in any way. I wouldn't do it as long as I didn't feel any clicks during the strokes.

Should your razor be eventually in the need of a touch up, it's important that you know how it had been honed before you bought it. I mean the bevel angle - whether it was honed with, or without tape. Contact the seller for this information.

BTW it's "La Veinette". :) I skimmed through a few posts by Bart and it is a very consistent layer, together with superior slurry speed. So it seems like a really good choice, and definitely won't make the learning process any harder - provided that it is La Veinette indeed.

Oh, and you'll find yourself asking far more questions than that. But it's the part of all the fun and pleasure of tackling these stones. :thumbup:

regards,
Matt
 
Hello,

I doubt that it is a La Veinette. it is glued to slate and it has those tiny white spots. La Veinette doesn´t have them, at least the ones I´ve seen. It is still a good hone, without any doubt. I leave it to the more experienced, to guess the layer.

I like my hones as flat as possible, so I lap them with 1000 grit sand paper. There is no need to do so, it´s just what I prefer.

Regards,
Tok
 
Hello Jamie and welcome to Coticule.be

I too doubt that yours a La Veinette, I am sure Sir Bart will have more of an idea.
I hope you enjoy your time here, and best wishes when it comes to trying your stone.

Best Regards
Ralfson (Dr)
 
Welcome Jamie,

I have got a La Veinette and also doubt that yours is one because the border between BBW et coticule side is too straight.
I have just chamfreined the edges of my coticule with a 400 grits Wet dry sand paper.
But nevertheless, the power of the coticule is more in your hands than in your hone.

Regards

Laurent
 
From one newcomer to another Jamie, Welcome!

Beautiful stone you've got, and if I had it to do over, I'd probably purchase a bout myself.. The shapes are much more interesting!
 
Thank you for all your replies. Am now even more curious to find out what layer my rock comes from.

And now I'll start with my silly questions!

I was surprised at how rough my coticule was when it arrived. I've seen some pictures of beautiful yellow stones which look almost as smooth as a piece of Murano Glass where as mine has those little white spots and a roughness to it that I was certain would prevent a razor moving smoothly across it.

Anyway, basically bored I rubbed a DE blade up and down the dry stone. A little of the print came off into the stone so I used the slurry stone, again dry and rubbed it up and down the coticule. Realising that this was smoothing off the stone I used it to basically slightly lap the surface. It's now a much smoother, cleaner looking stone.

Is this a really awful thing to do? A fair amount of white powder was easily created, guess this would have made a slurry had I had it been wet.

Think I may use some wet & dry just to smooth the chips on the corners but otherwise don't think any more lapping will be needed.

Jamie
 
I just received a coticule from the mine at Ardennes about a month ago. Like you, it seemed a bit more rough than I was used to, but it was very flat. So, following the advice of the knowledgable folks here, I used it as it came from Ardennes with great results. I've found that after using the stone and producing slurry a few times, the stone tends to smooth itself...

I did not wish to wash too much of that precious, beautiful yellow slurry down the drain unnecessarily..
 
your coticule may look like more rough, but I think it's up to you to decide to lap it or not.

Just try these few exercices

http://www.coticule.be/the-cafeteria/topic/235.html

and after you may better know what to do. I think that chamfreining the edges is more important (it's the same advice that Bart gave me about 2 months ago http://www.coticule.be/the-cafeteria/topic/785.html)

BlacknTan said:
after using the stone and producing slurry a few times, the stone tends to smooth itself...
Click to expand...
and after all those exercices your stone will be a little more smooth;)


Regards

Laurent
 
Hi Jamie,

Welcome to Coticule.be!

Your Coticule is surely no La Veinette. It makes me think the most of n°18 of the Vault, which was labeled "unknown layer", although Maurice and I hunched that it could be a La Dressante.
Nonetheless, this is one of those hones that I still have a good recollection of, because of it distinctness. It was glasslike on water, very hard, yet it easily raised a slurry, and it was one of the fastest Coticules on slurry I ever tested. Once you start working with yours, we can discuss some of your observations and find out if we have a match.
Sometimes I think there's a hidden layer out there of which only occasionally a stone emerges, and it's always an interesting specimen.

As far as the surface roughness is concerned. Ardennes laps the stones on a fast spinning lapping disk, that has carborundum cemented on top of the coarsest grit you've ever seen. The disc wears, and then the lapped surfaces are a bit smoother, but yours looks as if they just redressed the disk (they pour a sort of glue on it and throw the grit on top). In the old days, it was a women's job to rub the hones with a slurry stone till the surface had the natural polish of a Coticule. It was labor-intensive work and it's no longer done today. Your stone will develop that surface throught use, not problem. But if you don't like it this way, there is absolutely no harm in using sandpaper to give it a smoother appearance. The lapping disc at Ardennes is 16 grit or so, hence I would start with 40 grit sandpaper. Stick in on a flat surface and use plenty of water while sanding, because the garnet in your Coticule tame the grit of sandpaper in no time. You could sand it up to 400 grit, and a bit of slurry rubbing will give you the natural polish of a well used Coticule. None of this is necessary, but there is no harm either.

Kind regards,
Bart.
 
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