squeezyjohn
Well-Known Member
Hello,
Welcome back everyone - I hope all your August breaks were relaxing.
I thought I'd share a trip I made to the Ardennes Coticule workshops while visiting family in Belgium nearby. I had no contact details with me at the time so arrived at 4pm unannounced with my family in tow, but the workshop was open and the people working there at the time were very accommodating and welcoming.
We arrived tentatively as we weren't sure whether the workshop was open to the public at all but were treated to a really nice mini-tour of the process and description of the mining by the two men working there. They didn't have to be so generous for an unannounced visit, but they also were very accommodating of our 2 small children (3 & 5 years old) and they found the visit very stimulating. After that I asked if we could buy stones there and was taken through to the "shop"
I looked through the stones in the various size ranges and despite looking really thoroughly through the stones could only find rather "normal" layers like La Nouvelle Veine, La Veinette and La Dressante - I was hoping to find something a bit different to what I already had so asked the man (I'm sorry I don't remember his name) - I was particularly interested in a Les Lateneuses hybrid but couldn't remember the name of the layer so had to describe it in pidgin french and he gave me a look: "ah! you've been talking on the internet, you need to see the 'other' room! Do you know Bart?"
I was surprised to be presented with really quite a small selection of very interesting stones indeed. I think what most people ordering from Ardennes don't realise is quite how rare most of the more sought-after stones actually are. There were maybe 2 or 3 useable Les Lateneuses, no gross jaunes and only several La vertes. I knew I wanted a Les Lat or La Verte and decided to go with a Lateneuses stone which was a different sort of shape to the ones I am used to using. Pictures are included as attachments.
Here's the real reason for the post, I know the pictures are of poor quality, but this stone really does not stack up with what I imagined the performance of a Les Lateneuses hybrid would be. The creamy side is pretty hard and protests a bit when I try to raise slurry on it, when I hone on it - it is not fast, slurry greys slowly compared to my La Petite Blanche. The hybrid side is incredibly hard indeed. It feels a bit like marble. I can't get slurry off it at all with the hybrid side of the slurry stone I was given (very generously) - I can also detect a very real bump on it with a razor blade at one of the marbling lines that sounds and feels like it damages the edge every time I cross it. The feedback apart from this does not feel like it is doing anything at all.
So my questions about my new stone - is it unusual to get a slow Les Lateneuses on slurry? Is the hybrid side damaging my blade? Did I expect too much?
Any help will be very gratefully received!
Cheers
Squeezy
[img=800]1[/img]
[img=800]2[/img]
[img=800]3[/img]
Welcome back everyone - I hope all your August breaks were relaxing.
I thought I'd share a trip I made to the Ardennes Coticule workshops while visiting family in Belgium nearby. I had no contact details with me at the time so arrived at 4pm unannounced with my family in tow, but the workshop was open and the people working there at the time were very accommodating and welcoming.
We arrived tentatively as we weren't sure whether the workshop was open to the public at all but were treated to a really nice mini-tour of the process and description of the mining by the two men working there. They didn't have to be so generous for an unannounced visit, but they also were very accommodating of our 2 small children (3 & 5 years old) and they found the visit very stimulating. After that I asked if we could buy stones there and was taken through to the "shop"
I looked through the stones in the various size ranges and despite looking really thoroughly through the stones could only find rather "normal" layers like La Nouvelle Veine, La Veinette and La Dressante - I was hoping to find something a bit different to what I already had so asked the man (I'm sorry I don't remember his name) - I was particularly interested in a Les Lateneuses hybrid but couldn't remember the name of the layer so had to describe it in pidgin french and he gave me a look: "ah! you've been talking on the internet, you need to see the 'other' room! Do you know Bart?"
I was surprised to be presented with really quite a small selection of very interesting stones indeed. I think what most people ordering from Ardennes don't realise is quite how rare most of the more sought-after stones actually are. There were maybe 2 or 3 useable Les Lateneuses, no gross jaunes and only several La vertes. I knew I wanted a Les Lat or La Verte and decided to go with a Lateneuses stone which was a different sort of shape to the ones I am used to using. Pictures are included as attachments.
Here's the real reason for the post, I know the pictures are of poor quality, but this stone really does not stack up with what I imagined the performance of a Les Lateneuses hybrid would be. The creamy side is pretty hard and protests a bit when I try to raise slurry on it, when I hone on it - it is not fast, slurry greys slowly compared to my La Petite Blanche. The hybrid side is incredibly hard indeed. It feels a bit like marble. I can't get slurry off it at all with the hybrid side of the slurry stone I was given (very generously) - I can also detect a very real bump on it with a razor blade at one of the marbling lines that sounds and feels like it damages the edge every time I cross it. The feedback apart from this does not feel like it is doing anything at all.
So my questions about my new stone - is it unusual to get a slow Les Lateneuses on slurry? Is the hybrid side damaging my blade? Did I expect too much?
Any help will be very gratefully received!
Cheers
Squeezy
[img=800]1[/img]
[img=800]2[/img]
[img=800]3[/img]