hi
I think this forum's really neat, and seemingly the most adherent to free press ideals, but as a vendor of these little rocks I try to just observe rather than comment. It is to me a conflict of interest; great reading, though, and I'm happy to chime in when asked if I actually see such request.
We've sold bunches of coticules these past 2 years, that's for sure, but not many were this color, whatever that color may be. I don't know how colorblind I am in comparison to other's because, as one might guess, my vision info is also my exclusive sample set of that particular info. They show me little dots at the exam and ask where the big circle is and sometimes I don't know what they're talking about, and my wife shows me some stones sometimes and asks what color they are and I'll say "green" or I'll say "grey" and half the time she 'assures' me that's not right, so I suppose there is some problem with the cones and rods and how they dance together. I can at least easily get the ones she's confused as to being green or grey partitioned from the rest
So I just call 'em "green/grey" and then evaluate individually the same as any other when I've the time.
Anyway, as a man of science and a former statistics major before realizing how boring an actuary's life is, I think in saying these were really fast I'm just a victim of basing faith in information off of too small a sample set - much like that whole "new Coke" thing of 1985, which we statisticians were often taught as a great lesson of exercising caution. The fact does remain that the ones I played with
were fast, turning the water dark in an instant, and I'm entirely confident of any such declarations on stones I'd actually played with and listed with info. Beyond openly declaring that I've a preference for the slightly hard red ones more than any others, my capacity for giving an honest assessment's the most important part of being a vendor; I'll try very hard to remain neutral, give each one a few minutes with a razor at the same old honing station I'm tired of looking at, jot down impressions in my waterproof notebook, and take that mangled text to the site good or bad.
It is always a calculated gamble to prejudge based on looks, as nothing replaces personal experience, and I've not actually played with any of those green/grey stones up now...it is interesting to note here, however, that this customer
did see immediate darkening in the water, something I'd not think requires much experience to know. This may mean that the 3 or 4 pieces still on the site as I write were all from the same mining efforts/shipment, and perhaps just a little patch with a higher percentage of cutters packed into it; I know in the many hundreds of bouts I can only remember selling 1 that I'd tested and it was nearly a perfect 50x150 and also quick. So I guess I'll have to put it on the docket to get around to flattening them.
It is interesting to note that Bart specifies that speed should be evaluated with comparative response to equal pressure; that's surely the right way to look at it. But early on in this coticule journey I'd try to un-e*ay a $10 century-old user razor with softer coticules, and on a few occasions damaged the stones with chips or divots. I'm sure the razor would get a proper bevel thickness in due course without such shenanigans, but as Steven Wright once famously declared, "everything is walking distance if you have the time". For a razor that'll never be a looker, I just want to shave with it quickly. On the samples of this rock we're referring to in this thread that I've played with, I can recall leaning on rough razors and watching the bevels form and having my fingers tell me the rock was saying "go right ahead, friend, there'll be no damage to me here". So I considered 'accelerated pressure for a razor you've not much care for' an extra arrow in these stones' quiver, just another tool at the honing station, but one off limits for many razors (and many coticules).
I think we're in entire agreement that these seemed capable of elevated keenness, but in the manner that, like an extremely hard synthetic hone, requires only the razor's repeated gravity. To me lots of razors don't have equal weight distribution when deployed for honing, though, some would fall off to the handle side if left unchecked (I know one particular Dovo always does), and that's one thing I love about coticules - just like me choosing to shave with two hands, on some you can mildly violate the "rule" of 'use no pressure' and still receive an edge that leaves nothing to be desired, which is always the goal I seek.