What's New?
ShavingUniverse.com

Register a free account now!

If you are registered, you get access to the members only section, can participate in the buy & sell second hand forum and last but not least you can reserve your preferred username before someone else takes it.

My first coticule

M

Moe

Member
After getting over the heartbreak of missing No. 51, I scored a 50 mm x 200 mm x 20 mm coticule on eBay. The seller said he bought it from ThePerfectEdge and that it is not a combination stone, rather a yellow coticule bonded to slate. Can anyone (Bart?) tell me anything about this hone (layer, etc) from looking at the pictures?

http://www.auctiva.com/hostedimages/showimage.aspx?gid=523917&image=368645185&images=368645690,368645335,368645965,368645558,368645185&formats=0,0,0,0,0&format=0

I am going to ask Howard at ThePerfectEdge if he has a slurry stone to go with it and for a 2" x 8" wood Ardennes box. At this time, all I have are 3-line Swatys and a Keen Kutter barber hone. Hopefully, I will be joining the rest of you following the techniques outlined here.
 
I'm having trouble making out what that is from the pictures, but if it's as the seller says, then it's a select grade coticule and is bonded to Portuguese slate. Howard at The Perfect Edge only sells select grade (not entirely sure why) and gets all his coticules from Ardennes.
 
Hello Moe,

Wow, maybe I'm missing something here, but for me it looks like a natural combo stone! There's no distinct division between layers, it's rather really hazy and the edges are rock solid, without any traces of bonding... On picture #4 Coti layer looks a little thinner in the left hand bottom corner. The slate to which Cotis are glued (at least on mine two) looks darker and not that 'grainy' as this does.

It's just me, however. Anyway, if I had it at home I'd definitely try this other side. :)

kind regards,
Matt
 
I second Matt.

Definitely a naturally bonded BBW-Coticule combination. It looks like a La Grise, as fas as I can tell from here.

Kind regards,
Bart.
 
Thank you all for the comments, and for your layer assessment, Bart. The stone arrived this evening and certainly appears to be without seam between layers.

The BBW side is something like I've not seen before in pictures. I'll try to break the camera out and post a picture of that this weekend. It does have a rough yellow streak on that side, in about the first 3-1/2 inches on the thinner end of the coticule.

I really like this size because it fits so nicely in my hand and is so easy to hold. Now to get a slurry stone! Thanks again for all your help!
 
Here are a couple of pictures of the BBW side of this stone. There are more pictures of it available by pressing the back to album button.
web.jpg

web.jpg


Entire Album with more pictures.

I'm not sure what the darkness that looks like something spilled on it is. I've soaked it in hot, soapy water and scrubbed it with an old toothbrush to no avail. The yellow streak is about 0.020" deep and rough, but where it is, I could "X" around it. The other end needs a little smoothing in the corner as well. Would a barber hone or arkansas stones be good for lapping in that area?

Thanks.
 
Hi Moe,

I edited you post to make the pictures show and added a link to the album. I hope you don't mind.

I don't think the black spots are something that was spilled on the surface. I've seen them before in Belgian Blue Whetstone.
The orange inclusion, I haven't seen before. A geologist would probably have a few ideas what it could be. If it's currently recessed into the surface, it won't pose a problem. As the hone wears, it will be flush with the surface at some point, but that still doesn't mean it should be a problem. It all depends on the hardness of the inclusion, and on the granulometry.

One thing, that is all too often overlooked when people buy a natural combo, it that not all Blue schist is good whetstone. Only certain layers of Blue schist have the a hight enough garnet content to qualify as whetstone. I'm not saying that yours couldn't be very good. But only a test can confirm that. On a BBW, it's not as easy to monitor abrasive speed as on a pale Coticule. When you hone on the purplish slurry, does it become "dirty" after a while? I might be helpful to transfer some fresh slurry to a white surface (I use a lid of a yogurt container). After you've honed on the whetstone for a while, you can transfer the used slurry and compare it to the fresh one. If there's hardly any change, the stone isn't doing much more than polishing.

Kind regards,
 
Thank you for everything, Bart. I appreciate the edits and did a "Quote" to learn how you did that. :)

I really appreciate the info on BBW efficacy and on the dark coloring of my hone. I will, for quite some time, be learning on the yellow side, so my questions were just to satisfy curiosity now. Surely, it will one day get the better of me and I'll experiment with the BBW. :D

Thanks again!
 
Hello Moe nice to "meet" you
as said on the natural combo stone, it looks like a very nice hone to me, even if the bbw side proves of little use its still adds its own beauty to a very functional hone
Nice find :thumbup:

Best wishes
Ralfson (Dr)
 
Thank you for the compliments on the stone, Dr Ralfson. I am anxious to get the slurry stone and try it out. :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top