My new unexpected purchase, what a workhorse!

[kinematic]

Ok, remember I told about the Les Latneuses my friend an fellow carpenter dropped? Well, I ordered a new stone from Ardennes for his birthday. They didn't have a Les Latneuses so I asked them for a fast, soft stone with a size of about 5x15 cm. It arrived 2 days ago and when I opened the package I saw they sent something completely different. They sent a stone almost square in shape but it's soft and fast, like I asked....in fact this thing is fast with a capitol F. I gave the stone to my friend but it's simply too big for him to hold in his hands comfortably (he has small hands). I took the stone back home and contacted Maurice and Rob asking them if they have a stone from the same or a similar layer in the size I asked for but they don't. Maurice told me this kind of stone is rare and the stone they sent me is the only one they currently have and there's no telling when and if they come across a stone like this again. I told my friend what Maurice told me but he'd rather have a narrower stone he can hold in his hands. Later that evening I started playing with the stone myself and that's when I found out how fast it is. As soon as I start with a sharpening motion it starts to generate slurry and it removes loads of steel. Diluting doesn't work with this stone because as soon as I put some fresh water on it it just generates more slurry, it just keeps going and going. It's a real workhorse and a very fast bevel setter so I decided to keep it myself. I wasn't looking for another stone and the shape is a bit awkward but it's soo fast I didn't want to mis out on it.

[img=800]http://img202.imageshack.us/img202/8409/coti2.jpg[/img]
[img=800]http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/7561/coti3.jpg[/img]

 

[Bart]

Thank you for posting. I presume you'll be using it for your woodworking tools?
Did Maurice mention something about the name of this layer?

That cloudy appearance with a few reddish lines reminds me of Vault n°51. But that one was much harder and from the Latneuses layer.

I'm sure they'll come up with a stone that suites your comrade's needs eventually.

Kind regards,
Bart.

 

[kinematic]

Maurice didn't mention anything about the name of this layer but I'm guessing it has smaller than average garnets because it cut's very fast however it's difficult to reach keenness with it because it just keeps on releasing slurry. It's really only suited for fast bevel setting on tools and knives and that's what I'm going to use it for. I also asked Maurice to keep an eye out for this layer because if there's a chance they can cut a hone in the size my friend prefers he would like to buy it.

 

[sparq]

Is that coticule glued to a harder base or is it a natural combo?

 

[Bart]

It's clearly glued to slate. On Kinematic's picture, the gray line we see in between the Coticule part and the slate part is the actual cement that was used for gluing them together.

Bart.

 

[Smythe]

Wow! what a cute stone... But that stone has more working surface than a Frictionite 00 (11cm x 5 cm).

 

[kinematic]

The working surface is quite large actually. I sharpened on of my chefs knives on it yesterday and instead of making an x-stroke like on my 6x16cm La Veinette I need to make a more sideways stroke on this one. One of the advantages of the bigger width is that it's easier to keep the blade completely flat on the stone. The width also allows for nice long strokes. The knive I sharpened on it was completely dull and after about 15 minutes the bevel was completely reset. I still had to finish on my La Veinette because the stone generates soo much slurry. I also think I won't be buying any more stones, the ones I have now are all I need.