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.

n°11 & n°15 - also n°14

Bart

Well-Known Member
Gentlemen,

N° 11 is a reddish Coticule from the "La Dressante" Layer. A hard stone, that takes a bit more work to raise a slurry. It's fast. I would recommend it to a carpenter of a cook, but it puts a very sharp edge on a razor too. If you like crispy edges that laugh at a coarse beard, this Coticule is your friend. If however you have ultra sensitive skin, and are looking for smoothness before anything else, look at n°15...

N°11 and n°15, are as far apart in the Coticule spectrum as it gets. (Please remember that they both are Coticules and that differences in the final edge are only discrete)
N°15 comes from the "La Grosse Blanche" layer. When exposed to air (and light?) they discolor to a dull brown, as can be seen at the sides of the hone. It's probably some form of oxidation. "La Grosse Blanche" is reasonably soft, densely packed with very fine garnets. It's fast and the slurry thickens to a soapy, or even a toothpaste-like (if you aren't careful) texture. The level of polish is one of the finest you'll ever get off a Coticule. There's a lot of slurry-dulling. Coming off slurry, expect the edges to barely shave. It takes very slow and precise dilution to get good keenness. Or a quick and easy Unicot procedure.:)

N°15 creates ultimately smooth edges. Lacking the slightest hint of bite, such edges need to be honed to perfect keenness in order to shave well. If you leave the slightest bit of keenness behind, the edge will not shave well, but still leaves your skin unharmed. Alum doesn't sting with an edge off this Coticule. This is not a hone for an inexperienced honer.

In a very inaccurate way of speech, with n°11 you get a fast cutter and a fine finisher. There's not that big a gap to cross. With n°15, you'll get a very fast cutter and an ultra-fine finisher. The gap is a gaping abyss.
 
Bart, I cannot resist. Number 15 intrigues me so much, it seems like such a unique specimen!! I have to have it. I know I'm getting carried away, but since you added all of those nice stones to the Coticule Vault I've realized how much coticules vary, both visually and functionally. It's really spectacular. You're really turning me into a coticule enthusiast! :w00t:

So please also write my name on coticule number 15, I must have me a "La Grosse Blanche".

Thanks!!

Dave
 
StraightRazorDave said:
Bart, I cannot resist. Number 15 intrigues me so much, it seems like such a unique specimen!! I have to have it. I know I'm getting carried away, but since you added all of those nice stones to the Coticule Vault I've realized how much coticules vary, both visually and functionally. It's really spectacular. You're really turning me into a coticule enthusiast! :w00t:

So please also write my name on coticule number 15, I must have me a "La Grosse Blanche".

Thanks!!

Dave
As you wish. Have you won the lottery? ;)


Bart.
 
Bart said:
StraightRazorDave said:
Bart, I cannot resist. Number 15 intrigues me so much, it seems like such a unique specimen!! I have to have it. I know I'm getting carried away, but since you added all of those nice stones to the Coticule Vault I've realized how much coticules vary, both visually and functionally. It's really spectacular. You're really turning me into a coticule enthusiast! :w00t:

So please also write my name on coticule number 15, I must have me a "La Grosse Blanche".

Thanks!!

Dave
As you wish. Have you won the lottery? ;)


Bart.

Ha, I wish. It's just that I don't feel like I would get many other opportunities to get my hands on such different and unique coticules that it would be a shame to pass on them!
 
StraightRazorDave said:
Ha, I wish. It's just that I don't feel like I would get many other opportunities to get my hands on such different and unique coticules that it would be a shame to pass on them!

Tell me about it Dave..lol
thats how I got #10, my good lady said go for it, altho more than worth every single pennies many times over, it cost what is to me a fortune, but i just couldnt let it be lost forever, I am using it right now as I type this, slurry makes a right mess of the laptop! haha
 
tat2Ralfy said:
Tell me about it Dave..lol
thats how I got #10, my good lady said go for it, altho more than worth every single pennies many times over, it cost what is to me a fortune, but i just couldnt let it be lost forever, I am using it right now as I type this, slurry makes a right mess of the laptop! haha

I think we've all caught the coticule bug....

Since #15 looks so hard to use for honing, I was thinking of just trying it out as a finisher. I will hone on another coticule (#16 or #20) to bring the razor up to sufficient sharpness, then try a bunch of laps with just water on #15. That way I won't have the hard time trying to achieve the sharpness on #15, but still get the fantastically smooth edge that Bart said it can give. :) Then maybe once I'm more confident I can try doing a complete dilucot with #15....:scared: It's truly an interesting looking stone though, and it sounds like it has amazing finishing properties.

I'm truly excited to try out these stones, since I'll have #15, #16 and #20 coming!! So I'll have to ask myself: "Do I want to use a La Petite Blanche, La Veinette, or a La Grosse Blanche" coticule today???" I like that I'll have a variety of different types and shapes of coticules to choose from.

Oh, I had a question about #15 as well. Is it attached to slate? It doesn't look like a natural combination, so I figured it was just bonded to slate. Let me know, thanks!

Dave
 
Wow Dave! Your on a roll! I know how you feel. So many beautiful, unique Cotis. I really only want one more after my 7. A long, skinny one, hopefully as unique as #7.

tat2Ralfy said:
I am using it right now as I type this, slurry makes a right mess of the laptop! haha

:lol: Makes me think of that one Seinfeld episode. So how are you going to make that a trifecta? It doesn't involve Bart, does it?
 
I guess amongst all my other ramblings a question I had was lost.:p

Is coticule no.15 (La Grosse Blanche) bonded to slate?

It's glued to the typical slate tile (no honing purpose).

Best regards,
Bart.
 
Only after zooming in on No. 15 I realised that this is one pretty stone. I love the specks embeded on the surface. In any case it looks like one of the rarer stones. I hope it will serve you well.

Ivan
 
I've added n°14 as well.
As stated at the Vault, this is an almost identical twin of n°11.
A fast bevel setter that finishes a nice crispy edge. These are very decent Coticules, they proof that hard Coticules can be fast. They do not offer the almost addictive feedback found of some other specimens (even coming from the same "La Dressant" layer, that seems to offer a wide range of Coticule properties). I 'd take one of these on a backpacking trip, it sharpens razors and knives alike. If you need to work out a chip in a hunting knife's edge, you can really lean into it, without a risk to dig into the stone's surface.

Bart.
 
blade13 said:
Only after zooming in on No. 15 I realised that this is one pretty stone. I love the specks embeded on the surface. In any case it looks like one of the rarer stones. I hope it will serve you well.

Ivan

I'm sure it will, I'm really looking forward to getting it. It's not a very thick stone, but it just sounded and looked so unique. It's auto-slurries when used with just water and the slurry has a soapy texture? Oh, and it oxides when exposed to air? A soapy, rusting coticule? Sounds pretty damn cool to me! :p

Bart said:
I've added n°14 as well.
As stated at the Vault, this is an almost identical twin of n°11.
A fast bevel setter that finishes a nice crispy edge. These are very decent Coticules, they proof that hard Coticules can be fast. They do not offer the almost addictive feedback found of some other specimens (even coming from the same "La Dressant" layer, that seems to offer a wide range of Coticule properties). I 'd take one of these on a backpacking trip, it sharpens razors and knives alike. If you need to work out a chip in a hunting knife's edge, you can really lean into it, without a risk to dig into the stone's surface.

Bart.

Sounds like a real work-horse coticule. B)
 
My 'workhorse' may have been the perfect stone for an ignorant beginner. The coticule layer is thin, 7-8mm, but the BBW is extraordinarily thick to compensate..and I was so afraid of using the coticule up I almost didn't use it at all. Clever, in retrospect, as I hadn't a clue how to baby it. That's also part of using an 8K DMT plate as a lapper, it takes so little off it's more of a cleaner, removing only microns worth of surface. As I mentioned, the slurry transfers to the DMT plate, and can be used to both soften the agressiveness of the diamond and maintain rapid cutting speed at the same time, an abrasive lube if you would. I don't WASTE it..

But the net result is I'm a lot happier grinding away on a BBW than a coticule. For kitchen knives of no distinction they're lovely.

I am wondering if folks with nice double razor hones are inhibited from using the BBW side, as I was the coticule?
 
Back
Top