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n°28, n°30, n°31 & n°33 (and also n°27)

Bart

Well-Known Member
Gentlemen,

I've published test results on these Coticules.

First of all: n°31 will be staying with me for a while longer.:love: Sorry for that.

I had to interrupt tests on n°27. Most of those lovely pink speckles are fine, but there are also some orange deposits that occasionally chip the fragile edge of a razor. I've tried to lap a bit deeper into the hone, but new inclusions emerged, so I think this one is a no go. Chisels and knives would pose no problems, but razors can't be honed on this specimen. Please understand that I picked this one for its odd looks. Ardennes wouldn't have sold such a weird piece to an unsuspecting buyer. I hope they'll have another one like that, without the orange inclusions.

The grandson of the gent that purchases n°28 might find out, because that one has the same speckles, buried underneath several mm of different Coticule. N°28 is a nice combination hone. Very finely grained BBW, with excellent properties for progressive Coticule-slurry/BBW-slurry/Coticule-water honing. It's not the fastest Coticule, but the sharpness you'll get off slurry will be quite high. I doubted between ++ and ++/+++. The mystery layer deeper in the hone will most likely be +++, based on my experiences with the unfortunate n°27. Hence this hone comes with a free lottery ticket. At 5mm and more, the top layer is thick enough to consider the speckled layer underneath a free extra. The edge of n°28 can be qualified as on the smoothest side, within the pretty narrow crispiness/smoothness range delivered by Coticules.

N°30 and n°33 are almost identical. They both come from the "La Verte" layer. I hadn't come across these ones yet. They feel somehow coarser than I expect from a Coticule. During my very first honing on n°30, I was certainly raising an eyebrow. Yet the edge (a Unicot for the first test) came out very nice. Certainly at the clean, keen and crispy side of the spectrum. I've worked with other greenish Coticules (JimR has one), but they were quite different. N°30 and 33 appear with a "fast" feel, but are slower than one would suspect out of that. N°33 feels like it has a tad more refined feedback, but the edges of both are indiscernible the same.

Which brings us to n°31 - "Les Latneuses".
Lighting fast, one of the fastest I've met,while amazingly fine in feedback. I have an equally fast vintage Coticule of unknown layer, but that one feels almost gritty, and shaves no arm hair coming off anything but very watery slurry. N°31 is equally fast but shaves arm hair very well off regular slurry. The hybrid side is a bit slower, but leaves the edge even sharper, also coming off slurry. It has a very nice, luxurious draw on the main side. Almost no tangible abrasion on water. The finished edge is comparable to n°28, but working on this hone is like driving a Mercedes-Benz S550.

I'll look out for a couple more of these.:)

Kind regards,
Bart.
 
So, by "a while longer" do you mean that you are buying it? Or does that mean you are breaking it in nicely for me?:rolleyes:

Maybe you have one you'd want to sell to fund the purchase... :)
 
Those new stones look great! :) I'm glad you're still getting more in as I'm seriously thinking of buying one of them (shortly after the Nakayama:) )! (I've found my 8x3 to be too heavy to comfortably hold in my hand [the most natural feel for me when doing hundreds of laps], so I'm looking for a slightly narrower one now.)
 
I would like to humbly ask if I can reserve n°31. It seems to be the stone I've been looking for.
But I don't want to upset anyone
 
Bart said:
First of all: n°31 will be staying with me for a while longer.:love: Sorry for that.

You guys don't take "no" for an answer, do you? :D :D

I've already had 4 reservations for that one (3 on e-mail, and one in this thread).

I was planning to keep it a while longer, but I'm prepared to let it go. However, I'm not prepared to just give the reservation to the first one how claimed it. That wouldn't be fair to the guys who would have made a reservation, but refrained to do so, because I specifically said I was going to "keep it for a while longer".

To all who want to reserve this n°31, please state your name in this thread. When it's time to return the current group of hones to Ardennes, I'll ask one of my youngsters to draw a name.

Kind regards,
Bart.
 
How could you be so cruel to these poor guys Sir Bart?
Just come straight and tell them its Mine! Mine I say all Mine!!! Bwhahahahahaha
Ralfson (Dr)
 
Sir Bart, if you want to keep it, by all means no one deserves it more. However, if you would let it go, I'd like to be on the list of potential owners. And yes, I would have reserved it immediately but assumed you'd be keeping it. In fact, I kinda hope you do. Seriously:)
 
No, I wasn't planning on purchasing it myself. Just wanted to make a direct speed comparison to a few other hones (even of other origin). Moreover, I've been working on and off on a device to actually measure the speed of a hone in a precise, repeatable way. It's a sort of small carriage that travels over a hone with a fixed distance and pushes down a spindle with a fixed weight. A dial gauge measures how many laps it takes to remove a given amount from the spindle. I'm experimenting with different spindle diameters and materials. I'm not sure whether to measure a lap count to remove a given distance, or to measure the distance removed by a given lap count.
I was actually planning to keep n°31 till my device is ready to make reliable measurements, because it's one of the fastest Coticules I've met. But knowing how limited my time is and how much work it takes me to finish the prototype (I wish I had metal working skills:( ), it's best to let n°31 go. I still have another fast one, that you guys don't know about. :D :lol:

Best regards,
Bart.

PS. Ralfson, do I have to read your post as if you want to be included in the draw? (the guy who wins the draw still needs to pay Ardennes for the hone, just mentioning this so no one gets the wrong idea).
 
Bart said:
(I wish I had metal working skills:( ),

Err Helllooo? email a drawing Sire, Your Desire is my command

Bart said:
PS. Ralfson, do I have to read your post as if you want to be included in the draw? (the guy who wins the draw still needs to pay Ardennes for the hone, just mentioning this so no one gets the wrong idea).

Indeed No, alas I could not stray from my beloved #10, but many thanks
 
#31 is one sought after hone!! Im not gunna lie - it looks fantastic! However, i do not have the cash atm, nor should I desert my current coticule - just like Ralfy.

A good question though, have you had other hones from this layer, and if so - were they they same hybrid coticule/blue type stone? I ask this because it looks fantastic, appears to do the job very well and has a very smooth edge leaving ability - which I will be looking for when i do, inevitably, purchase another coticule :lol:
 
Bart said:
I've already had 4 reservations for that one (3 on e-mail, and one in this thread).
Well, I don't know if you had seen my reservation; I canceled it because... well, I just dind't read the line where you stated that you would have liked to keep it :blush:... I'm writing from my new netbook, I'm not used to the small screen size...

But... I like the idea of the lottery, so please count me in!
 
Indeed… No31 reminds me of my hone (No19) hybrid side. It is hard… very hard, never thought a Coticule could be that hard. So it is difficult to raise slurry, but when I do, it cuts fast and blackness quickly with good draw, then the cutting power slows down but only just a bit until you make more slurry.

With water only, it cuts slow, but there is drag, and at first you would think it not cutting because after many laps the water is clean, but rub the hone and you see the metal oxide on your finger… look at the bevel with the naked eye and it’s mirror polish… I can only imagine what the edge looks like under magnification because the shave is most satisfying.

The hybrid side is absolutely beautiful, reminds me of that Eagle Nebula photo from Hubble, a huge yellow lightning bolt with a hint of purple slicing through olive green background… and I tell you this, if it weren’t a razor hone it would be on the mantle piece to be much talked about after Sunday dinner.
HybridSide.jpg

HybridSideCLO.jpg

HybridSidePOZ.jpg

After reading Jim’s thread about Japanese hones I have suspect that layer could be used in a similar way. It is indeed an interesting layer that begs to be explored in more detail.

I am saddened about No27 but in this situation we can keep lapping in hopes of finding smoother real-estate or grind-up that stone to powder and send it to me for analysis and separation… but in its present form it does have value for other tools… now where is that “Evil-Laugh” smiley?

I would have to call No28 a 3 layer stone, I like these sandwiched stones and may be interested in it.
 
I would like to add my name into the drawing/purchase of nu 31 please.

My one and only coticule (nu 8) needs a roommate.

jeff
 
I would like to show my interest in #33

Thanks for offering this service Bart it is very interesting reading about all the different characteristics of the stones :)
 
Gentlemen,

I'm closing the draw for n°31.
Member rhframpton was the name that come out of the hat.
I'm writing the reservation on his name.

For those interested in a similar Coticule, please read this thread.

Kind regards,
Bart.
 
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