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Thoughts on the La Verte coticules.

slartibartfast

Active Member
I broke down and ordered a green grey La Verte. I did not realize these existed until I was browsing for a new coticule at Jarrod's site.

Talking to Jarrod and searching the forum I came up with the following.

  • [li]The edge can be a bit too sharp, I think "brisk" is the commonly used term here.
    [/li]
    [li]Going back to a light misty slurry can mellow the edge a bit.[/li]
    [li]More strokes between dilutions due to the hardness.[/li]

Are there any other caveats or tips to using these coticules?

I do not want to hotlink to Jarrod's site or steal the image, so here is a link. The third coticule in the picture. http://thesuperiorshave.com/images/imgp9479.jpg

Thank You,

Ben
 
I bought a grey-green La Verte from TSS too.

It certainly is a very nice hone, but it is different from what these hones are supposed to be like.

In the first place, it's fast! It's not the fastest coticule I've used, but it's still faster than some other veins I've used. I can correct a bevel on it pretty easily (I mainly use 1/2 to full hollow razors). Even on plain water it is pretty quick.

Secondly, it slurries pretty easily. I'm not sure where the slurry is coming from (hone or the slurry stone), but I can get a slurry off it with no issue. I haven't noticed any autoslurrying, but I haven't looked that closely.

I love the edges off this hone. I'd agree that I can get tamer edges with other hones, but this one produces an excellent shaving edge.

Basically, I find this the easiest of my coticules to use (not counting my 'vintage' coticule of unknown layer).

-----------------------------

Basically, what it comes down to is that these hones are not always what they're written up to be. Anyway, I think user technique variation has more to do with the process and final product than the name of the vein.

I'll post some pics of the hone later.
 
I had other experience my la verte is dead slow(as if I remember correct is the common knowledge about the la verte) and doesn't release slurry fast.
But I would need to cut it and do some testing with them to be exclusive because the hone I have now is just way to big to use hand unless you're bench honing

kind regards
Stijn
 
The stone Yohann talks about is very atypical for the La Verte layer. Perhaps it isn't a La Verte at all, I don't know. I remember the previous conversation about this stone, but I don't recall if I 've seen a picture or not.

All other La Vertes I've touched were all very similar (a couple of them are described in the Vault) Fairly hard stones, at the slow end of the spectrum. Little slurry dulling, which means that the edge can already be brought near optimum keenness with a light slurry.
I consider this the kind of Coticules to really play with different slurry densities as opposed to pure water for finishing. I'm talking about one rub with the slurry stone, or two, etc.

Kind regards,
Bart.
 
i have atiny la verte 100x30mm. To be fair mine is moderate on slurry and it seems to reach keeness quite easy. Dennis gave me this stone and he loves his too. they can vary i supose so i can only vouch for mine.

gary
 
I received this this today and couldn't help but play with it a bit before I went back to work.

After dulling a razor on glass, I did 2 sets of 20 half-x strokes and was able to pop leg hair across the entire blade. So, not slow.

On water only it makes a bit of a "whisk" sound. Does not seem to release slurry on its own, at least from what my untrained eye/hand can see.

Did one dilucot, did some testing, then went back again. Based off the HHT it seems sharp, but my wifes hair lies sometimes. Looking forward to the shave.

*Click image for full size.


 
It's clearly a La Verte.

That 2 sets of halfstrokes got you back to shaving sharpness, is not really an indicator of honing speed. If the bevel was good to start with, 1 or 2 sets will undo the dulling stroke on glass, no matter a fast or slow Coticule is used.

Kind regards,
Bart
 
I have slow medium and fast coti's they all set bevel in the same time after dulling on a glass.

my la patite can take care of chips. my leslat yellow side can take care of chips easily, now that is fast on slurry.

gary
 
I too have a La Verte de Jarrod and it has become my favorite finisher. I'm still fine tuning it and my honing technique continues to improve so my impressions are a mix of the stone's qualities and my abilities. But two nights ago I was able to bring three blades, one touch up and two recent Ebay rescues, to HHT 4 with relatively little drama on my stone. I love that whisking/sandy sound/sensation you refer to and find it really helps me fine tune my strokes.

I don't have a lot of experience with all the layers to form a basis for speed comparisons. This stone will darken slurry in about 30 half strokes, maybe fewer. That makes it slower on slurry than one of my Dressantes but faster than one of my others. Jarrod said this particular stone was on the slower side of the lot of grey greens he had. It seems a tad slow on water alone, but after reading here I have been using a bit of pressure on water when finishing then lightening up toward the end. Takes 100-250 strokes on water to achieve a good HHT, which doesn't seem extreme to me. The higher stroke count is for hard steels and wide bevels. I'll play with the misty slurry some, but I don't feel that the edge is too sharp or too brisk, although I'm not sure I really understand the brisk-mellow distinction at this stage of my shaving evolution.

Whatever, it is a lovely stone and does what it is supposed to do well. It just feels good to use, the feedback is so smooth.
 
rtedwards: I am having similar experiences with mine. So far I really like the shaves off of this coticule.

It has been easier to use than I anticipated.
 
So I just read Bart's post describing the layers, which helps a bit in assigning a speed to my La Verte de Jarrod on a more absolute scale. It is faster than my La Dressante au bleu and slower than my upper layer Dressante. Of course given the variation in speed that Bart reports for upper layer Dressante this doesn't narrow it a lot, but suggests that my stone is middle of the road on speed on slurry and somewhat faster than slow on water, which seems about right to me. Clearly faster than the slow speed attributed to La Verte's in general, so Jarrod likely got a selection of rocks formed from a different pool in the depositional event that set the stage for the creation of our rocks some hundreds of millions of years ago.

I, of course, am convinced that million upon millions of years of geology happened just to create this little stone for me. I'm not a megalomaniac or anything, really, it's just that it is totally clear that the planet had me in mind when it created this little hunk of stone for my pleasure.
 
I'll wager the Belgians themselves didn't know a ~fast batch of green stone could be when they packed them off to us.

Hoping for this anomaly, I've since played w/ all that look the same of what we have now as I type, only to find that they instead hold true to the norms of the genre.

Should've kept one of the outliers for posterity's sake.

In any event, I don't care as much about speed as others seem to; it is all relative, and I'm blessed w/ a long attention span. The feel, be it associated with fast or slow cutting capacity, is what draws me to one stone over another.
 
Here's the one I'm referring to:

IMG_3130.png


IMG_3131.png


The images were taken in sunlight, so the colour balance is correct. The hone is greyish (like a cinderblock). It gets slightly green when it's wet, though. I'm pretty certain this is a La Verte.

It isn't as fast as my LPBs, but it's a lot faster than another (green) La Verte I had a while ago.

Bart -

The previous 'super fast' hone I had mentioned was a while ago. That was not a La Verte. I passed that on to Jared, so he can tell you more about it. This one is a new hone to me; just got it a week or so ago.

Yohann
 
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