Need Help, Coticule's

Ok got 2 coticule's im not sure what "breeds" thay are so i figure i would ask and see if any of you guys are coticule experts.

first one is this green one, has a red/purple bbw backing/slate.
(the mid one)
View attachment 12983
View attachment 12984

and secound one is this brownish one. no backing/slate.




thanks for any help.

bump.

If it is a newly mined stone, the green one is probably from the La Vert layer. Slowish but leaves a great edge on a razor. Rub the backing layer on a wet diamond plate ( or wet n dry sandpaper). If it gives off a purple slurry/mud, the backing is BBW, if not then it's slate. You can usually see purple/red dots against a purple/blue background on a BBW. If it's slate, then it's a newly mined stone.
If the backing is BBW, is there a glue line separating the Coticule from the backing, or does it look like a natural Coticule bonded to BBW? If it is a Coticule glued to a BBW it is definately a vintage stone. If it is a natural combo, it may be vintage/or newly mined.

Unbacked coticules are rare as they are fragile. It certainly looks like a coticule. I would glue it to something before it breaks.

artisanshaving.org is THE place to find out about more about Coticules. It is a forum for straight razor users most of whom use only coticules to sharpen their razors, but some of them sharpen knives and tools with coticules as well.

Thanks for the awsome info. the green one im almost 100% is a bbw backing, not 100% if its natural combo or glued, the line is very straight around the stone just on this side you can tell there is a green spot in the bbw and the line is not even. here is a picture
and next to my big coticle with i know is glues slate, since the color is black and i can see the glued line.




the brown coticule do you recomend to glue a bbw backing on it? this stone is pretty thick (17mm) and if i should get a backing who can i turn to. do you have any idea what type of coti this can be?


Thanks
Magnus

Yup, the first one is a natural combo. That makes it much easier to identify which layer it comes from (if you are interested), as the fact the the two layers occur naturally side by side as well as the appearance of the blue layer can be used to identify it. The identification of layers was intended to help people choose which coticule to buy for their needs. Some layers are quite consistent in their characteristics. Some not so much. Given that you already have the stone, I would just try it and see what it does.
I am hesitant to advise you on the brown stone. At 17mm it may well be sturdy enough without backing. It may or may not be coticule. Looks like it to me though. I would ask at the artisanshaving for more info on both stones, because they know MUCH more about coticules than I do. They are a great bunch over there, and may even talk you into trying a straight razor, given that you already have everything you need to look after one apart from a strop.

Thanks rosco you seem to know alot about coticules infact i only shave with straight razors and i hone them aswell. i got the brown coticule today so i havent had a change trying it out yet but the stone feels pretty hard and smooth and dosent suck up water very fast so my guess is that its a slow cutter. the green one is super hard and a PITA to raise a slurry. ill haf to check with the artisashaveing about the brown one for sure. thanks alot for the info!

I only know what I have picked up from the forums, but haven't been hanging around there lately as I have started using a DE razor instead. Will be selling some straights once I get around to taking pics of em. I find it much easier to raise slurry on coticules using a mini diamond plate instead of a matching slurry stone/rubber. Do you use coticules on knives as I am very interested in how they would perform.

ill get me a DE when im 60 to i have tryd the coticule on kitchen knives. works pretty good infact very good. what i did was 1k SS and then about 50 "laps" on the bbw with just water and then slurry on the coticule slowly adding water til water only then a few strops on leather and after that it passed HHT . the knife was a 240mm AEB-L

Hi, I LOOOOOVE COTICULES! the green one is pretty nice, thin though. Green ones as mentioned before are "slow" by most razor standards, I however don't consider them slow. The edge off coticules lasts a long ass time and is really sharp and aggressive. The brown one in the middle I am guessing is kinda soft compared to the green one which should be on the harder side. I prefer the softer coticules for knives and find that the edge from coticules is a good all around edge. I think the larger coticule is from the newer veins and probably is hard too. I would stick with the brown one for knives. The only sure way to find out though is to get to work on your favorite knife.

I for one have a coticule that isn't as brown as yours, is more on the soft side and also has the spots that I find appear mostly ( I have yet to see one that isn't ) on soft coticules. I loved the edge off it and used it in pro kitchens on a suisin inox honyaki knife for about a year and the edge would last to my sharp standards about 3 or 4 days. I think coticules though expensive are an untapped resource for edges.

TK did mention once that the coticule wouldn't sharpen Devin's ultra resistant steel so I guess carbons and the normal steels like AEB-L and stuff like that is nice.

I shave with a straight and still prefer the edge off coticules over other sharpening mediums.

Hope that helps.