That's a beautiful stone! Very similar look and transition to one I found recently, coticule was very hard indeed and med quick.
Coticules
- Thread starter cotedupy
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That's a beautiful stone! Very similar look and transition to one I found recently, coticule was very hard indeed and med quick.
Yeah, it’s nice. Still figuring it out really.
And there was another of those lots, smaller, but still quite a few. Of course you know the guy…
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1856129542...kVKtBNdQ_m&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY
Kaisersoze
Member
Where do most people buy their coticules? Ebay seems a bit hit or miss. Are the Ardennes Coticules for sale at places like sharpening supplies or some of the razor retailers griffith's etc all the same? It seems there used to be higher grades but they don't appear available anymore?
eBay is tough except for smaller pocket ones. I can score them every once in awhile for $30-40 delivered. But it just depends on whether that format is good for you and how many times a day you check eBay.
Ebay and junk shops mostly. Though they're fairly tricky to find on the cheap because they're quite easy for people to ID. Plus larger sizes are very uncommon, especially in the US I think where they were really just imported as Barber's stones. If you can use sizes around 35-40mm width there'll be a lot more out there.
I think you might need to email Ardennes Coticules to ask about the 'Selected' and 'Selected+' versions. The latter I think are naturally bonded stones from Les Latneuses and La Veinette.
Ebay in the US is super tight, there are enough people who can ID not properly labeled, stuck in a box with bad picture, stones that it's pretty rare to get one for under about $70 to your door for anything larger than the ~4"x~2". I'd think you might have more success at estate sales and junk shops, if you've got time and access for those.
You should buy the Coti 2 that @cotedupy just posted.
Great price, 6"x1"5 is a usable size for kitchen knives IMO. Then if you really like using coti/bbw you can continue to hunt for a longer/wider one. https://www.kitchenknifeforums.com/threads/washitas-coticules-charnley.61646/
I happened to be in the Ardennes yesterday and couldn't resist stopping at Ardennes Coticule. I already have a BBW that I like very much, and a hybride coticule Les Latneuses, very dense and hard and more suitable for razors.
It is a fairly small entreprise really, there is a dusty workshop, a small office and a room with stock where the orders are prepared, the size of a living room. No photos unfortunately, I left my phone in the car. I wanted a natural combi coticule-BBW but they are very, very rare in big sizes. Even the "normal" coticules (glued on slate) are very rare: I only counted 4 of the bench-sized ones (7,5 x 20 cm or 3 x 8 inch) versus hundreds of small coticules. I saw only two that were even bigger and they weren't finished, maybe a special order. I asked Rob Celis to pick the one out of four that would be best for kitchen knives, and I left with the stone below. According to him a top-notch coticule from the La Veinette layer. I could test the stone, and I got black swarf immediately, so this must be a very fast stone.
I was also wondering if there was a difference between Belgian Blue Whetstone and Rouge de Vielsalm, because all the BBW I saw (and the one I have) have a reddish/purple hue. So I asked and apparently Rouge de Vielsalm was just a brand name and the stones are exactly the same.
It is a fairly small entreprise really, there is a dusty workshop, a small office and a room with stock where the orders are prepared, the size of a living room. No photos unfortunately, I left my phone in the car. I wanted a natural combi coticule-BBW but they are very, very rare in big sizes. Even the "normal" coticules (glued on slate) are very rare: I only counted 4 of the bench-sized ones (7,5 x 20 cm or 3 x 8 inch) versus hundreds of small coticules. I saw only two that were even bigger and they weren't finished, maybe a special order. I asked Rob Celis to pick the one out of four that would be best for kitchen knives, and I left with the stone below. According to him a top-notch coticule from the La Veinette layer. I could test the stone, and I got black swarf immediately, so this must be a very fast stone.
I was also wondering if there was a difference between Belgian Blue Whetstone and Rouge de Vielsalm, because all the BBW I saw (and the one I have) have a reddish/purple hue. So I asked and apparently Rouge de Vielsalm was just a brand name and the stones are exactly the same.
That is a right stunner isn't it, how lovely! Truly exceptional to have one that size.
It's interesting that so few of the modern stones from Ol Preu are natural combis, whereas almost all of the old ones I've found were. I've only had three or four that have been glued. Though I've only had one old stone of a comparable size (about 10x2.5), also La Veinette.
Stones from that vein do seem to be truly exceptional. The ones I've had have been like you describe - very fast though still fine, swarfing up almost instantly without the need for raising slurry.
Good to know that info about RdS too, it's something that confused a lot of people (myself included) for a while. I think it was getting mixed up with La Lorraine, which is a different rock I believe, and does not occur next to coticule.
BillHanna
Gotta get ready for ARM
That table looks pretty sweet.
Reluctant stone dealer is a role all of us crazy addicts enthusiasts end up filling at some point
Here are some pictures of a truly exceptional stone I found recently. It's about 200x45 and naturally bonded, probably La Veinette, or perhaps more accurately likely to be from a vein at the Old Rock quarry that is effectively very similar.
With beautiful Manganese lines and leafy 'dendrite' patterns, that often signify very high quality, fast stones, and are quite desirable among people who are into cotis / collectors.
The stone is very fast and fine, with lovely silken feedback, and edges that are just perfection. The BBW too is predictably excellent and cut really nice and thick.
However I stupidly made the mistake of offering it to someone, a decision that will probably still haunt me on my deathbed. So I'm going to use one last time today before sending off, and it's going to a good home at least, and someone who's sold me nice things in the past for not very much money...
Enjoy @ethompson!
With beautiful Manganese lines and leafy 'dendrite' patterns, that often signify very high quality, fast stones, and are quite desirable among people who are into cotis / collectors.
The stone is very fast and fine, with lovely silken feedback, and edges that are just perfection. The BBW too is predictably excellent and cut really nice and thick.
However I stupidly made the mistake of offering it to someone, a decision that will probably still haunt me on my deathbed. So I'm going to use one last time today before sending off, and it's going to a good home at least, and someone who's sold me nice things in the past for not very much money...
Enjoy @ethompson!
I really need to try and play with this more - a 7" x1.5" bonded to BBW. I have a slurry stone that matches. Was PIF'ed to me back in my straight razor days so know little else about the stone.
Another beauty! Those very pure, milky white stones tend to be fairly fine (ime), but can also be quite fast especially if they’re on the softer side. Often regarded as very high quality.
Here's a similar looking, though much smaller stone I got recently; soft, fast, fine, and just about the purest, brightest, milk-white coticule I've had.
Not bonded, just 120 x 35 x 7mm of coti.
Not bonded, just 120 x 35 x 7mm of coti.
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In my couple of attempts of use, it does seem to be extremely fine. Not sure about the speed.
Skylar303
Wannabe Stone/Razor/Knife Enthusiasts
Standard, select, select+ are not for how the stone performs, just how the stone looks.
Wow that is a beauty! I was also near AC on Tuesday but it was a 40 min drive from Durbuy finally so had to postpone my visit. Would you mind sharing the price you got this for? in a DM if you prefer. Thanks
I was about to say the same.
DM sent but the prices are public on the Ardennes Coticule website. The bigger, the more expensive... but still not as much as a high quality japanese stone (*justifying the expense to myself*)
Bonus points if you arrange them into a sunset with your awesome photography skills
That wasn't the first one I got and posted the experiment with. That one in the pic I got a couple of weeks later and already had a healthy tan.
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Ah that makes more sense then. I removed the penny as it clearly has tanned now so I know it is darkening. Only now it just hit freezing so the rock is back inside till spring. I will put it out once it warms again and see how dark I can get it. The sides are pretty dark on it from its original tan.
There are not allot of places you can talk about how you are tanning your rock.
If you tell a bartender he will probably stop serving you
This is what mine looked like the day I found it. Unfortunately I had to lap it flat so I lost a lot of the cool color.
