Thread: Salm Rock/Old Rock Coti's vs Other vintage Coticules

I have to agree with Dave. I've 'been there, and done that' with the labeled Deep Rock, Old Rock, and the fabled Salam coticule. I've had two of the Old Rocks and one was better than the other, actually pretty good. The Deep Rock was so- so, and the Salam was beautiful but ho-hum. Not bad, but not better than the better coticules I've had that didn't have labels adorning them.

There was/is a well known honemiester on this forum, who departed to start his own. Nice guy, heck of a honer, and experienced with a plethora of stones. He once posted that out of 100 coticules, he only found 3 that were worthy of honing razors. Anyway, he found a Salim that was the greatest thing since sliced bread, and touted it to the skies. Much to my gratitude, because I had bought it 'right' before that, and was able to realize a good price when I sold it.

So my advice would be, unless you are a collector of rare labeled stones, don't pay a premium for that piece of paper, or labeled box. It might be great, or it might be average. You pays your money, and you takes your chances.

Thanks, Jimmy. You probably just saved me some money on a future expenditure. Your post covered some several different questions I had concerning labeled coticules, and then some.

'He once posted that out of 100 coticules, he only found 3 that were worthy of honing razors'

Then I must be a lucky man as I've yet to find a coticule not worthy of honing razors

There's a vast difference between being able to finish a razor and being able to finish it as well as an escher or jnat.

Coticules work better if you let the linen establish and condition the edge and never quite let the coti work to it. There are just a few exceptions to that with cotis, but most of them will seriously dull a good linen edge if you let them remove it.

Jnat's will just make the linen edge seem snappy, and same with the eschers.

Originally Posted by mikew

'He once posted that out of 100 coticules, he only found 3 that were worthy of honing razors'

Then I must be a lucky man as I've yet to find a coticule not worthy of honing razors

agreed....got around 20 Cotis now....did not found one which was not usable on straights ;-) either with or without label....they all give good results and as earlier mentioned 3-5 of them are extremely good!

Not talking about Old Rock, Deep Rock, Pikes or Salm Cotis...never owned one of those....

Here’s some more eye candy. The Salm is a very fast and very fine cutter/finisher.
Mike

Originally Posted by mikew

'He once posted that out of 100 coticules, he only found 3 that were worthy of honing razors'

Then I must be a lucky man as I've yet to find a coticule not worthy of honing razors

They all can hone, question is to what level of finish.
Like any natural rock quality will vary and it can get very expensive to find the right one for one's taste. Same with Eschers and especially Jnats.

There is a reason really good natural hones are so highly prized.

If you say 3/100 cotis are good for razors, it just means you were too lazy to take the time to really get in tune with any given rock.. I'm sorry, but that ratio is utterly asinine... I own a pike, a choice belgian, and an old rock. The pike is the easiest to use and produces a great edge, the choice is the trickiest to get the most from and makes a pretty brisk edge for a coti, and the old rock is utterly phenomenal... YMMV obviously.

old rock



pike



choice belgian

Originally Posted by kcb5150

If you say 3/100 cotis are good for razors, it just means you were too lazy to take the time to really get in tune with any given rock.. I'm sorry, but that ratio is utterly asinine... I own a pike, a choice belgian, and an old rock. The pike is the easiest to use and produces a great edge, the choice is the trickiest to get the most from and makes a pretty brisk edge for a coti, and the old rock is utterly phenomenal... YMMV obviously.

Sorry, but the honer to which he is referring is very far from lazy and I guarantee that he took the time to get in tune with each and every hone, because that is what he does. It's simply a matter of his standards for what constitutes a good hone are much higher than those of most.