Thread: Why does my new coticule feel like I'm honing on gravel?

That vein is supposed to have a bit of that odd feel going on afaik. I have a tan coti with orange in it that feels like I am honing on a wet cinder block and it does no harm. it's smoothing out a bit with use but it seems to have mostly plateaued. so long as you aren't getting very deep stray scratches or edge chipping I would think nothing of it.

Aha, I have the same feel on my coti and it looks a lot like your rectangular one, must be the same vein
Interesting
Les Petas eh?

Originally Posted by bman40

I just took delivery of a new standard coticule from Ardennes.

It feels nice and smooth when I lapped it and then hit it with 2000 grit paper, but when I run a razor over it - holy is it EVER rough!!! Feels super bumpy / gravelly.

Weird....

After lapping, its always a good idea to rub it with a slurry stone to smooth out any possible grits left over from the lapping.

I have made good experiences using a very hard stone like Llyn Idwal or Charnley Forest to rub the Les Petas smooth. Using a bit pressure does not harm. Still a bit grainy, but I get real good eges now.

I have a new hone front Ardennes with the same feel not sure what vein it's from.

It is a nice stone but can't get use to the feel.

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Here is a vintage and it's real smooth.
Not sure about what vein it's from.

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Here is a "soft" Les Petas, very good sharpening feeling, a bit grainy but nice.
This is a very hard Les Petas. I have a little problem with this stone. Normally, very small garnets dissolve out while honing,usually you can not notice it. With this stone it is different, garnets can protrude. This can cause damage to the blade. When I make slow strokes without pressure, sometimes I can hear a metallic click and can feel how the blade stucks. A very hard slurrystone can help, but it is a real risk to hone on this stone.
This is a standard grade (200x60) I purchased last week. Very very smooth and nice feeling, a completely different stone . Unfortunately I can´t reach a good shaving edge. It is quite hard and a stellar fast stone for kitchen knives and tools.

Interesting thread. The les petas do have that trade mark blueish swirl to them most of the time. I've got one coming from Gary Haywood that looks different then these les petas. He told me it's super smooth and different from the other les petas he's had the pleasure to hone on which in some cases were very scratchy/rough and he had sent some back to ardennes.. this confirms my suspicions about the vein although further testing is required to make a generalization on edge quality. That being said I've got one coticule that "feels" rougher than the others. A La nouvelle vein that gives excellent edges so it's yet to be proved without a doubt that this rough feeling is detrimental to the razors edge. Maybe mentally but unless it's got toxic inclusions I suspect it is not harmful.

I may have to order another les petas although I've got so many other great coticules I've got to test first.

Mine definitely looks like those posted in the couple of posts above, like Hacker7's and the 2nd picture of Sebrazor's
It feels very harsh, coarse and bad honing on it
I bought it a while ago, and am sort of concluding I wasted my money; I don't really dare to put my razor on that stone

Originally Posted by TristanLudlow

Mine definitely looks like those posted in the couple of posts above, like Hacker7's and the 2nd picture of Sebrazor's
It feels very harsh, coarse and bad honing on it
I bought it a while ago, and am sort of concluding I wasted my money; I don't really dare to put my razor on that stone

Have you shaved off it?