Thread: Coticule Ebay gamble!

Saw a bad listing earlier this week. The seller had failed to separate sharpening and honing in the tags. So they listed it as Belgian Coticule sharpening/honing stone. Because of this the item wasn't appearing on searches for sharpening stone or hone, I did several searches to make sure it was a dead listing in that regard.

Waited for 15 seconds left, £75 bid, won it for the listing price of £50. No other bidders. Earlier today a similar stone slightly longer and thinner, with a serious crack sold for double this with 20 bidders. Granted the rock also was 90% coticule on the thinnest backing you have ever seen. Even so the poor listing definitely cost the seller as the other auction flew from £41- £103 in the last 10 seconds of the auction (I might have had £70 on it as well).

Looks to be 7x2x1 natural La Veinette. With a secondary BBW backing. Should arrive Friday but I think I got a good deal here. Will know more once it appears and I can get some decent pictures! The listing has quite a few potato phone pics!The seller says there is some pattern but you can't see any on the images, So I won't know what it actually is till it lands.

It'll be my second coticule, my first BBW, and my first natural combo if I decide to try split it. I might not bother to even attempt a split as it looks to be well bonded. It'll go nicely into the hone collection!

Congrats! Well played and a great score!

Thanks The wife thinks I have lost the plot. I was apparently stalking this one, I use her ebay and she gets all my updates to her phone. I think the fact I made her set an alarm for 10 minutes before it ended, then sat and watched it tick down only added to her amusement.

Nice pickup! I love to browse eBay, it drives my wife bonkers too

Excellent catch on a beautiful stone-please don't try to split it!

I'll wait till it appears and do some pictures. Then do a hone test before I even think about messing with it.

It's a big old chunk of rock to be messing with, and I don't think I'll get another natural combo with such a bad listing for a while.

The most amusing part of the whole thing is the seller offered international shipping as well! Just not to anywhere normal.


Postage to: United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, United Arab Emirates, Ukraine, Chile
Excludes: Africa, Asia, Central America and Caribbean, Europe, Middle East, North America, Oceania, South East Asia, South America, PO Box


Why you would offer postage to Chile and the Ukraine, but not Europe and North America is a total mind bender!

Original listing.

Belgian Coticule sharpening/honing stone | eBay

Great stone, curious to hear what you think about the BBW side as finisher. Mine actually does pretty decently, but it's slower.

It needs a bit more lapping before I can test it, You can see the lower edges in the images. There are also a couple of tiny holes in one of the corners of the BBW so I need to investigate those and see if there just lap marks or it's got some porosity. It's a big enough stone that I could avoid that are if needed.

I do have a La Lorraine that I sometimes use to finish on. The edge from that is nice and soft but not always as sharp as you might want. If the BBW can get close to that then it'll be a decent enough lump of rock.