Coticule, Les Latneuses - Coticule vs Hybrid

I have a natural combo Les Latneuses, the yellow Coti side with a hybrid side.
The hybrid side doesn't do it for me, it's less sharp and less smooth than my Coti side.
But the Les lat Coti side is very very good for me. I always finish on oil (I used some fine machine oil, mineral oil on this one), and it gives me a very very keen edge but so so smooth.

I know on the old Coti forum some ppl went crazy for the hybrid side, originally these hybrid sides were looked at as defects by the manufacturer, and I understand why, they contain quartz and are not a real Coticule. I finished 2 razors on the Coti side, and one on the hybrid.

I didn't like my hybrid side for finishing, my Coti side however is a very superior finisher, very sharp, very smooth very friendly on my skin.

I have a similar stone that is quite small. I use it as a slurry stone on my combination BBW/coticule. So far I haven’t been able to tell the difference between finishing with the hybrid slurry and regular coti slurry even though some folks tout the hybrid as something special and Ardennes stamped it select plus.

Any pics fellas? We love pics:D

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Originally Posted by Tathra11

Any pics fellas? We love pics:D

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Here are images of two of my combination coticules, one combo slurry stone and one hybrid slurry stone. I have a lot of fun with these and often use one of the coticules to produce slurry on the other.

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It's interesting, I have other Coticules that have a smoother sensation honing upon than this Les Lat. On this stone you can feel it is a bit soft and fast, and feels more "scratchy" or abrasive compared to a La Grise for example. (The hybrid side feels like honing on glass, no sense of abrasion and super smooth, but inferior finish than the Coticule side)
However, my La Grise and this Les Lat give pretty much the exact same smoothness, but this Les Lat maxes out at a higher keenness it seems.
It gives an excellent finish.

It's a very small stone though, 4 cm x 10 cm / 1.6 inch x 4 inch.

The hybrids are very pretty stones. I’m glad I own one, but I’m also happy I didn’t pay the premium price for a full-sized one since it really doesn’t seem to produce a superior edge to the other cotis I have.

My Les Latneuses Coticule is a super fast stone, but yet leaves a super fine edge that is very very keen.

I just honed up two Swedish steel razors, set the bevel very rapidly and easily on the Coti with slurry and after one or two dilutions only, I went to the hybrid side for polishing before finishing on the Coti.
My razors on the hybrid side started to stick like crazy, it's a super good polisher. A similar sensation to what I get on my Eschers.
However, I much prefer the real Coticule garnet finish of the Yellow Side for my skin and for smoothness over the quartz of the escher or hybrid les lat side.

This little stone is a very fast bevel setter and a superb finisher, it cuts a bevel very fast and it finishes very fast. I'm hard pressed to find a more versatile Coticule. Easily one of my favorite edges to date. I'm impressed by this stone. Very interesting layer. But I could easily omit the hybrid side.

I must have gotten lucky because the hybrid side of my les lat leaves my edges as keen as if I had finished on a surgical black Ark, yet with the coticule smoothness/mellowness? I mean it's produced the best edges I have ever used, whereas the yellow side will remove steel fast, but can't set a bevel on it for some reason? It's really odd. So I just use my La Dressante for the bulk of my honing and finish on the hybrid side of les lat with soapy water.

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Originally Posted by Pedigree

I must have gotten lucky because the hybrid side of my les lat leaves my edges as keen as if I had finished on a surgical black Ark, yet with the coticule smoothness/mellowness? I mean it's produced the best edges I have ever used, whereas the yellow side will remove steel fast, but can't set a bevel on it for some reason? It's really odd. So I just use my La Dressante for the bulk of my honing and finish on the hybrid side of les lat with soapy water.

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I'd interested in some pictures!
There's a good bit of variation in the Latneuses vein.

I have to make an important side-note here.

I will have to re-visit the hybrid side!
I noticed I honed a troubled razor on my hybrid side that I shared my findings on.
The bevel angle was too high for a comfortable shave. I re-honed that razor on a Coticule and still had a sub-par shave. So I calculated the bevel angle, and it was way too high, that's the reason.
Unfair judgement of the hybrid side on my part.

Okay, I finally re-visited my Les Latneuses, Coticule side and hybrid side.

Verdict of the hybrid side as finisher: Top notch, super smooth and super keen. Just as good as any top Coticule layer.
I shaved in a one pass ATG shave, without any discomfort, super friendly on my skin and excessively sharp. But using the Dilucot, I am always left with a razor that feels like the "dull butterknife". It's only after starting Dilucot that I got these edges. If I go from synthetics to a Coticule only on water as finisher, it's never the same feeling. I do think there is a lot of merit in using the Coticule slurry and going to plain water. Damn, these edges are stunning.

Method of honing: Dulled the edge on the side of my Coticule. Used my Coticule side of the Les Latneuses to set the bevel. It's a very good and quick bevel setter and made quick work of it.
I used medium thick slurry to start with did half strokes and after about 60 half strokes on each side of the blade added 1 to 2 drops of water to thin it out until I was on clear water.
Worked the Coticule side until I passed the HHT. Then I went to the Hybrid side, used my Hybrid slurry stone and rubbed a bit back and forth, not much slurry to be detected and then finished all on plain water. Feel on water alone was very magnetic and smoooooth.

Stropped around 60/60 on cotton and veg tanned horsehide.

So the Hybrid side is as good a finisher as any other top Coticule layer. It's a very mellow smooth edge that is plentyyyyy sharp. It's very easy to use whereas some Coticules need some work to get to the same point.

Outstanding stones, I used mine on a very old Swedish steel razor made by the fine Eskilstuna smiths and boy this was as good an edge I have ever shaved with.
Super smooth, very forgiving and wicked sharp. A true "dull butterknife" Coticule kind of edge. Very nice.

Comparing my best Coticule stones vs The Les Latneuses Hybrid side:

Both stones gives very smooth, mellow edges, can't feel a difference in smoothness. Both are extremely smooth.
Both are very skin friendly and I don't notice any difference post-shave.
The Coticule seems to be a tad more forgiving, I can get away with small errors and with using pressure without a problem. But the difference is very small.
The Hybrid side otoh is more sharp / keen; the Coticule is also plenty sharp, but the hybrid leaves a sharper edge, probably due to the quartz. Difference again is very small, but noticeable to an experienced shaver.

Many would go from a regular Coticule to an Escher to get a bit extra sharpness, that's what the Hybrid Coticule reminds me of, an Escher, both have Quartz and leave a tad sharper edge than the Coticule.

I'm hard pressed if I had to choose my favourite Coticule layer, the Hybrid is certainly up there as one of my favorites. Especially if you want to have the sharpest edge out of any Coticule, the Hybrid gives that little extra.

The edges I get off of the hybrid les lat coticule are sharper then any coticule edge I've been able to obtain.