Thread: Coti sources?

Originally Posted by mosley59

Bart, since you're the expert in this field, can you confirm that it is possible to set a bevel on a coti with slurry, then take it to shave-readiness on the same coti by diluting and eventually removing the slurry?

Well, that is exactly how I do all my razor honing.
It may not be the fastest method available, but I find it very relaxing and the edges are excellent. It takes me about 20 minutes per razor, and I do about half a dozen weekly. Being less experienced, it might take you an hour, but if you're only honing for personal uses, you'll probably find that a relaxing and rewarding hour.

Originally Posted by mosley59

I'm after a fast hone that doesn't require a large progression, since I'm a bit impatient and being a student am unable to afford a large progression of stones.

All Coticules I have tried so far, turned out to be fully capable of honing a razor from dull (not shaving any hair at all) to shaveready. There are speed differences between various Coticules, but not more than the speed difference between a short and a long hone, which means that a faster Coticule of 5" length can be as fast as a slower specimen of 10" length. (that approximates the extremes of the speed differences I found in various Coticules)
If you plan to do razor restores and find yourself in need to remove a lot of steel regularly, it might be worth to specifically buy a faster one. BUT. Those faster ones leave the edge less keen, coming off slurry and it will require longer and more precise dilution of slurry to refine the keenness later on in the honing sequence. If you only plan on honing edges in fair condition (that just lost some sharpness from normal use), getting a fast one, might cost you time instead of save it.
Regardless of all that, the end results will be closely the same.

Originally Posted by mosley59

Also, do you have any opinion on (or experience with) this coti I found on EBay? It seems to be significantly cheaper than the Ardennes cotis, but I don't want to spend money on something that turns out to be an expensive paperweight. The auction says it's from the Regne coti mine, but I've heard that the Ardennes mine is the only currently active mine, which makes me wonder if this indeed a true coti.

"Best Sharpening Stones" is a well-known reseller of Coticules. They obtain their hones from Ardennes. Ardennes currently extracts Coticule at two places. The first is a quarry located at a place called Ol Preu. The second is a mine, that they have reopened the past year, located at Regné.
They don't sell at bargain prices on their own website. I believe this is because they respect the business of their resellers.

Best regards,
Bart.