Coticule Hones

[zib]

I care about people and I care about this forum, That's why when I see people making mistakes, I have to say something. Let me tell you what I know about Coticules. I know Coticules are a prescious, limited resource, meaning one day, they'll be gone. We'll be talking about them like the Escher or Nakayama. Ardennes will mining construction rock instead of Coticule.

They recently had to open a mine that's been shut since the 60's. The last mine ran dry. Here's some excert's from one of my many emails to Rob Celis. if you don't know, he's the Owner/Operator of Ardennes Coticule.

Here are his thoughts about lapping Coticules.....

Please explain your customers that these are natural sharpening stones. Completely made by hand!

About lapping stones:
I'm worried that a lot of Coticule users lap their stones too much!
These stones were used hundreds of years without any form of lapping!!
Actually its not necessary to lap a Coticule ...
Coticules can pass a complete generation of straight razor honing! But yes, if people start removing lot's of millimeters from the precious Coticule layer than the stone will only pass some years ...
Don't forget: Coticule is very rare! Each piece is used for honing in some way (rectangular stones, irregular stones, little pieces for chisels, and so on ...).

Read this part carefully, He's saying what I've been saying, once gone, they're gone. They shut one mine and opened an old one. Coticule is getting scarce guys...

A lot of Coticule is already extracted! As soon as our quarry and mine are empty it's OVER with Coticule stones for ever!
That's why I really hate all that lapping.


We don't have much 6x2" and 8x3" stones in Selected quality, these are very rare stones! Sometimes we only produce 25 of them each month. We produce thousands of irregular shaped stones in smaller formats, rectangular stones in smaller formats

A lot of guys ask for a specific vein, It doesn't matter guys, other than it sounds cool. To quote Kill Bill vol 2. Uma Thurman, "Why do they call themselves the crazy 88's? David Carradine, " I don't know, probably cause it sounds cool?"

You are right about the fact that it doesn't matter from which vein a stone comes. All stones sold to straight razor vendors are perfect for SR honing.

Sometimes a stone will have a vein on it, or a line that looks like a crack, but is not, you can't even feel it. They never interfere with honing. I would never sell you something that would harm a razor. Here are Rob's thoughts:


If I say that the line on the 6x2" stone isn't a crack you can believe. There's a huge different between a so called crack which means that two parts of the stone are separated from each other and a line that has another color than the rest of the stone. This line was formed under high pressure and simply contains some other minerals. Your stones came from one of the two BEST veins available for straight razor honing! Those two veins have a thickness between 4 and 7 mm. That's completely normal!

I hope this helps some of you. I wanted to share this information. I also hope this clears up some issue and questions some of you may have.


One more thing: Vintage Coticules. Guys, these stones are 500 million years old. Do you think 70 years makes a difference?
yes, owning something from the 1940's or 1920's is cool. I love vintage stuff, especially razors. Does it make a stone better, no. It depends on the stone itself, Do no be lured into believe that if a stone is Vintage, it is somehow better. The proof is in the pudding as they say....
Thanks.....