Thread: This Arkansas or a coticule

Thanks for all the advise. It seems to be a real helpfull crowd here.
I believe the coticule is the way to go.
Maybe in the future a finer stone will be a good addition.

Does anyone know the best place to get good coticules?
Mayby Bart at coticule.com or straight from coticule-ardennes.com?

Or maybe somewhere else???

Any advise is welcome.

Originally Posted by toon

Thanks for all the advise. It seems to be a real helpfull crowd here.
I believe the coticule is the way to go.
Maybe in the future a finer stone will be a good addition.

Does anyone know the best place to get good coticules?
Mayby Bart at coticule.com or straight from coticule-ardennes.com?

Or maybe somewhere else???

Any advise is welcome.

Bart doesn't sell them. Just go to Ardennes site and email them and let them know what you're looking for and they can pick one out for you I'm sure

Originally Posted by toon

Thanks for all the advise. It seems to be a real helpfull crowd here.
I believe the coticule is the way to go.
Maybe in the future a finer stone will be a good addition.

Does anyone know the best place to get good coticules?
Mayby Bart at coticule.com or straight from coticule-ardennes.com?

Or maybe somewhere else???

Any advise is welcome.

Bart doesn't sell coticules although he does review some of the stones that Rob at Ardennes here sells. Being in the Netherlands I'm not sure whether there are vendors closer to you than Ardennes but if you send Rob an email and tell him you want a coticule for honing razors he can hand pick one for you. If you can afford to get a natural Belgian blue and yellow coticule go for that for more versitility. I would say a 6"or an 8" by 2" is ideal.

Hi Toon, nice to see another Dutchman aboard!

Translucent Arkansas and Coticules are very different types of hones and I agree with most of the above. To add another option: if you have (a) shave-ready razor(s) and it's just that stropping doesn't yield the preferred sharpness any more, have you considered a barbers' hone? They are easy to use, give excellent edges, and can be had for little. Provided the edge does not get damaged, one could keep a razor sharp indefinitely with a strop and a barber hone.

Whatever you decide, my advice would be to accept the invitation and visit Paul Kox in Breukelen. Though he has -ahem- interesting habits (eg he cuts paper to test razor sharpness), he's a nice and knowledgeable man. He does straight shaving workshops for hairdressers' colleges. His brother, father, grandfather were well known barbers in Utrecht.

His edges aren't the sharpest, and he isn't the cheapest vendor around, and -o horror!- he does sell paki-junk too, but his shop is to my knowledge the best stocked bricks and mortar one in the country. It's like a tiny museum, filled to the brim with SR's, DE's, brushes, strops, soaps, hair tonics and what have you. He has some hones, including translucent Arks and Coticules, too. An excellent place to see, try, be informed and maybe buy.

Also, although I don't feel I've the required knowledge to teach you how to hone properly, if you are near Utrecht, feel free to contact me; I'd be happy to talk about and lend you a Translucent, Coticule and/or any of the other hones mentioned so you can find out for yourself which you like best.

Thank Oldengaerde,

my razor is in fact a new Dovo Black star, which I bought about a year and a half ago from Erik Flandrijn in Leiden (also a great place to go and a very nice chap indeed).
You're right; the razor is a good one and I'm not doing restorations (Yet, you never know when the bug bites). Maybe a barber hone is an option.
Somehow I read a lot about honingstone, bu less about barber hones.
What would be a good one and where to find one. Anybody has an idea?

Having said this, I just wonder if a coticule with just water or a very diluted slurry wouldn't do everything a barberhone does (and more)? Reading a lot about coticules (thanks Bart and others) it seems they cover the entire rang from coarse (thick slurry) to something similar to 16k (plain water or even dry) or more (or am I mistaken)?
Without making it sound as something magical, it does sounds as a 'good for everyting'-stone.

Ps. I'd like to take op the invitation when I'm near Utrecht (which is not very often. The same holds of course when your near Groningen.

I don't know if it's proper to say the coticule is best for everything, but a large combination coticule/BBW has a very wide range of effectiveness, as either stone can be used with slurry or water, giving effectively 4 grit levels.

Assuming both are 'good' rocks, consistent without irregular inclusions, it's a lifetimes worth of sharp, for your razors and kitchen knives both...when you realize how LONG they last, they seem like a true bargain.

Is it worth one dollar a month to have an excellent stone? You probably won't have to pay that much..

To further confuse the original poster the Norton 4/8K combination
stone may be a worthy alternative and I think it is a better razor
hone solution than an Arkansas.

I have coticules and arkansas stones of several grades; and if the budget permits a full size coticule, I highly recommend it. If a natural combination stone isn't readily available, one BBW and one Coticule are only slightly less convenient and significantly less expensive.

The BBW is a faster hone (with slurry) and around 4000 grit, excellent for moving metal but not producing shave ready edges (as far as I know, some expert may know better) ..

and the coticule generally called 8000 grit and used for the final edge smoothing and thinning. Get it.

The steps you take afterwards, stropping of whatever sort, work best on a blade already as smooth and thin as possible. Stropping can't totally cover up the character of previous honing, unless one is using abrasive pastes on the strop that act AS hones.