Thread: Standard vs Selected Coticules

It´s not necessarily marketing, but your edges definetely won´t benefit from a selected one, too.
It´s only the eye! Selected ones are, well, selected and look perfectly even.
The reason this was done in the first place was to ensure
the stone you bought was free of harmful inclusions that would come up
after a decade of use. That´s how it comes some call selected Kosher.
Kosher derives from the hebrew term kashér, meaning fit especially
fit to my religion. Today in Germany we still use the word to express something is adequite, fit or trustworthy.
btw. we germans use a ton of hebrew terms, that you guys speaking the king's english might use as well.

But nowadays selected stones may not be kosher anymore.
It depends on the quality of the seller to say if selected means:
It doesn´t have dots or lines on the surface I can see,
or it will not show any dots or lines after lapping or use for years.

Because I have yet to find a non-selected coticule that has harmfull inclusions,
I would recommend the cheaper non selected,
if you do not care for the looks of the stone.
Otherwise knock yourself out and spend the 20 Bucks more for a selected one

Actually select and kosher are different grades
as select can have dark spots and patterns while kosher need to be perfectly clean faced

oops didnt see your last comment

I've recently bought a la veinette from Ardiness and it is select grade.
I didn't ask for select and it would not have bothered me but I do like the look of natural materials. This is my 3rd coti and it was not cheap but am delighted with it.

What are the attributes you want? Fast cutter? Smooth finisher?, ease of use? sizes? shapes?

I just got my first two coti bouts this week. They're both Le Petite Blanches. Very easy to use, fast cutting. moderate edges - between extremes of keenness and vegetarian smooth. Within hours I was getting shaves that were nothing short of very good, bordering on excellent.

If appearance is your thing - there's nothing wrong with that, but it doesn't do jack for an edge.

If you want to consider other attributes, some time on Coticule.be would be in order. 'Good bunch there.

If you go for the coti, get the inclusions (or not). Lines, spots, whatever you want. It's a ROCK, not cemented abrasives. Enjoy the character.

Cotis differ along many more important dimensions that the "select-standard" one. Some are faster, some slower, some finer, some coarser. Appearance is probably the least important factor, at least for me.

AFAIK, inclusions are not more common in the standard grade. I have many cotis, and only one has had such an inclusion. It was buried beneath the surface and appeared only after lapping. It announced itself with a gentle "click" whenever the blade passed over it. Very small, and drove me nuts for a while trying to locate it. It was easily picked out with the point of a needle. I think this was a select grade coti, but I'm not sure. Like I said, I don't pay much attention to that.

Bart evaluates individual cotis on his site, and if you read a few of his reviews, you will get some idea of the natural variations in these wonderful stones.

Nothing new compared to what's been written above, but:

the select grade was created because some people prefer spotlessly clean stones, perfectly straight, no corners slightly chipped etc.

Functionally, they are however the same. So it depends on what look you prefer.

One thing though that does make a bit of a difference: the dark spots on some standard coticules are actually manganese inclusions. Those do NOT impair the functionality of the stone but even seem to indicate relatively fast stones on slurry. For instance, my the La Petite Blanche layer sports these spots and it's a damn (pardon the language) fast stone on slurry.

Another thing: before considering another coticule I would make sure to have a real workhorse like e.g. a DMT.

Edit: I saw another response about inclusions that "click". These are likely to be quartz inclusions and luckily rare, very rare. In fact, if such inclusions are discovered the stone isn't sold. Period. It's only the really small inclusions that may escape attention. Seems to me the possibility is there with the select grade as well though.

Thanks for all the opinions guys, I ordered the standard 175 x 40mm. Cant wait to get my hands on it.
Grant