Thread: guess the coticule vein anyone?

I would assume the vintage BBW is the same as BBW is today. It is the same stone only a natural combination of the two.

All you can do is create a slurry on the bbw and go for it. You'll either like it or you won't. I used to do that and treated naturals as if they were norton combos. Starting with the bbw and then going to the yellow but I haven't done that in a couple of years. I just stay with the coticule side and leave the bbw go. YMMV.

Thanks J>>>>>>>>>>>

Originally Posted by Disburden

If they are glued to schist then they are modern era ardennes stones. Maurice developed that backing in the modern era of the mine after belgian blue was found useful and no longer just a backing support like in the past.

When I was at the quarry Maurice told me that the controlled explosions he uses to break the hillside down cause the Belgian blue to become detached from the coticule. Vintage coticules were cut out of the bedrock using pick axes, saws etc.

Also, I've seen quite a few vintage coticules glued to slate/schist . Including some labeled , such as Old Rock, Deep Rock and Droescher. Say that to say that we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the labeled ones are vintage. Nick is correct in that Ardennes recognized the value of the bbw as a hone rather than just a backing for the fragile yellow coticule. Matter of fact, just to show that the mfgs didn't consider the blue a hone back in the day, they often glued the label to the blue when the stone was a natural.

The way I understand it, and I am not by any stretch of the imagination a geologist, the garnet in the yellow is smaller and more heavily concentrated than the larger less concentrated blue. The blue however, because the garnets are larger and more spread out in the binder, will also be an effective hone, offering a somewhat different cutting than the yellow. That is the way I understood what I read anyway. If I am wrong, I was once before, please feel free to correct me.

La veinete is a natural combo layer but the blue half will always have a white line running down the side of the blue, which that stone does not have.

There were a lot of natural combos mined back in the day, all with different and some lost names.

Originally Posted by pixelfixed

Which brings up a question,is the BB on a vintage all natural coti of any use? have always wondered,this one is La Vennette (SP).

Bbw was considered not a hone in the old days, it was merely support for the yellow side. I have had bbw stones that worked and some that were so slow i considered them useless.

Originally Posted by Kees

When I was at the quarry Maurice told me that the controlled explosions he uses to break the hillside down cause the Belgian blue to become detached from the coticule. Vintage coticules were cut out of the bedrock using pick axes, saws etc.

thats correct but in the old days they would have still used blue as a glued on base. Then they moved to concrete bases, which didnt work out too well, then Maurice discovered Portuguese schist.

Originally Posted by Disburden

La veinete is a natural combo layer but the blue half will always have a white line running down the side of the blue, which that stone does not have.

There were a lot of natural combos mined back in the day, all with different and some lost names.

Interesting,will not show in the pics but is a very fine dark green line between the BBW and the coti,who knows what it may be? Is a great finisher on water.

Originally Posted by pixelfixed

Interesting,will not show in the pics but is a very fine dark green line between the BBW and the coti,who knows what it may be? Is a great finisher on water.

The colors and composition are dependent on what the wind blew across the land thousands, millions of years ago. Metamorphic rock is what it is IIRC. Part of the reason there is some variation in cutting power too if I'm not badly mistaken.