Thread: Mystery stone - is it a coticule?

I bought the hone in the attached for a few dollars on ebay. When I bought it, I figured there is a chance it's a coticule, so I gambled. Now that it's here, I still don't know. It is a tan stone, bonded to a dark gray back, which might be slate. It's more brown than the one coticule I've seen in person, but it looks lighter when I scrape at the surface, as you can see on the side, about a third of the way from the right-hand end. It measures 6" x 1-1/4" x 5/8" and is very smooth (as in fine grit).

What do you gentlemen think? Could it be a grubby coticule? Is there any other hone which fits this description and photo?

Thanks for your help!

Looks like a coticule to me! Can't say what the back side is.

I have one just like it, also from ebay, came with a lot of 6 razors, I did the same, no description, I just gambled that maybe it was a coticule. Now that I have it, I still don't know. It is knid of a vanilla cream color, and coticules are supposed to be yellow. I have tried it, and it is very hard, I could not get it to make a slurry. From what little I know about coticules, they should make a slurry fairly easily. It is definately finer than than my 8k norton, but doesn't seem quite as fine as my Spiderco ultra fine. Who knows??

Originally Posted by Saltydog

I have one just like it, also from ebay, came with a lot of 6 razors, I did the same, no description, I just gambled that maybe it was a coticule. Now that I have it, I still don't know. It is knid of a vanilla cream color, and coticules are supposed to be yellow. I have tried it, and it is very hard, I could not get it to make a slurry. From what little I know about coticules, they should make a slurry fairly easily. It is definately finer than than my 8k norton, but doesn't seem quite as fine as my Spiderco ultra fine. Who knows??

Not all coticules make slurry easily but I believe they all make slurry!
Ask Howard. He is a member here and Howard is his forum name!

Try to lap it with wet 1000 grit sandpaper (on a block or tile) and see how it cleans up. It looks like there is a good chance that it is a vintage coticule. Nice find!

All coticules make a slurry. Just use fine sandpaper and try to get some off a corner. Put it under a mike and if you see red garnets you have a coticule.

Originally Posted by Kees

All coticules make a slurry. Just use fine sandpaper and try to get some off a corner. Put it under a mike and if you see red garnets you have a coticule.

Thanks for the suggestion. I lapped it for a while last night to expose some fresh stone and got out my 100x Radio Shack special. I could see what looked like a red garnet here and there, but they are few and far between. It looked something like the attached coticule photo from Tim Zowada's stone surfaces page.



Is the lone dark particle in the upper right corner of his photo what you mean? Besides a coticule, what else could this hone be?

Hopefully Tony will chime in here, if he's still active around these parts... He'll be able to correct me if I'm wrong but I'm going to say you have one of the many variations of man made hones of yesteryear made to compete with the likes of the naturals.

It should be a fine hone once cleaned and lapped, but weather not it's a good razor will only come from trial. But, I'm going to say it's not coticule in nature.

Originally Posted by Kelly

But, I'm going to say it's not coticule in nature.

Thanks for your thoughts. What about it distinguishes it from a coticule?

Keep in mind that really no one will**be able to give a definitive answer based on an image.

The hone may well be what you wish of it, and if you say you see garnet then there is the possibility it is. I'm going off probability, the market is simply flooded with synthetic hones, many were modeled to give the appearance of the old natural hones, many were not.

The chip's on the corner also appear to have "crumbled" away as opposed to chipped, flaked or sheer the way natural hones tend do. The synthetic hones often used a clay binder and it will tend to crumble easier than even natural sedimentary hones.
Keep in mind again that's just a guess made from the single image, I may be very wrong.