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I have had an e-mail from Rob Celis. We were talking about the sources or possible sources of older Coticules. He was telling me that Ardennes Mine was called Burton Rox before the Cellis family bought it.
Burton Rox actually closed in 1990 but was the sole active mine after 1960.
He said there were hundreds of little family mines up till about 1940.
I thought you all might be interested. I'll keep you posted about any info I get.
I love a bit of history:D
my pleasure Sir.
They were all closed down during WW2 probably, since few people had the money to spend on luxury.
And when WW2 ended, noone would have had the money to invest in opening up the old mines. There would have been virtually no demand, and the risk of failure was too big if you already had to scrape to make enough money to buy something to eat.
SPR member Joelski was so kind to give me a copy of a little booklet, written in French by one Charles Gaspard, about the coticule history. Joelski and I have been planning a translation thread for the little booklet (about 40 pages), but I've yet to launch the call for volunteering translators. (I wish a day had more hours in it:shrug:)
Anyway, Mr. Burton, the previous owner of the Ardennes Coticule mine is mentioned in this booklet. There is also a phrase about 3 other mines, still operational when Gaspard wrote his booklet in 1971 or 1974 (not sure).
Here's a excerpt. Excuse my rusty French-English translation.
Il subsiste actuellement quatre sièges d'extraction des pierres à rasoir: un à Salmchâteau, un sur "les plats" (entre Bihain et Hébronvalle, commune de Bihain), un "à houl'pé" (commune de Bihain) et un "ol preû",a Regné. Certes, les commandes ne font pas défaut, eu égard aux propriétés exceptionelles et irremplaçables de la coticule, mais les quelques patrons-exploitants qui, jusqu'a de jour, ont maintenu lear activité, prennent de l'âge; le recrutement d'ouvriers spécialisés devient pratiquement impossible, tandis que les jeunnes préfèrent accorder leur main-d'oeuvre à des activités garantes d'un avenir mieux assuré. (...)
There are, at present, 4 sites left where razor hones are extracted: one in Salmchâteau [now a museum], one on "les plats" (in between Bihain and Hébronvalle, commune of Bihain), one "à houl'pé" (commune of Bihain) and one "ol preû", in Regné. [this is not entirely correct, "ol preû" is the site where Ardennes Coticule quarries today, this is several miles from Regné, where Ardennes Coticule owns another (presently closed) mine] There is surely no shortage the orders, due to the exceptional and irreplaceable properties of the coticule, but the few owners-miners left today, that have continued their activity, are becoming aged. The recruitment of specialized work forces has become practically impossible, because younger people like to invest their labor into activities that guarantee a more secure future. (...)
I've visited most of those sites, and found the remains of the former coticule mining activities. There are many former mining pits in the wider Vielsalm area. Some are closed for the public, but many are freely accesible (extremely high risk for collapses, though).
Bart.
Coticule is a by product of slate quarrying in the Ardennes. Mr Celis told me it is a nice little earner but the big money comes from slate and raw material for sewage pipes etc. that is made of the smaller fragments that remain after the controlled explosions.
I once posted a link to a nice web page about the older quarries.
I cannot find that site with Google. there used to be a feature on SRP to view al the threads started by a certain member. If anyone knows how I can access that feature it will get us a lot of additonal information.
That is Ardennes Coticule: I was there 2 years ago, great experience. Bought my hone there.Quote:
Originally Posted by Doc
It's true that Maurice Celis manages to keep his business profitable by selling almost everything else he quarries in order to get to the coticule. Slate is not among it. They produce natural building stones made from the blue schiste in which coticule layers are embedded. (It 's the same material as the Belgian Blue Whetstone) He also sells clay with very high mangane content to the brick baking industry for the production of black bricks. And he sells most of the other debris to a firm that produces "gres" drainage pipes. Even so, I feel it may sound a bit disrespectful to call coticule the side product. Historically there were many slate mines and quarries in that same region. But as far as I know, those and the coticule mines always were separate things. Putting all the other stuff to use, is an idea of Celis. It's a good thing he thought of that. Otherwise, the only coticule available would be what one can shovel up on the spot.Quote:
Originally Posted by Kees
Bart.
Proving once more the old adage that one man's trash is another man's treasure. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Bart
Hi Bart,Quote:
Originally Posted by Bart
Thanks for your input. Maybe my memory is playing tricks on me. I always thought schist and slate are the same.
Schist and slate are closely related. They're both metamorphic rocks, only to a different degree. Schist often encompasses larger crystal structures, such as garnet. Slate does not.
For those interested, here's a website that offers a good basic explanation on rocks and minerals: Geology - rocks and minerals
Bart.
Well,slate and schist are similar only in that they are metamorphic rocks. Slate is derived from shale which is a sedimentary rock while schist comes from mica's which are igneous.Slate is from really fine particles mostly clay or silt like while mica though it weathers into a muddy mess is chemically different though not radically.
@Bart: any news about the translation of the work of Charles Gaspars work ? I know that we have a lot of people here coming from france...isnt there a chance that some of our members might be interested to do a translation to spread out the information for the interested ?
What about:
Thaeris, Gillaume, Antoine46, etc...is nobody of you guys interested to help a bit on this project ?
Would be great if it would be possible to completely translate the work of Charles Gaspar....
Thread is 6 years old, and the gentleman in question hasn't been active here in years.Quote:
Originally Posted by doorsch
Yeah Jimmy i know, it was mentioned to re-activate the request..Quote:
Originally Posted by JimmyHAD
I already gave Bart a Email shot to this issue....i would appreciate if there is a chance to gather a bunch of people to work on this translation...in a way of a community thought or availability....
I could always give a hand for the translation, if someone secures a copy of the booklet :)
Hi Michael, i would appreciate if you will take part on the project....so we probably need more people so if you might know some other people which might be interested please feel free to ask them....Quote:
Originally Posted by MichaelP
Up to Date the project is just in an re-activation phase, i have to wait until Bart can provide the document and a certain "workspace". Details will be communicated when everything is set up.....in an seperate Topic in each of the boards....so THIS WILL BE NO EXPLICIT SRP Project, just no name it here
...the projects goal is to re-activate the idea behind it to translate that smal book from French to English and and make this interesting Document available for others. So i personally would appreciate if the people which will be gathered are from all the known shaving boards...i want that thing beeing a big community thing....
So if anybody is interested i would appreciate a short "IAM IN"...so i might get an overview of the people showing an general interest to this Idea...