Quote Originally Posted by Chris L View Post
You have a yellow/BBW natural combo stone. Test the coticule side and hone with it. I don't think you'll have any problems there and you'll be happy with what you've received.

I have an 8"x3" combo natural. In no way is the coticule side "yellow". It's an olive green. The transition line is virtually indentical to yours in that it's a graduation rather than a demarked separation. The coticule side of the stone I speak of is hard and produces no slurry on its own and therefore is a good (albeit a bit slower than some of my medium soft coticules) polishing stone. Ok, a great polishing stone.

Like someone else said, don't focus on color. Performance is why you buy a stone like that anyway.

Interesting side note regarding my stone: The BBW side is a bit lighter than any other BBW I have. The BBW side on that stone cuts less aggressively than a typical BBW.

Chris L
That's exactly the way I'd describe the color of mine. Thanks, Chris!

Quote Originally Posted by Bart View Post


These are all three Coticules. Actually the very first three that I ran comparative tests on, by honing up 2 groups of 4 Double Arrows (all razors from the same batch). The middle one comes form Ardennes Coticule, the top and bottom are picked up at abandoned mining sites. For finishing, there is very little difference. On the first test we finished a DMT-E / Belgian Blue progression with 100 laps on one of those three. The fourth razor, we left unfinished, for the sake of bare comparison. NO differences showed up in the shaves, that were performed blind (not blind-folded). We were only able to identify the unfinished razor. Later on, during another test, the bottom one was found to produce a slightly keener result when a sencondary microbevel whas created, by adding three layers of tape and honing a few laps on either one of those. That hone has a glassy surface.

Based upon how your pictures show up on my screen, I'd say that you're more without a real blue, than without a Coticule.

Bart.
Glad to hear that... while I do want to have both a BBW and coticule, I'm much more interested in the coticule than the Belgian Blue.

My latest e-blade is going to go: Shapton 1k, BBW, Coticule tonight.