Thread: vintage coticule

just got my vintage coticule in original box it was an old barbers hone.just under 5inch and just over 1inch wide. It was glued in the box for some reason i have got it out and the other side is bbw. Why is it barbers never used the blue side any one no? and how would they of used the yellow back then i have spoke to a barber that used natural coti i have seen it and he says they used it with water and he spent hours sharpening razors for his dad but when i mentioned slurry he did'nt no what i was talking about. He said he used only water what i carn't get my head round is how would abarber keep arazor realy sharp on a coti with just water

I think you answered it yourself..."he spent hours." Some of the barber manuals I have mention use of a slurry stone, and some Eschers came with slurry stones so maybe that particular barber slept through that day in class when they were covered.

Originally Posted by Utopian

I think you answered it yourself..."he spent hours." Some of the barber manuals I have mention use of a slurry stone, and some Eschers came with slurry stones so maybe that particular barber slept through that day in class when they were covered.

Ron, I don't know about the rest of the USA but in NJ up until the early '80s the state barber licensing board had an apprenticeship system. You went to work in a shop for a barber and learned directly from him. I would wager that a large percentage of those guys never saw a barber manual let alone a school. In around 1984 they changed the license to a beautician/barber and required school. No more apprentice program as it had been and the existing barbers were 'grandfathered' in. All new guys had to have the new license. I had a shot to do an apprentice thing with a good friend who owned a barber shop but decided against it.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

Ron, I don't know about the rest of the USA but in NJ up until the early '80s the state barber licensing board had an apprenticeship system. You went to work in a shop for a barber and learned directly from him. I would wager that a large percentage of those guys never saw a barber manual let alone a school. In around 1984 they changed the license to a beautician/barber and required school. No more apprentice program as it had been and the existing barbers were 'grandfathered' in. All new guys had to have the new license. I had a shot to do an apprentice thing with a good friend who owned a barber shop but decided against it.

I had no idea apprenticeship based licensing was still around so recently! Does anyone know if there is any similar apprenticeship system still in existence? I'm not looking for a career move, I'm just curious.

Originally Posted by Utopian

I had no idea apprenticeship based licensing was still around so recently! Does anyone know if there is any similar apprenticeship system still in existence? I'm not looking for a career move, I'm just curious.

Well I wouldn't consider 25 years ago recent .... but YMMV

Hairdressers in the UK go to colleage for part of their training, then with a recognised hairdresser to learn the rest of the job.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

Well I wouldn't consider 25 years ago recent .... but YMMV

Well, "recent" is a relative term. I consider apprenticeships to belong more to the era of Ben Franklin, rather than the era of Ben Affleck!

recently people find out bbw side does have sharpening ability.good luck

Back in the '80s I talked to a lot of barbers about hones and honing. They used Belgian coticules but I never met one who called it a 'coticule'. They called them Belgian stones or more often soap stones. They used the yellow side and the ones that I knew used lather from their Lather King hot lather machines as the honing vehicle.

I have some vintage coticules and the two brands that came with labels are the Old Rock and the Deep Rock. Both have the label on the bottom. IOW opposite the yellow and covering not slate but BBW. Apparently the blue was not considered the honing surface back then.

I did buy three vintage coticules from barbers back then and they told me the yellow side was the side you sharpened on. IME you can get a razor plenty sharp on the yellow alone. Maybe not as sharp as using the blue and the yellow but I think that they got their razors as sharp as they wanted them to be.

Shaving other people the razor had to be sharp but smooth. I don't think that they would have wanted an edge equivilent to a feather straight as that would have been too sharp and harsh for what they needed to do.

A couple of months ago an ebay seller from Ft Lee, NJ was selling some of his father's stuff on ebay. His father had been a barber in NY from the '40s to the 80s. I bought a coticule in one auction and an FWE wedge in another.

That FWE was shave ready when it got to me and it had been sitting in a drawer for 25 years. It had been sharpened on that coticule by the father all those years ago. BTW, the coticule wasn't anywhere near flat. Makes me think that maybe I am too anal about all of this sometimes.

[/IMG][/IMG]picture of vintage coticule