Thread: please tell me the hype on natural stones

Originally Posted by WW243

If you removed duplicate questions the site would shrink to a substantially smaller size. Might as well drop anyone who hasn't posted in the last 2 years also....move everything to a Wiki and clean up this mess.

I could, but I don't want the result. Messy is part of life.

Originally Posted by Bart

Here's my plan for recycling those dreadful Belgian stones:
(Anyone fancy a game of slurry-chess?)

What a great idea. I'm seriously gonna look into this.

I find Coticule to be a good finisher - Mine is a rather old, vintage, Coti/BBW combo stone. With this said it isn’t very large and is comparable in size to some of the large coticule slurry stones, that I have seen for sale at $20. That strikes me as a fairly good price for a finishing stone - its size is is just large enough for razors, effectively being a pocket hone.

I’m unsure whether the slurry stones are made of an inferior quality but it might be a good deal if they are up to scratch and the user isn’t too concerned with a smaller (1.5”x8.5”) surface area. I’d actually be interested in knowing whether this would be feasible, if somebody else could comment?

Originally Posted by Christel

I’m unsure whether the slurry stones are made of an inferior quality but it might be a good deal if they are up to scratch and the user isn’t too concerned with a smaller (1.5”x8.5”) surface area. I’d actually be interested in knowing whether this would be feasible, if somebody else could comment?

The way coticule is cut is like this: rectangles are cut out of slabs, the "leftovers" (as this makes up the bulk of their production of yellow coticules) turn into irregular shaped 'bouts' and the smaller leftovers turn into slurry stones.

I was wondering about your measurement there, 1.5"x8.5". I'm guessing you meant cm, not inches. I have a 2.2x10cm coticule. I have done full dilucots and unicots with it, but it is a bit tricky. For finishing though it works just fine with no issues, although it requires a steadier stroke than with a bit wider stones. I occasionally use it as a slurry stone, but mainly for touch-ups (as it is a La Petite Blanche with very minor auto-slurrying properties, it is ideal for that - it sharpens a bit as well).

I use to have a 1.5x8cm slurry stone, pretty much the same thing. I gave it away to someone who needed a slurry stone, though. You only need one slurry stone .

I meant inches. I tried to make estimate of size and it seems similar to the large slurry stones offered - they claim to be #1 size bouts of coticule which would make sense based upon what you have said.

Thank you for your reply, it seems that a #1 bout of coticule, as sold as large slurry stones by a couple of sites would indeed work as a pocket hone. For the edge it gives, you can't argue with the price that, for less than $30 arguably makes a damn good finishing stone.

Originally Posted by Christel

I meant inches. I tried to make estimate of size and it seems similar to the large slurry stones offered - they claim to be #1 size bouts of coticule which would make sense based upon what you have said.

Thank you for your reply, it seems that a #1 bout of coticule, as sold as large slurry stones by a couple of sites would indeed work as a pocket hone. For the edge it gives, you can't argue with the price that, for less than $30 arguably makes a damn good finishing stone.

A #1 bout has a surface area of 12-18cm² (which is a surface area of roughly 4¾ -7 inch²?). 1.5"x8.5" is 3.8x21.6cm, which is a coticule of decent width and above average length, which is why I assumed you meant centimetres.

And Ardennes-Coticule sells the #1 bouts for €5/6, ~$6.90/$8.30 (standard/select). My 2.2x10.1cm was a #3 bout, it set me back €15 ($20.70). For the record, that was a La Petite Blanche combination stone. Very nice. And indeed, a great pocket hone (the BBW makes for a great splash-'n-go stone, btw).