Thread: Why do I need a Coticle?

Well, speaking of price, if you go right to the horses mouth, Ardennes, A selected grade Coticule, 200x75 or 8x3 goes for around $460.00, so he's correct.
Ardennes Coticule - natural sharpening stones from Vielsalm Belgium. - Online shop

Now, Jarrod, at Superior Shave. His prices are about the same. 200-400.00+ for a selected grade (rectangular) stone. That's selected grade, the pretty one's. Looking at his stock, he has some nice looking stones, but your going to pay just like the OP said, around $300.00 I remember 3 grades of Coticule, Kosher, Selected and Standard.

Kosher is perfectly clean through and through.

Selected grade is supposed to have a clean visable surface with no flaws, inclusions, cracks, etc...but may have some under the surface, not visable.

Standard grade are the ones you see with various mineral deposits, cracks, inclusions, discolorations, etc...The stones that became popular with the launch of Bart's website and his vault.

Coticules are like any other natural stone in the sense that it's a crap shoot, like a box of chocolates, You never know what your gonna get.

Can they be had cheap, Yes, you need to look around, Ebay, private sales, I've seen them on the classifieds recently. If you buy from a vendor, you may get a better stone, you may not, but your definitely going to pay more for it. If you go the inexpensive route, and buy a bout, well, It's an odd shaped stone, possibly a trapazoid or something. Not very fun to use. I prefer at least a 6x2 rectangular stone. That's me. Some guys don't mind a bout.

I don't know what the deal is at the quarry these days, Are they scarse? Is it the economy, who knows. I know 200x75 selected were around $300.00 usd not too long ago. I like the selected grade Coti's, they just look nicer, The standard grade can do the same job, they're just not as pretty. And again, No two are alike. You get a slow Coticule, and all you'll learn is patience.

Jarod's site:
Belgian Coticule Hones