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New select grade coticule from SRD, 75x200mm, came today. I know many you have a lot of experience with these, and I'm hoping that you can give me some input on which layer type, etc. you think it is and what characteristics you might expect from this stone. I was surprised by the weight of it.
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Looks like my new one. Does the stone feel soft with a slurry? Do you see white specks on the side? If so, it's more of that new Le Verte. It cuts well and doesn't cause microchips, but it likes the slurry real thin. Congrats on the new stone.
Thanks! Yes, it does have white specks on the sides. Don't know on the slurry yet, it's fresh out of the box with those pics, and still has the saw marks on the face. I'll lap it in the morning. Thanks for the info.
Howard
Try it with just water, does metal come out from the razor in water? If so how many strokes, 10, 50,300? This will tell you how much of a polisher your hone is, the longer it takes to see metal in the water usually the more mellow and polished the edge can be. You can do the same in slurry and see how long it takes for your slurry to become dark, that'll tell you how much of a sharpener the hone is.
if your hone makes the slurry darken fast (10-30 strokes to see grey) then becareful as your hone can cause slurry dulling. Fast coticules in slurry will sharpen to a degree in the slurry but then will start to dull the edge after a while, you can deter this by diluting the slurry as you go, when and how often you will need to experiment.
If it is from the vein that I'm using, it doesn't get grey very quickly with a heavy slurry or with water. But it does do slurry dulling with a heavy slurring. The slurry can be very thick with only a couple passes with the slurry stone. I have found that I get better finishing passes with a very, very tiny amount of slurry (very diluted) versus plain water. At this point, if the blade is polished, the stone is like a magnet with a lot of draw on the blade.
This variant of coticule is very unusual, and I'm still trying to figure it out. It definitely is more fragile (softer) than a lot of coticules I have played with.
Have fun with it.
Nice looks and sounds quite similar to my bout, which was adjudged be a La Nouvelle Vein by the good folk over at coticule.be. I'm no expert but it does give lovely edges.
http://i56.tinypic.com/s0v4ig.jpg
Here is a picture of the top of my coticule. It looks like a texture surface, but it has been lapped and is completely flat.
Attachment 80819
That definitely looks like the ones on Jarrod's site. I know he calls them "la verte" but I'm sure they're just a different layer altogether since Ardennes starting digging in a different spot, new things are sure to turn up that haven't in recent time. La verte is green/grey, these are pinkish looking, They seem to cut differently as well.
Here's 3 more images. I went ahead and lapped it tonight, couldn't stand it. No experience with any other coticule, but this, based on lapping, is softer than the Naniwas. 10 or 12 figure eights and it slurries up like mayonaise. Used a worn DMT 325 that had lapped 6 Naniwas, 4 Nortons, Two barber hones, and number of cleanups but was good for a smooth lap on the coticule. It's a different yellow than what I've seen in other pictures. The dark spots or striations are grayish tan or just dark tan. No pink that I can see. The slurry stone is a totally different stone and has pink and lapped very shiny and you can see that in the 3rd image. At the price, I think these are gold coticules and I almost cried seeing all that stone go down the drain.Quote:
Originally Posted by Disburden
Lapped and Wet
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Lapped and Damp
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Lapped and Damp w/Slurry Stone
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Are there any blue lines on the side of the coticule running laterally?
No. But on one end where they were moving into a different layer there is a strip of dark brown. It's at the bottom where the slate attaches. It's lateral and lays in like the bottom of the coticule was champhered by about 3/16" and then filled with dark brown.Quote:
Originally Posted by Disburden
The surface in the last pictures looks like la nouvelle veine but there would be blue lines on the sides of the stone....I dunno!
Doesn't matter much...let us know when you hone on it.
Definitely a hard finisher there. I have two like it at home, (at work now) I'll post the vein name later...$460.00 hone? Looks like the prices went up at Ardennes....
Did You say $460.00????????????
Yup, 343.00 Euros or 472.00 usd for a 200x75 Selected grade Ardennes Coticule - natural sharpening stones from Vielsalm Belgium. - Online shop
Holey moley batman!! Seems like they've dug so deep that they have met up with the Japanese natural mines! :hmmm:
James.
:dropjaw: You're almost in Suita territory there... (I think So said Shinden or Okudo start @ ~500 USD. Not sure about Oohira.) In any case, yikes!
Coticules haave had these prices since 2010, it's no surprise now. Ardennes had to move deeper and deeper into their mine to get stones which meant more risk and labor for the workers.
BTW, they're supposed digging in a neighboring site now, so is it still deeper and more labor intensive? Hmm.
I said it in another thread yesterday. 8X3 coticules used to cost 175$...gah the good ol days of 2009...
Hedges against declining currency .... There's platinum, there's gold and than there are coticules ....... :deal:
Straight Razor Designs, stone without box or slurry stone, $409.99. Slurry stone is a different layer stone and much harder, and as easily as this coticule gives up slurry, doubt the need for it. The box is nice though, aesthetically and for protecting the surface.
I should have held on to mine a bit longer.Quote:
Originally Posted by zib
I sold my 8x3 coticule for 180 euros a year or 2 ago.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SirStropalot
I didn't know SRD had them back in stock, good to know.
You definitely can't beat their prices and service at Select Grade.
