Thread: belgian coticules

I contacted the quarry in Vielsalm and they referred me to a dealer not far from here so I'm going to inform about Belgian blue and the yellow/white coticules, is there anything in particular I should look or ask for?

Forget about the blue. I don't even use it. What you should really be looking at is yellow as that one has the fine enough grain for finishing. Just wait for someone who knows more about variations in quality to respond to this post before contacting the dealer.

could someone advise me what pricepoint would be too much? I mean at what price could I get something (artificial ?) of better quality?

Originally Posted by harold

I contacted the quarry in Vielsalm and they referred me to a dealer not far from here so I'm going to inform about Belgian blue and the yellow/white coticules, is there anything in particular I should look or ask for?

If it's these guys: http://www.shaving-and-razor-shop.co...jpstenen-n.htm, they organize courses in shaving and honing. They know what they're doing I presume.
The blue coticule is about 6K according to people on the forum who know, the yellow is 10-12 K I believe.

I recently bought a Thuringer from Manufactum in Germany, 18 euros, quite pleased with it. Even honed my Zwilling Friodur with it effortlessly!

Succes ermee!

The way it was described in old posts I searched out the yellow is 8k, but leaves a finish equivlant to 12k.

The 200x50 one (presumed mm) is 8 inches by 2 inches. There are ~25 mm in an inch or ~100 in 4 inches.

The problem is that the term yellow coticule refers to a type of stone that has certain physical characteristics and the actual hardness of the stone and its crystaline make-up ( which is what provides the cutting action) will differ from location to location and even one part of a quarry to another. You really need to have confidence in the people that are selling the stone since you can't test each piece so giving you advice about the stone is almost impossible. You would have to examine it under a high powered microscope, do hardness tests, etc to determine what it will do to your razors. In all probability any coticule you get will range from a very fine stone to a coarse stone, maybe too coarse. Clear as mud?

Thebig spender is right on the money. I had good new stones and I had bad ones. The bad ones cut much more coarsly than the good ones, maybe in line with the 4K side of a Norton. It is important to buy from a dealer who will allow you to return the stone if it is not acceptable as I always did. The larger prolem though is for the beginner and in recognizing the results of a bad vs. good stone. One has to differentiate between lack of skill and a stone that will simply not perform as expected. In one case I had a customer who was unsure of his skill and we sent the stone to a mutual friend for testing. The stone was a poor one and I took it back.

Tony

First off, I really like natural stones and the edge they give on the razor.
Second, what has been said here is very accurate. Determining the quality of a stone is difficult for a new person.
Third, the best advice is to be sure you can return the stone.

Now... The blue stone, when used with a slurry, is very good as a medium stone. It is slower than a Norton 4000 but I like the resulting edge better.
The light colored partof the stone needs to be yellow/tan/cream in color with no speckels or lines. Not an off color gray or shades of blue showing thru or anything else. Just a plain yellow/tan/cream color. What you will not be able to see is the size and density of the garnets which actually do the cutting. For that you need a microscope AND! a top grade stone to compare it to. Most people do not have that available to them. The only thing you can do is get the best that they have to offer.
Also, be sure to get a slurry stone for you Belgian stone. Thats how they work best.BTW, a slurry stone is also called a rubbing stone.

Originally Posted by Kees

If it's these guys: http://www.shaving-and-razor-shop.co...jpstenen-n.htm, they organize courses in shaving and honing. They know what they're doing I presume.
The blue coticule is about 6K according to people on the forum who know, the yellow is 10-12 K I believe.

I recently bought a Thuringer from Manufactum in Germany, 18 euros, quite pleased with it. Even honed my Zwilling Friodur with it effortlessly!

Succes ermee!

Kees: it seem to be the same guys although I don't know the relationship between the store and that website of coure. But it's 'de koordenwinkel' alright and they use stones from the quarry in Vielsalm. If they give courses, that would be sweet.

Check this page for their courses: http://www.shaving-and-razor-shop.com/NL/Cursus.htm

Good luck!