Thread: My First Coticule

Originally Posted by Pithor

I'm pretty sure The Superior Shave only sells select grade coticules.

Standard grade coticules are also not supposed to have imperfections that are a negative influence on the honing result.

In effect, the difference between grades is aesthetics, and a faulty stone is a faulty stone either way.

Thanks for the replys guys. Jarrod told me that the pressure in shipping on unpressurized cargo planes can cause issues like this. He said to give it a good lapping and it should be fine. He was very informative and helpful and i got good feeling from him so i think all will be ok.
Thanks Pieter for the details. Im going to spend some more time with it today. Will try the mirco bevel as the shave from it last night was a fail. It is not a labled vein stone but it was Select. Jarrod told me that he believes he even used this stone once in the office to hone a customers razor.
Im not used to this kind of rock and will spend some more time today. Crossing my fingers.

It takes time to really get a great edge from some coticule stones. Practice, patience and experimentation is key.

I was also told that by Jarrod because a stone I purchased was flaking and falling apart. Since I have purchased many coticule from the mine directly and other people and yet to experience this. I put little faith in the "unpressurized cargo plane" theory. It could be an issue but if the rock has problems coming out of the ground with stability, inclusions and the like, it's caused by a faulty rock. Not plane trips.

A faulty stone like my friend Pithor mentioned is just that, a faulty stone. If however you think it's faulty please contact the mine directly. They have excellent customer service and will inspect replace as necessary. The only downside is the cost to ship the stone there and the wait.

They stand behind their products so you can rest assured you'll be helped if needed.

Coticule can be difficult to give up an amazing edge and other's effortless. This is why so many people try a lot until they find one that works with their technique and gives them what they were searching for.


Good luck with your journey. Keep us updated.


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Jarrod had me lap it over and over and I can still feel a little spot close to the edge of the stone. I've lapped on 400 DMT, 1000DMT and worked my way up to 2500W/D paper on granite tile. I can see tiny speckles that reflect light (shinny) plus a line that is shinny but the rest of the stone is just flat. No shine at all and no depth. Just flat. Plus the stone is as flat as I've ever had a stone in surface area. Put a pencil mark on it and with one or two laps on any lapping item the pencil marks are all gone from end to end, corner to corner.

Jarrod said that if I continue to not feel right about it or it just never gets better then they would pay the shipping to send it back to the mine. The mine would test it or whatever they do. And if they find an issue they would replace it or Jarrod would. But only if it has issues. I don't have a lot of faith in things and my luck is not very good so I think I'll keep at it and hope for the best. I know I got some learning to do with figuring out Coticule's and don't expect to get a perfect edge right away. Hell, It took me a while to get the synthetics to work right. I just want to know that the stone is not going to be causing me a problem. Like shaving with a dull razor, it will never be right and unless you know its right to start with you wont know whats wrong because you just don't know.

Thanks all for following along with this. I'll post up on the micro bevel I'm going to try later today and let you all know how the stone acts in a few weeks. Hell, I'd ship it to someone else to play with that knows Coti's but I need to work at it myself first for a while before I go that far. Maybe I should have spent 200+ bucks on a rock but 137 bucks was enough for me!

Pic of the micro bevel I just did. Touched up the blade with a 12K first to be sure it was as good as it gets, then with one more layer of tape I found it undercutting the water around 50 laps so I went with around 60 laps and it was looking good on the hone. Will give it a test shave tonight. Still need to strop it and you can see that this blade has a very small bevel to start with. Still looks more like scratches to me instead of the sandblasted look. BTW, I figure this is at about 50-60X power on the scope. And the white line was not there when finished on the 12K.

Remember not all coticule are innately fine. Some are 5-6k range.

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Originally Posted by Gasman

Not going very good with my Coti. I took a Sheffield razor that had a nice edge on it. Killed the edge and went to the 12K just to be sure it was as good as I could make it. Then went to the Coti on clean water. The first thing I noticed was the stone felt gritty. Not smooth like a finishing stone. Also every time it went past the line in the stone I could feel it. After about 10 - 15 laps I noticed it was no longer undercutting the water. HUH? I cleaned everything up, made sure my water was clean, Took my 1000dmt to the Coti and rinced it off with running water. Tried again. After about an hour or so I still was not undercutting water. I could feel the line across the stone and it never seemed to be going well.
Here is what the edge looks like after aprox. 1.5 hours on the stone...

Attachment 274887

Sure dont look right to me. The scratches in the bevel are more than I get with the 12K and shouldn't it not look like this? Starting to wonder if the line in the stone is a flaw and is causing me issues.

Attachment 274888

Opinions? Now I not expecting to be a pro right off the get go but its just not feeling right to me.

Lapping wont do it any good.

If you feel the drag is changing when the blade hits the line...in the way thet the drag increases and you get a harder audio feedback....you may run into a patch of chliryte/quatzite...it sometimes happens in softer hones...and in La petite Blanche it's a characteristic feature between the BBW and Coti layer.

I dont know if the guys at the mine or Jarod would change it for ... you should try...you might end up lapping it all the way and not get rid of the quartz line.

The quality control is not what it used to be in the old days....neyther are all the stone grades availabele as there were in the past...

Looks pretty typical, for me.

I have a couple of old Coticules that have trouble with flaking and one that is cracked right in the middle, the remaining usable surface is rather small and I'm unable to comfortably do x-strokes, even though I'm fond of honing on smaller stones.

What I do with these stones instead of not using them is finish on them using circles, very light pressure, that way I can avoid the trouble spots

If all else fails this might be an option, that way you can avoid the parts you think are no good and see if that helps any

Also, after honing I easily do 60 laps on the linen followed by 60 on the leather

What's going on here? Don't coticules deliver what we expect them to? Have we been spoilt by synthetics or supadupa Jnats?

Generations of barbers only had access to coticules to maintain their edges. I have 2: one vintage and one from Ardennes Coticule. Both good finishers, never had a problem with them. I use them the way I use any other hone.

When Mother Nature Makes a Batch of Rock she doesn't measure, it's a handful of this and pinch of that and if she has to leave and comeback she may forget what the original was and put in two handful of this and a handful of that. And she might not mix it together real well. That's why not all natural hones are created equal. Some vary even when quarried side by side.

Like you I am fortunate to have a nice Coti for a finisher, some may not be so lucky.

I'm also blessed with a Zulu Grey that gives nice finished edges.

I also have several synthetics.

As my friend Glen likes to say: "Naturals are a Romance, Synthetics are a Science".

At least it's very close to what he's said.