Coti Surprise

[Joe Edson]

Well awhile ago I posted in the score thread that I won this auction:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...58859&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT#ht_2639wt_1141

I really thought the stone was a dark blue escher. When it arrived the stone was coated with oil and after cleaning it ended up being a rather large coti w/ a magnesium vein through it.

I got around to honing a razor on it tonight. It is a VERY slow cutter with the dulicot. Even being larger than my other coti's it took me twice as long to hone.

However, after finishing with water and test shaving this evening - this coti turned out to be my best finishing coti I got an edge very similar to my escher!

Really stoked about this and now I can use the dulicot on my faster stones and finish on this bad boy!

 

[azmark]

Wow Joe, what a score!

 

[richmondesi]

Excellent find. It's nice to be positively surprised on an eBay score. I've add the opposite experience far too often

 

[Blue58]

how big is it... it looks like its about 15 inches long.

Wow awesome score and great price too.

 

[Joe Edson]

Wow Joe, what a score!

Thanks Mark!

Really impressed with the edge I got off this. Maybe it is my improving technique, but I could tell it was a much slower cutter so it makes sense that it may be a better finisher.

Stone is 7x1.5x1" natural combo, though I think the BBW side is not useful for honing. It has several large blobs and streaks of something that looks like slate.

Haven't really found a use for a BBW yet anyway, but am eager to hear how Bart's project works out on getting a good edge from just this stone.

 

[natchez]

Nice score! I really like the way the grain is running in the stone. Glad you ended up with a good finisher after expecting something else.

 

[Disburden]

how big is it... it looks like its about 15 inches long.

No comment?

 

[life2short1971]

Look at the link. Its slightly longer than a closed straight.

 

[grump]

Joe,

Congratulations, on an awesome feeling for a hidden gem in a great score!

 

[danjared]

Could you provide pictures of the BBW side?

Thanks Mark!

Really impressed with the edge I got off this. Maybe it is my improving technique, but I could tell it was a much slower cutter so it makes sense that it may be a better finisher.

Stone is 7x1.5x1" natural combo, though I think the BBW side is not useful for honing. It has several large blobs and streaks of something that looks like slate.

Haven't really found a use for a BBW yet anyway, but am eager to hear how Bart's project works out on getting a good edge from just this stone.

 

[Disburden]

BBW with slurry works great for me every time. All I do is bevel set on my coticule, rinse it, raise a slurry and do some strokes. Rinse the blade and go to BBW with slurry and the blade gets very sharp. I then finish on coticule with water and then Escher with heavy slurry (its a dark blue Escher, it's slow and fine).

 

[Joe Edson]

Here is a pick of the BBW side:

 

[danjared]

Wait, that's not even remotely blueish. Could you take another picture? Could you take a side shot too? It may help to take the pictures while outside while there's daylight.

 

[Woodash]

Les Latneuses?

 

[Disburden]

From that pic the back looks like a hybrid side...?

 

[danjared]

I was wondering that too, but he did say that it was slow on slurry. But perhaps not all Les Latneuses are fast. I've had experience with another stone that looks similar (at least with a picture so out of focus) but was extremely slow. The other stone was like a piece of marble in terms of hardness Joe, would you mind letting me borrow that stone for a few days? I'm only a few hours from you, and would pay for postage. I'm interested in seeing how it feels compared to that other stone. I would be able to compare it to my Les Latneuses when that arrives in a few weeks.

 

[wdwrx]

Any chance it's just a slate backing?
It's pretty hard to tell anything at all from that photo. But if I was a betting man, I'd bet on it being just slate.

 

[richmondesi]

Any chance it's just a slate backing?
It's pretty hard to tell anything at all from that photo. But if I was a betting man, I'd bet on it being just slate.

agreed

 

[Joe Edson]

It's a natural combo. Here is a picture of the side (before lapping the stone for use). As you can see the magnesium (or is it manganese) vein ruins all the way through the coti and BBW side.

Lapping the BBW side also gives the usually purplish color as when I lapped my other natural coti's.

And Danjared, I don't have a lot of experience with coti's yet. Just have honed about 10-12 razors on my other 2 coti's and only the one on this one, so take what I say with a grain of salt regarding speed. I'm still a newb at this and am just still learning about each of my stones. When you get in your Les Latneuses let me know and I can send this to you for testing out.

 

[danjared]

Oh good, it's just a normal BBW. I guess it was just lighting/dirtiness.

Chris/Paul: If I were a betting man, I'd still bet on BBW and not slate. Vintage coticules don't have slate backing.

Joe: I'm still interested in playing with that hone sometime. Although, you'd have better luck with actual identification if you posted pictures over at that other place with all those coticule troublemakers.