I gotta know who has taken a chance on the cheap New Ardennes-Coticule from eBay they are being sold by what looks to be an outdoor sports supplier... My guess would be they are fine for knives but for our purposes?
What size are they?
No clue of size here's the linkis it a BIN on ebay if so post a link
There is painfully little info in that listing, so I would give it a miss. What size is medium 407??No clue of size here's the link
New Ardennes-Coticule Coticule Whetstone Medium 407 | eBay
Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for New Ardennes-Coticule Coticule Whetstone Medium 407 at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!www.ebay.com
There is painfully little info in that listing, so I would give it a miss. What size is medium 407??
The longer I do this the more I’m a believer in most of the wisdom from Bart on the Coticule forum. He’s had a few pearls like “most Coticules get the edge to a similar level of keen”, and “some Coticules finish best with a little honing pressure”.
Personally I don’t have a huge sample Size, but all my Coticules fall in an acceptable performance range.
The few Coticules that really stand out in some way are either labeled layer “selected” from the mine, Old ebay deals that I’m very confident were once all stamped and selected, or Les lat hybrids which are really their own unique thing.
If I were looking for a first or second Coticule I’d try asking a few Coticule experts on here via PM, people actually speak their mind freely in private and you’ll get serious advice. I asked someone recently and he pointed me to a few open auctions and gave me reasoning behind each choice. I picked door #3 and ended up with an incredibly fast stone that leaves very smooth forgiving edges keen enough to wipe hair away without tugging.
View attachment 1026970
This is NOT telling you to find a stone of this layer or appearance either. One of my best finishers is a little beat up 2.5x2” mystery(la grise?) stone that looks and feels gritty in use.
There is painfully little info in that listing, so I would give it a miss. What size is medium 407??
Gents, thank you so much for the words of wisdom! When I do decide I'm going to purchase I will do more research and only purchase from a dealer that I can correspond with! The intent of my thread was to bring more information from this greater pool of knowledge/experience!Sounds like a bout, but “medium 407” isn’t anything of meaning.
If it’s a size 4 bout it’ll be like this:
View attachment 1027014
If it’s a 7-8 bout theoretically could be closer to this:
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But bouts are all random pieces based on total surface area so an 8-9bout could also come out a shape with tons of unuseable surface area for straight razors like this:
View attachment 1027018
Overall when you calculate out the surface area you get per $$$ for a rectangular Coticule, and realize how much of the bout surface area could be wasted space... you’re just not really saving much $$$ to gamble on a random shape bout. I’m saying this as someone with a drawer of Cotis that are mostly bouts. A rectangular stone as small as 2”x4” ends up being plenty of useable surface area and surprisingly fast in use with a slurry stone. My biggest useful stone is the second photo I posted above at ~2.5x6.5 minus that one corner. My two most used stones are ~ 1.25”x6” and 1.5x6”.
If you want to save a little coin and get a bout you can see, go for specific ebay listings or go over to the superior shave where they’re posted and numbered with clear quality photos.