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Coticule love... show off your rock

timwcic

"Look what I found"

This is a grouping of my favorite, finest finishing B-hones. Lower left is a synthetic Coti. Give up a smoooth edge. It is in with some nice company of hones

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I actively buy them. They’re pretty decent stones that go for $50ish usually if Recognized. I did forget to bid on a sneaky one last month that went for $30. Doh. I paid close to 100$ for mine, but it’s almost 8x3, which is huge for them.

Still haven’t gotten one quite as good as the one David loaned me to test ages ago, but they’re consistently decent with a few that are better than an avg coticule in my experience.
 
So this is the tiny but fabulous stone I have.
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If I had to guess I’d say modern La Grise BBW glued combo, but idk. Bought it to be a slurry stone, and then thought at 2x2 it’s be good sport to try and finish an old Filly 14. That edge truly surprised me with just how smooth and forgiving it was, so this little guy has been a stand alone hone for a while now. He does double duty as a slurry stone sometimes.

And to show I’m also in the club and help @Steve56 feel better, here’s my who-knows-what-brand-bought-as-coti B hone:
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The coloring reminds me of a panama hone, but it’s very thin. It was severely warped to the tan side when I got it so some of the thinness is my doing, but still very little meat on it. The backside I’ve never honed on because it’s pretty seriously domed, but it has the same look as the “petrified wood” side of old panama hones. Anyone know which side was supposed to be the finishing side? Is it worth lapping the odd petrified portion?

This thing sits in my vanity drawer among the Cotis, and I actually use the tan side with a coti slurry stone to set bevels sometimes. The strongest evidence for it being synthetic is lack of wear, glazing(visible in pics), and it doesn’t care what steel is pressed to it. It’s actually a step faster than my coarse Washita for bevel work, and can finish with a flat bevel a bit coarser than my real Cotis so it’s not a big jump from there to Finishing on Cotis.
 
I agree, that looks like the petrified Panama that was posted in my thread. Didn’t someone say that they have one of those and they sanded the imprint off of the front side to make it more surface area, I would guess that’s exactly what happened to that hone.
 
Lets see the other side.
The old panama has the logo on the other side.


I agree, that looks like the petrified Panama that was posted in my thread. Didn’t someone say that they have one of those and they sanded the imprint off of the front side to make it more surface area, I would guess that’s exactly what happened to that hone.

I remember that post but I believe they were talking about the black version - which had the logo so he wanted more real estate.
 
Lets see the other side.
The old panama has the logo on the other side.




I remember that post but I believe they were talking about the black version - which had the logo so he wanted more real estate.

I showed both sides, no logos here... it’s about 1/2 to 2/3 as thick as most B hones this size I’ve seen
 
Yeah And it looks like the light side which would’ve been the imprinted side in the panama hone is the one that’s extra thin. So I think the exact same thing happened, it was very warped so to take out the warp They lapped down the imprinted side
 
They warp horribly. I think its because people use a warm lather and heat is the cause of the warp. It does not take much heat at that!
Cold water only on that hone and you will be fine. They should have mentioned that when they made it. Maybe they did but we don't have any record of it.

I remember when I first got mine. It had little warp so lapped it flat, tried 1 honing and it was warped again. Lapped again (cause it won't return on its own) cold water only and it stays pretty decent.
 
Yeah And it looks like the light side which would’ve been the imprinted side in the panama hone is the one that’s extra thin. So I think the exact same thing happened, it was very warped so to take out the warp They lapped down the imprinted side

Yeah that’s what it looks like... and then I had to lap it a bit more when I got it. The whole hone is a smidge over 1/4” thick. I really have no guess what it would be if it’s not a lapped down panama hone.
 
I’ve seen directions a few times. Don’t recall a warning against heat. Usually it’s shellac hones (like Cosmos)that warn against heat.
 
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Where did you see the directions?
I have only seen them for the black version. I've never even seen a piece of a box from the hickory version.
Do you have a link or photo?
 
Not at all sure what I have here. My intention was to buy a couple coticules. Both stones were not that far off from flat but that little one is really hard.



That larger stone shows moisture were it's cracked long after the rest of the stone is dry and the base is very strange. Is this a man made stone? The hardness of the little stone came as a surprise, it didn't fit my preconceived notion of a coticule. I didn't get any sticking honing on it and I don't think I will.
 
Not at all sure what I have here. My intention was to buy a couple coticules. Both stones were not that far off from flat but that little one is really hard.



That larger stone shows moisture were it's cracked long after the rest of the stone is dry and the base is very strange. Is this a man made stone? The hardness of the little stone came as a surprise, it didn't fit my preconceived notion of a coticule. I didn't get any sticking honing on it and I don't think I will.

The top one looks and sounds legit, the bottom stone top side looks legit but I have no clue what’s up with that glitter fabulous backing... as was said a few posts ago though, even if you got a strange B-hone it just makes you a more legitimized member of the pre-owned Coticule buyers’ club.

What sizes are these? The magnetic stiction while finishing isn’t a universal thing for all stones, but it’s there for the majority I’ve used. I find with shorter stones I use a more exaggerated X stroke and that seems to reduce the stiction feedback so it’s harder to recognize unless you stop and deliberately drag the blade slowly lengthwise. If it’s not there then no problem, you just lost that one source of feedback.

You can’t believe everything you read about Coticules on the internet in 2019. They can vary quite dramatically between stones with the hardest being as difficult to lap as hard Arks, and the finest rivaling the very best JNATs or Arks. Coticules can even be worse to lap than arks if you’re using cheap W/D sandpaper... the garnets will lap the paper flat in no time!
 
The larger stone 6"x 1 3/4" the other 3 5/8"x 1 3/4". I have been on arks for ever so some of this is all new to me. My first reaction was thinking the harder stone would be finer but can see it might not be that simple with coticules?
I thought that strange looking bottom might have been sawn aggregate. I took a look at it with a loop and it looked for all the world like paint over spray. Came right off....
 
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