Coticule love... show off your rock

[Seveneighth]

View attachment 1039679
This is the one I have with a similar surface. It doesn’t look like stones posted online as LDs 10 years ago for sure, but the sloppy pencil marks from Ardennes never lie. If yours is fast on water it could be a cousin to mine.

That's a nice looking stone you've got there.

Here is mine alongside a definite dressant and it looks very different.

Colours are closer to a La grise but it behaves quite differently and I get a finer finish.

It might be my imagination but it seems faster when I hone across the grain.

 

[Seveneighth]

View attachment 1039679
This is the one I have with a similar surface. It doesn’t look like stones posted online as LDs 10 years ago for sure, but the sloppy pencil marks from Ardennes never lie. If yours is fast on water it could be a cousin to mine.

Incidentally, how did you come by yours? Did you buy it directly from Ardennes, and if so did you ask for A La Dressant or just get lucky?

 

[Sebrazor]

Great stones here, always a pleasure to watch this thread.
Here is a very nice pink colored coticule (250x55). It is not super hard, flattening was easy, but it is super fine and smooth.
Not sure if it is a La Dressante, a La Veinette or just a La Rose. It has a hybrid line at the transition line, maybe a LPB? But it is softer and slower than other LPB I have tried so far. What I know, it was sold in 1961 and is a No. 1 razor coticule that was used for sharpening microtome knives, it finishes razors just perfect.

 

[Namkcakram]

Incidentally, how did you come by yours? Did you buy it directly from Ardennes, and if so did you ask for A La Dressant or just get lucky?

There was a fairly recent dealer who popped up on the auction site who buys wholesale from ardennes. It seemed like his first couple batches he was requesting some pretty special stones like premium hand picked labeled layer rectangles with matched slurry stones.

It seems like now he’s just ordering normal “selected” unlabeled stones in all the sizes that were popular for the first few batches, and selling for slightly lower prices. For a while there though he had a few similar reddish tinted woodgrain surfaced labeled La dresante rectangles and a few clean yellow la Veinette rectangles for CHEAP for what they are.

I’m Just lucky I got in on the first couple rounds, but I’m debating sending him a PM and asking his price if he’d be willing to source a specific stone again.

 

[Namkcakram]

This one is pretty interesting, I believe it came from Ian totally by accident thru the auction site since neither of us has matching auction user names. It’s a glued BBW combo with a fairly thin yellow layer with apparent sub-layers arranged like tree rings and some reddish and yellowish tinting throughout.

Initially I thought “eh flat enough...” and after a few uses i thought I had her pegged as a dead average stone in almost every way, and thought I’d probably sell it on down the road eventually.

Then just recently I gave it a solid lapping and beveling, grabbed a soft La Dressante slurry stone and went to try a full start to finish dilution on an ebay razor with mostly workable bevel. I realized after working through a few slurry sessions that this stone seems to be the most difficult to use combination of very slow and with auto slurry that dulls. After getting the edge really finished I’ll be darned if it wasn’t a true HHT-5 and silently tree topping arm hair on a hollow ground Geneva blade!!

Anybody have any thoughts on what layer this thing could be? I’ve been messing with Coticules plenty now, but I think this is one of the most difficult to produce but extraordinary edges I’ve seen.

 

[bartds]

Good evening all , since no one is replying I will give it a shot ... Looks like my La Dressante , very hard stone , no to very little auto slurrying and a brilliant finisher ... Rivals my Thuris - If you want to know for sure , ask Maurice

 

[Seveneighth]

Turned up today. Seems to be fairly well intact but needs a good lapping.

 

[David]

That looks like a really good one. Nice grab.

 

[iamryan25]

Selected La Veinette 6x1.5" (150x40mm) coticule glued to black slate. This one was designated for vein by Ardennes and was labeled on arrival.

Metal removal speed is very fast and slurry can be generated while honing on clean water with pressure. Since this one cuts so fast and slurries relatively easily, finishing under running water does make it easier to get the final stages correct, but is not required. I can use this one to set bevels because metal removal is so fast.

My personal learning curve on this stone has been longer than with other coticules. I found that it took me some trial and error to figure out how to taper off the pressure in my water only stages. Edges have been completely comfortable and very keen.

 

[bartds]

Current collection - all pretty old and found in the wild...

 

[*stefan*]

Current collection - all pretty old and found in the wild...View attachment 1043780

Have you any favorites yet( zoomed in picture required please)?
The dark to the right in vertical direction, is that also a hone?
Seems as a very nice collection.

 

[bartds]

Ok will post individually later on
My restoring progression on an old razor is as follows : 1.bevel set on a La Grise (top center) - very gritty sound , although very smooth to the feel , autoslurries like crazy / 2. La Veinette with slurry (bottom center) - hardest one of the 3 LV I own - finishing on water only/ 3. Finally La Dressante (2nd top left in between LV bout and speckled unknown coti) - ultra hard (this thing does not auto slurry at all) , starting off with a little slurry , finishing on water and glycerine - these gives me an edge that rivals my Escher
The black ones are in fact Rouge du salm -

 

[bartds]

La Verte - very green looking Coticule (darkish green) - grainy looks but very smooth to the touch - very hard stone - 130x32x20 mm - speed is slow on slurry - very little autoslurry - nice for touch ups and finishing - some pics wet and dry...

 

[Namkcakram]

Little 100x30 Les Lat acquired new. Not sure which side yellow layer this is but it’s fantastic. To date I’ve only had Les lats where only the hybrid side was usable, so I’m surprised how much I like this yellow side. I’m testing it the way only idiots do where I attack all my problem blades and don’t get any meaningful edge comparisons for a while, and so far it seems to be giving the best edges yet on all my problem blades. Some of the good results are definitely due to the narrow width on warped blades, but I’m already convinced it’s a pretty awesome stone and I’ll touch up some nicer razors soon since it’s solving all my problems!

 

[David]

Nice. I’ve got two of those little LL’s from Ardennes somewhere around here. Perfect travel size.

 

[Namkcakram]

Nice. I’ve got two of those little LL’s from Ardennes somewhere around here. Perfect travel size.

I can’t tell if my eyes are playing tricks on me, are yours blazing fast on water? This one is either auto slurrying like crazy or making actual visible swarf within 10 half strokes on water with light pressure, and it sure looks like actual grey steel swarf to me.

 

[David]

I can’t tell if my eyes are playing tricks on me, are yours blazing fast on water? This one is either auto slurrying like crazy or making actual visible swarf within 10 half strokes on water with light pressure, and it sure looks like actual grey steel swarf to me

Most Les Lats are above average speed on water and some are blazing fast. Have you lapped the hybrid side yet?

 

[Namkcakram]

Most Les Lats are above average speed on water and some are blazing fast. Have you lapped the hybrid side yet?

Yes these shots are lapped flat, but I haven’t tested the hybrid side any yet.

 

[SliceOfLife]

Of the three or four LL I’ve had with both coti layers, one side tends to be very fast but has a lot of slurry dulling and the other side is very fine and nice. Like a finer lv but without the noise and feedback.

 

[Steve56]

Ardennes doesn’t list a 100x30 LL. How do you go about getting one? Looks interesting.