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Coticule love... show off your rock

No further darkening on this one. It was at a window for a few days. When I lapped it, it did not get brighter, I think it is not a La Grosse Blanche. But it is fine and gives very good shaving edges.
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timwcic

"Look what I found"
A pair of wild find stones from the past month. A 5 x 2 1/2” and a 7 x 1 1/2” were rescued from flea markets. Some nice Belgium Nuggets

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Very nice stones Tim.
Here are some really good La Grises from Burton Rox. I sent the coarser and faster ones back and got some other ones which are very good for razor finishing.
They are also very hard for La Grise, slower and really smooth. They are natural grown or have a thin Araldite bond line and a Rouge de Salm backing. All of them have some light blue spots or lines.
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Next stone for testing is this super hard La Dressante. It is convex, it would probably take an hour to lap it flat with my Atoma 400, I will use SiC powder with this one.
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Thanks Keith.
It is not only beautiful, but also one of my finest finishing stones. It is very hard, like the hybrid side of a Les Lat. It has some hybrid spots that does not effect honing. With a fast slurry stone, it is really fast, with water it is on the slow side. As said, an ultra fine finishing stone. The size is 8.9"x2"
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A very nice La Dressante (8.7"x1.5"). I think it is older than 60 years, the end face is a trapezoid. It is fast with slurry, super smooth and ultra fine with water. It gets darker at the transition line. There is a thin light blue line popping through. No issues with that, it can not be felt. There are some black and orange lines.
There were no saw marks, but a lot of deep pores around the stone, I sanded these out, now it looks very nice.

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timwcic

"Look what I found"
Two flea stone from over the weekend found in the bottom of a box of tools. A 5” green and a 6” pink. The pink must have been a looker at a younger self. I hope it had a good life grinding away at steel. This stone was ridden hard and put up wet. Both sides are worn done and dished. Not much life left in the old rock. I will give it a good life in retirement with its Coti brothers

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Two flea stone from over the weekend found in the bottom of a box of tools. A 5” green and a 6” pink. The pink must have been a looker at a younger self. I hope it had a good life grinding away at steel. This stone was ridden hard and put up wet. Both sides are worn done and dished. Not much life left in the old rock. I will give it a good life in retirement with its Coti brothers

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I’m a woodworker so I can imagine exactly the abuse this poor stone suffered, but whenever I see a stone literally used to death I like to ponder what kind of furniture or construction might’ve been done with it’s backing. It makes me feel better about my own ongoing stone abuse.
 

Legion

Staff member
I picked up this vintage coti for what would have been a good price, IF the auction photos hadnt shown it from just the top and one side. Seems that it had been used to free hand knives for a very long time, and is very dished, but only on one side.

I could flatten it, but it would mean losing most of the stone, so I will keep it for knives, where dishing doesn't matter. It's not all bad. I am loathe to use my razor stones on knives because of this happening, so having a dedicated knife coticule is OK.


Or plan B.... Grab a hack saw and make it five slurry stones?... Coticules are hard to find here, and when you do find them they never come with a slurry stone. I could recoup my cost doing that, but it seems a shame.

It is 45x200mm, and seems quite fast.
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David

B&B’s Champion Corn Shucker
Bummer. You could hone knives on the thick side for a year or two until it wears down sort of even then lap it flat and switch it over to a razor stone. You should have a few MM’s of stone left for razors.
 

timwcic

"Look what I found"
I’m a woodworker so I can imagine exactly the abuse this poor stone suffered, but whenever I see a stone literally used to death I like to ponder what kind of furniture or construction might’ve been done with it’s backing. It makes me feel better about my own ongoing stone abuse.

I also wonder what was completed as a result of a worn out hone. I look at it, not as abuse but fulfilling it’s purpose and it doing so, things of beauty were created and now exist

I picked up this vintage coti for what would have been a good price, IF the auction photos hadnt shown it from just the top and one side. Seems that it had been used to free hand knives for a very long time, and is very dished, but only on one side.

I could flatten it, but it would mean losing most of the stone, so I will keep it for knives, where dishing doesn't matter. It's not all bad. I am loathe to use my razor stones on knives because of this happening, so having a dedicated knife coticule is OK.


Or plan B.... Grab a hack saw and make it five slurry stones?... Coticules are hard to find here, and when you do find them they never come with a slurry stone. I could recoup my cost doing that, but it seems a shame.

It is 45x200mm, and seems quite fast.View attachment 1034115View attachment 1034116View attachment 1034117

Nice stone even with issues. There is still some good mm either way

Been waiting for a coti like this for a long time. 5 x 2.5 antique store find.

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Nice, creamy looker
 
Very nice stones Tim.
Here are some really good La Grises from Burton Rox. I sent the coarser and faster ones back and got some other ones which are very good for razor finishing.
They are also very hard for La Grise, slower and really smooth. They are natural grown or have a thin Araldite bond line and a Rouge de Salm backing. All of them have some light blue spots or lines.
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Nice! La Grise = one of may favourite layers, especially the ones with the graduated combo.
 
A very nice La Dressante (8.7"x1.5"). I think it is older than 60 years, the end face is a trapezoid. It is fast with slurry, super smooth and ultra fine with water. It gets darker at the transition line. There is a thin light blue line popping through. No issues with that, it can not be felt. There are some black and orange lines.
There were no saw marks, but a lot of deep pores around the stone, I sanded these out, now it looks very nice.

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How does it perform?
 
It is an amazing finisher for razors. Perfect for touch ups, 20 to 30 strokes and the razor gets scary sharp again. Such stones are very rare, I have been looking for a good La Dressante for a few years. I think such quality is not available anymore. I do not use them as a mid-range option with slurry, but I tested it after flattening with slurry, then it is moderate fast, greyish black swarf after some strokes. With water only it leaves a mirror polish (can be seen at the edge) and is moderate slow, no swarf visible with harder steel, but a bit faster than an Arkansas for comparison.
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