Miracle hones.

[SliceOfLife]

David mentioned a Jnat to me the other day that "does everything". A kind of miracle stone. It got me thinking what stones I'd put in that camp. Mind you not my "favorite" hone. Not my "best finisher". A stone that really defies logic. I've owned hundreds, probably thousands of razor hones at this point, and it took me some thinking to really come up with the best examples. That "I don't know how they do it, but every thing that touches them turns to gold" sort of stone. I've got three stones that really go into that camp. None are known Jnats (I've got a couple "good" jnats, but nothing that blows my socks off)... One I suspect may be a Jnat.

This is the first.

The stone that is why I rave about "Vintage Brown Les Latneuses".

I bought this thing on eBay at the HEIGHT of the LL craze... when even small stones were fetching $200, $300, or more. It is probably one of the most expensive Coticules I've ever bought.

But it is a miracle stone.

Think of the absolute best feedback you've ever felt... this stone makes that feel like someone threw SIC powder on a sticky patch of sidewalk.
Probably the sharpest edges I make come off this thing.
Range? I've gone from 1k to it, but like most finishers it shines off an 8k. 10-15 passes and most razors are ready to go.

This is the stone that makes me try new Coticules when I buy them and go "well, it's good... but when am I gonna use it". So many Coticules have been shelved and/or resold because of this thing.

The yellow side is so good that sometimes I wonder if it's not the better side... then I use the hybrid side again and can't believe I thought that.



So what is your "Miracle" stone, if you have one. What stone do you use and then wonder how anything can ever be that good at what it does?

 

[SliceOfLife]

This is Number 2.

Unidentified hone. Came from EU or UK somewhere if memory serves.

This stone has the feedback of a great, coarse charnley; the cutting action of a tam o shanter, and top tier finishing capability.

This stone responds to pressure like nothing else. Closest comparison are exceptional Washita and Turkey Hones. I can grind chips out on it with the right pressure, and like I said, it finishes like almost nothing else. Novaculite scratches it. It scratches pretty much everything else. It is the hardest non-Ark natural stone I've ever used. It basically doesn't wear... ever. It took days to lap.

My true "freak" stone.

 

[kcb5150]

This is the finest coticule I have. It's also the finest coticule I have ever encountered. It's finer than a lot of the usual suspect finishers by at least a step yet it isn't slow.

 

[Christian1212]

This coticule is the bomb. Can be used after the 5k or 8k under running water. Is my go to edge and nothing makes my face feel better

 

[timwcic]

I always considered this a gift from the Honing God’s, a Turkey Oilstone. With this exceptional stone, I can work and torque a apex with not much effort. It will do all the work needed to get a refined edge to hair popping smoothness. A first I thought it also was Ark, a hunk of variegated Novaculite. It was not until I lapped and i got a smell of burnt matches. More knowledgeable members informed me the aroma of sulfur refers it as a Turkey oilstone. Loved the look and size of this stone, it is 6x3x1 1/4 inches in a old oxidized wood box. It will deliver a close comfortably shave, but i can’t squeeze out the “velvet edge”. I will go to one of my Uber finishers to take it to the point I hear the cherubs sing

 

[Steve56]

Here are two, both very capable of going from a glassed edge to final finish and delivering a smooth edge thst’s more than ‘good enough’. They can do this by virtue of being both blazing fast And very fine.

 

[SliceOfLife]

Tim, I have a Turkey like that. La Levant it was called by the seller. I'm not 100% certain it's not a different stone from Turkey hones (which I have several 8x2" examples of)... it's razor finishing grade and none of my others are anywhere close. Sadly my piece is TINY... like 1x3". I've seen one that was ~5x2" listed, but the asking price was too rich for my blood at the time (think the seller wanted like $200+ for it).

KCB, Is that a Vintage? Looks like a brown les lat that some madman glued BBW to the hybrid side of. But yeah if it is, the Yellow sides are insanely good as well.

Christian, given the matching rubber, I'd assume that's an Ardennes Stone? Really pretty. Did they tell you the vein?

Is it solid coti or just a really light BBW?


Steve, were your sources on those two reliable enough you can give any details on origin and trust that they have any ring of truth, or are they from one of the sellers who just make up a stones background to match what's selling at the time? If the former, what details have you got?

 

[rideon66]

Tim, I have a Turkey like that. La Levant it was called by the seller. I'm not 100% certain it's not a different stone from Turkey hones (which I have several 8x2" examples of)... it's razor finishing grade and none of my others are anywhere close. Sadly my piece is TINY... like 1x3". I've seen one that was ~5x2" listed, but the asking price was too rich for my blood at the time (think the seller wanted like $200+ for it).

Apparently Levant was used on at least three different stones. The Cretan, Turkish and a stone mined along side coticules as Our Levant back in the day.

 

[kcb5150]

Vintage stone. Speaking of turkish stones I have been using my massive turkish oilstone pretty much as a one stone knife solution since getting it. This one will give up a razor edge that is good enough to shave as well, though it is pointless given everything else here. Stone is awesome though
..

 

[kcb5150]

All the brown coticule talk made me dig around find this one. I wouldn't call it a miracle but it has good range. It doesn't have that over the top fineness though.

 

[SliceOfLife]

That is a cool looking Coti. eBay score?

Vintage coticules are always so interesting. There's so much variety that isn't represented in the active mines.

 

[kcb5150]

Years ago

 

[SliceOfLife]

Must have been when I was taking a break from watching eBay. I'm sure one of us would have made the other pay dearly for that one if I had seen it.

 

[kcb5150]

This I bought fron europe ages ago in an ancient box. It's a miracle how hard it is and it isn't a diamond...

 

[kcb5150]

I think I paid like $275 at the time.

Must have been when I was taking a break from watching eBay. I'm sure one of us would have made the other pay dearly for that one if I had seen it.

 

[kcb5150]

It's also pretty heavy for the size. 5 1/4x2 11/16x1 1/32, 601.6g

 

[SliceOfLife]

Is that a hybrid coticule?

 

[kcb5150]

Of some sort, it was another one that cost a fortune at the time. I also tested that other antique hybrid that came from the new england picker I know and it is seriously fine.

 

[kcb5150]

This coticule is a miracle stone for one reason-A golden retriever could probably successfully max out an edge on this first try out. The feedback is as close to perfect as I reckon a hone can be...

 

[kcb5150]

New england coticule... Whole thing is really fine but the back is in that superleague for coticules.. Only good thing about this lockdown is the disc in my back got 8 weeks of rest so far and sitting here testing hones isn't killing me anymore