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265123 | Gregory Hahn <greghahn@s...> | 2018‑02‑13 | Coticule is one-sided |
Gathered Galoots: Last week's discussion of Belgian Coticule stones didn't really answer Ed's question about which side was harder/finer. Because of the topic, I was alerted to the presence of one at an estate sale, bought it, and have been researching the stone's many qualities. I may be stating what everyone already knows, but to quote Obi-Wan and Yoda: "Stay away from the Dark side." The cream colored side is the only surface meant to be used in honing, the dark side is just there to support the fragile/brittle Coticule and is no better at sharpening an edge than any flat rock you pick up out of the dirt. Hope this was informative, and that I haven't made myself a laughingstock with a warning everyone already knew. -Greg |
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265124 | Claudio DeLorenzi <admin@d...> | 2018‑02‑13 | Re: Coticule is one-sided |
My father's Belgian blue sharpening stone that he brought over from Italy was so worn through the middle over the years that it became two triangular bits, but I'm not sure if this was exactly the same type of stone you have. There was no backing stone or whatever it's called on it at all. Nor did it have a case for storage. It was small, maybe 2.5 by 6 and maybe 3/4" thick or so. When dry it looked dark gray, when wet it was bluish in color. It cut hard steel very well, and Dad always used only cold running water (standing at the sink), never any oil and you could hear how it was cutting. He put a lot if emphasis on the sound the blade made during the sharpening, something that I have never seen anyone else talk about before. He said that you could listen and tell when you were off the edge. Does anyone else use the sound as a guide? He got the stone in the tiny city of Maniago, Italy, a major knife making center in the North of Italy near where he grew up. He spoke highly of the knife makers there. I went there a few years ago (in 2000, holy crap that's almost 20 years ago!) but couldn't find anything even remotely like that blue stone--although I did buy a nice pocket knife there as a souvenir (LionSteel). Maybe Japanese water stones really are better? There are (were?) still many independent knife makers there, but the couple places I visited seemed to have modern mechanised shops or factories with big belt sanders, power hammers, digital heat treat furnaces and so on (not an iconic craftsman standing over a coal forge working with hammer and anvil). Cheers Claudio |
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265125 | Ed Minch <ruby1638@a...> | 2018‑02‑13 | Re: Coticule is one-sided |
Thans Greg - who would have thought? The maroon/eggplant colored side of mine sure looks like it’s a sharpening stone. Ed Minch |
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265126 | Tom Dugan <tom_dugan@h...> | 2018‑02‑13 | Re: Coticule is one-sided |
It depends. Per the www.coticule.be<http://www.coticule.be> website: "The Belgian hones (Coticule and Belgian Blue Whetstone, commonly abbreviated to BBW) are very closely related. They are mined together. Actually is is impossible to extract any Coticule without also extracting massive amounts of BBW. Traditionally, Coticules were always backed by a piece of BBW. Some bonded together by nature, but most of them glued together by man. The main reason for this is to reinforce the Coticule part with the stronger Blue stone. Nowadays, Coticules are backed with a piece of Portuguese Slate, because it is more cost- effective to use easily available slate tiles for backing a Coticule than to produce labor intensive backing stones out of BBW rocks. " Snip. The one I picked out of the $5 bucket at PATINA is clearly naturally bonded, and the blue side is a decent but coarser stone. But modern stones are apparently bonded to slate. -T ________________________________ From: OldTools |
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265128 | Gregory Hahn <greghahn@s...> | 2018‑02‑13 | Re: Coticule is one-sided |
Hi Guys: I guess my research has some gaps in it. I saw videos of, and read about them backing stones with slate, and read about BBW being similar (having slightly larger garnet crystals than coticule), but I missed the part about coticule being sandwiched between BBW. My stone is also naturally bonded together, with a somewhat wavy border between the two layers, but since "eggplant purple" isn't blue, I didn't think that it was the same thing, Mea Culpa. That coticule.be website also has a photo gallery of all the different patterns that coticule shows. Very pretty. Anyway, I guess that was a close shave.Ducking and running - -Greg | | Virus-free. www.avg.com | |
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265129 | Gregory Hahn <greghahn@s...> | 2018‑02‑13 | Re: Coticule is one-sided |
Hi Guys: I guess my research has some gaps in it. I saw videos of, and read about them backing stones with slate, and read about BBW being similar (having slightly larger garnet crystals than coticule), but I missed the part about coticule being sandwiched between BBW. My stone is also naturally bonded together, with a somewhat wavy border between the two layers, but since "eggplant purple" isn't blue, I didn't think that it was the same thing, Mea Culpa. That coticule.be website also has a photo gallery of all the different patterns that coticule shows. Very pretty. Anyway, I guess that was a close shave.Ducking and running - -Greg | | Virus-free. www.avg.com | |
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265130 | Nick Jonkman <njonkman@x...> | 2018‑02‑14 | Re: Coticule is one-sided |
My father also had such a stone on which he sharpened everything. It too got thin in the middle. He brought it with him when we emigrated from the Netherlands in 1951. When I was young sometime in the 60s I found such a stone somewhere for myself about 2" x 8" and have used it most of my life. I dropped it once and about a 2" pointed piece broke off which lives in my mechanic tool box the other part in my wood shop. I did dress it a few times to keep it flat and still works great. From the time I was a child (1940s) I watched my dad use his. Usually water was not readily available so saliva was always used which habit I also picked up. Works great. The stone is almost like slate. Nick |
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