[MadsL]

Personally I love my coti, mostly for the lovely feel but also...and more elegantly put as quoted below; the sheer natural feel of honing on a ROCK that the Romans loved just as much for putting an edge on steel.

Far and away my favorite hone, Belgian coticules are communicative, entirely repellent of metal, given to wear rather level (unlike waterstones), fast enough for most razor-related work, and not terribly difficult to learn. They do require practice, and they rarely yield near-instant excellent results (as does a Norton 4000/8000 stone). They're inappropriate for repairing neglected razors. Though capable, they're much slower at bevel-setting than 1000-2000 grit waterstones/diamond hones. The bottom line, though: for refining/finishing/maintaining properly-beveled razors, they're awesome....what other single hone takes you from rough condition to shaving sharp in 30 minutes? There's good reason folks are cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs for these rocks.

Coticules transcend hype or flavor-of-the-month inertia. I believe choosing to "live the straight razor life" is much about placing equal value on processes themselves versus merely results. The coticule's visceral, dynamic, and rewarding process, according to myself and many others, can't be duplicated by manmade hones. When the (certain) day arrives that there's not enough coticule supply for us to distribute, I'll still believe (to obvious detriment of hones we WILL sell) anyone coming to truly understand their coticule wouldn't choose something else by preference. Whilst hopeful that's many years away, I'm realistic; it isn't.

http://thesuperiorshave.com/Coticules.html

[Dramatik]

Originally Posted by Deise Musashi

Thanks for that Dramatik.

Are the coticules fairly consistent in grit then to each other?

Some cut faster and some are better at finishing, because it is natural stone there is variation. Coticule is found sandwitched between rock in a series of folds, so some layers are older than others, I think where the rock is mined also makes a difference. The one that I have is hard and would take all day to set a bevel on a razor but I have heard of people who can set a bevel without too much trouble on their coticule stone.



This's what the Coticle layers look like.