I was visited by the coticule fairy...

[Jessica de Boer]

and she left me this beautiful La Veinette and rubbing stone. It's a fairly hard and very smooth stone yet it easily releases a slurry on the soft steel of my oire nomis, the rubbing stone is completely unnecessary. This changes when I hone my PM-V11 plane blades on it and it definitely benefits from making a slurry with the rubbing stone. My other coticules are in the 4000 grit range but this one is much finer, at least in the 6000-8000 grit range.

https://i.imgur.com/eR8udtv.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/ejorMwE.jpg

[bridger berdel]

That's slate glued to the back, not the native belgian blue matrix, right? I have one like it, but i don't favor it as it's very slow.

[Jessica de Boer]

You are correct, that's black slate.

[Jessica de Boer]

Stewie, I've been using coticules for at least 20 years so they hold no secrets for me. While it's true you can get an aggressive cutting action with a thick slurry I've never seen or used one that can finish in the 16000 grit range with only water.

[Stewie Simpson]

Jessica; information deleted. The best of luck with your coticule fairy.

[Luke Dupont]

Beautiful stone! I'm a fan of natural stones in general, but never tried a coticule before. How does they compare to, say, Jnats or Arks?

[Jessica de Boer]

Beautiful stone! I'm a fan of natural stones in general, but never tried a coticule before. How does they compare to, say, Jnats or Arks?

I have no experience with an Arkansas and I have only one Japanese natural so my basis for comparison is very small to non existent. What I can tell you is that a La Veinette like this is very versatile. It can go from very aggressive with a thick slurry to very fine with only water. The edge from a coticule is also very durable, more so than the edge a synthetic stone of similar grit produces. And you can also use them dry for an even finer edge.