I have always been interested in Sharpening stones
Started when I was 12 with Arkansas stones and water
At the peak of Ray Mears I bought and used the King waterstones (still great)
Later I bought a Japanese Honyama quarry stone, I was really surprised by its precision and speed.
But I have to say since a couple of years the King among sharpening stones for me is the Ardennes Coticules
Why?
since you can use it in 800-12000 grit, using it with a lot of slurry and presure to only water and very very light presure
the speed of the stone and the hardness make is amazing
Am I the only fan of this (probably the best sharpening stone) natural product around here?
Belgian grinding stones are natural stones and this is
reflected in the fact that no stone is like another one.
From core to core, the number of garnet grains varies from
5 to 50%.
Coticules with a content of less than 5% garnets are
considered medium.
A good quality has a content of 5 to 20%. The best
whetstones are still above this with a garnet content of
20 - 40% and the garnet particles are smaller than
20 microns. At higher percentages the garnets tend to
tangle, causing the effectiveness decreases.
The garnets (the crystals that do the grinding work) in the
Coticule layer are about 10 to 13 microns in size but pass
through the shape of the crystal only approximately
3 microns into the steel.
Equally important for the proper functioning of a stone is
the not active material that binds the garnet grains.
The exceptional qualities of the Coticule are mainly due to
the perfect balance of a number of components.
The binding of mainly mica and quartz is quite soft,
partially exhausted garnet grains are easily detached so new
grains can take over the task.
The presence of very fine quartz grains ensures the wear is
not going too fast.
Here some picures:
Started when I was 12 with Arkansas stones and water
At the peak of Ray Mears I bought and used the King waterstones (still great)
Later I bought a Japanese Honyama quarry stone, I was really surprised by its precision and speed.
But I have to say since a couple of years the King among sharpening stones for me is the Ardennes Coticules
Why?
since you can use it in 800-12000 grit, using it with a lot of slurry and presure to only water and very very light presure
the speed of the stone and the hardness make is amazing
Am I the only fan of this (probably the best sharpening stone) natural product around here?
Belgian grinding stones are natural stones and this is
reflected in the fact that no stone is like another one.
From core to core, the number of garnet grains varies from
5 to 50%.
Coticules with a content of less than 5% garnets are
considered medium.
A good quality has a content of 5 to 20%. The best
whetstones are still above this with a garnet content of
20 - 40% and the garnet particles are smaller than
20 microns. At higher percentages the garnets tend to
tangle, causing the effectiveness decreases.
The garnets (the crystals that do the grinding work) in the
Coticule layer are about 10 to 13 microns in size but pass
through the shape of the crystal only approximately
3 microns into the steel.
Equally important for the proper functioning of a stone is
the not active material that binds the garnet grains.
The exceptional qualities of the Coticule are mainly due to
the perfect balance of a number of components.
The binding of mainly mica and quartz is quite soft,
partially exhausted garnet grains are easily detached so new
grains can take over the task.
The presence of very fine quartz grains ensures the wear is
not going too fast.
Here some picures:
