INT'L CUSTOMERS;  Unless your order's >$400 or has at least one item explicitly stating "includes EMS express mail", free tracking is NOT included-you must optionally elect to purchase it (if you want it).  Service ranges 7-90 days and there's absolutely no way to find out what's going on.

We'll happily accept small orders from all over earth, however...

PURCHASE WITHOUT TRACKING = YOU ASSUME ALL RISK OF LOSS

We've no option to add any tracking to regular 1st class int'l mail (domestic packages now get this for free).
So far (>7000 att. @ this writing), overall risk of disappearance is ~0.46%, with Western Europe/Great Britain/Canada closer to ~0.2% and Australia/New Zealand thus far perfect with well over 1000 combined attempts.

I can't offer Registered Mail anymore-it takes too long hand-writing 3 forms, sealing a box with water-activated tape, and queueing up at the post office...time's just too valued.  We instead offer to partially subsidize EMS Express Mail's high cost, which is always a minimum of $38(and moves up based on a weight in a jiffy!).
The option buys speed & safety, but only you can decide if it is worth it to you.  Minimum order value of $100 to elect this option.

Belgian Blue Whetstones

"Generic" Coticule Slurry Stones

"Special" Coticule Slurry Stones

5" (125mm) Length Coticules

6" (150mm) Length Coticules

7" (175mm) Length Coticules

8" (200mm) Length Coticules

10" (250mm) Length Coticules

Coticule Boxes

Coticule "Bouts"

The "Rarest Coticule Ever"

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.

Japanese natural stones, too, give a similarly-rewarding process as coticules, but for me they also produce edges which I equate with the hyper-sharpest artificial stones...entirely devoid of 'skin friction' beyond any coticule I've used, and far more prone to slicing away microscopic variances in skin topography, too.  Coticules specialize in making edges that, while not as pretty as those from waterstones, "cut hair but not skin", and for that relaxing capacity I'll cheerfully accept a marginally higher friction coefficient.

I consider worrying about official "grit ratings" with coticules a waste of time; quit worry about them and just hone and shave.  At their coarsest slurry use, they can correct edge shape...at their finest, they will refine an edge to comfortable-for-shaving condition.

Coticules are sold in 'standard' & 'select' grade.  'Select' = homogenous-looking, "standard" = not homogenous, but the sole active mining firm officially deems select/standard the same in cutting efficiency/action.  Some argue the standard grade's functional superiority, and I've chuckled reading fervent believers of select-or-nothing mentality, all of whom we can presume are quite happy with their savvy purchase.  Practically speaking, there's two reliable differences between the grades:  cosmetic and economic.  I'd welcome two 'select only' disciples in our office for a test; "A" picks ten 'perfect' bouts and ten least-select bouts, then we'll blindfold "B" and take as long as needed to distinguish the stones into two groups.

Beginners encountering this page see so many rocks it makes their head spin!  Every day, I get queries boiling down to the same premise; "I'm looking to buy my first coticule, which type should I get?"  Well, let me answer this in the most honest way I know; the longer you spend consternating over this dilemma, the fewer post-first-coticule-mastery shaves you've remaining in your lifetime.  Spend as little or as much as you like-you won't lose very much at all should you walk away from these rocks, they're liquid assets.  Be cheap if you're scared.  But get to using a coticule (whether purchased here, at another shop, from our supplier, or from a friend).  It doesn't matter which "breed" you pick, its size, etc.; the potential to master it will always be there, and you'll invariably find something you wish it did that the next coticule (that you clearly won't really need) could possibly provide.  The damn things are tools like any other, but they're addictive ones; I know none whom collect #1 Phillips screwdrivers.

Coticules pretty much reach nearly the same scientific place in the end, so long as you come to understand them.  The particulars of honing do vary with each coticules's unique personality-some like a bit of pressure at the end, some do not, etc. etc...and the stones will subjectively, but not objectively, provide distinct differences in their shaving intensity.  But that's all part of the fun; to me coticules are little puzzles waiting to be solved, and modern waterstones are equivalent to playing video games with a "live forever" application installed...where's the fun?!?

Coticule cost per unit of space increases with size and rectangularity-the biggest rectangles are rarest, and worst value, and always highest in demand, too.  Every usable mined chunk's sold, including the odd multifaceted shapes ("bouts") which make up ~96% of the volume today.  In fact, as rectangular pieces now account for ~4% of mining, you'll sometimes have 'bouts or nothing' as the choice here, and rectangles must be expensive (we've gone 6 months w/o any before) lest we have zero to offer.  Small trapezoidal pieces are best for rubbing (along with some water) on bigger pieces to create the required abrasive milky residue with which you refine edges.  They're known as slurry stones.  You need one of those.

Having sold lots of coticules, I fully understand that for many this is akin to buying individual pieces of jewelry; that's why we show them all individually.  If you're after a stone looking a particular way, email me; I do what I can to help out every customer.  I'm no geologist, objectively quantifying relative properties of stock's become second nature.

It has been lots of fun selling these rocks, the little scrap of the business enjoyably consuming so much time.  But scarcity's dwindled things, no matter how much you see here.  I'm not stupid; we straight razor shavers are quite lucky that a Belgian father/son battery continues to mine this quite special rock, and I and all other dealers are lucky they don't simply choose to exercise extreme inventory patience in order to sell every rock directly to you without involving (or profit-sharing) me and my fellow reselling competition.  When it ends, I'll really, really miss playing with all of these unique rocks and publishing them on this page.

Lap (Flatten) My Coticule
COTICULES ARE NOT GUARANTEED TO BE FLAT WHEN RECEIVED, and in fact it is assumed that you'll do a flattening procedure when you get your stone before use.  In my opinion, it is quite easy, and only really needs to be done once if you're using a coticule to further refine razors which already have a healthy bevel upon them.

However, if you intend to regularly establish bevels with your coticule, we'd advise getting your own longterm lapping solution.  While all you truly need is some sandpaper, some time, and a truly flat surface for the sandpaper to rest upon, a DMT lapping plate ("W250CX*B", "W8CXNB", "WM8CXNB", "D8C", "D10C", & "D8XX" are the model numbers) will make life more enjoyable.

Lapping coticules initially is a worthwhile task, but much less critical thereafter.  They're hardly lapping-dependent like a good waterstone.

If you wish us to 'lap' (flatten) your rock purchase, click the add-to-cart button below.  The stone will be "pencil-grid" and then the grid will be removed with a DMT Duo-Sharp W250CXWB...twice.  I don't flatten slurry stones; I actually think they work better when not perfectly flat to the hone.  The hone will also be "chamfered", which just means rounding off edges/corner a bit to create a flat plane free of 90° approaches.

Bouts = "leftover" randomly-shaped trapezoids/rhomboids/etc. that remain after first extracting as many rectangles as possible.  For the record, they obviously had bouts a century and a half ago, too...I guess back then they assumed there'd be plenty of rocks forever.  WRONG!

Bouts are great for establishing bevels, and present no limitations at all for water-only finishing to me.  Depending upon their shape, they can be limiting for going from bevel-making to the final finish, at least for the inexperienced...but with enough square footage (particularly in any one long axis), bouts are absolutely fine and of no meaningful difference.  Bouts are always the best value per unit of area, too.

Bouts are cool; I'm privileged enough to say I was once briefly an Aspen, Colorado ski bum, and bouts remind me of skiing Aspen Highlands instead of Aspen Mountain.  While the latter's more famous, nearly all its run fall straight to earth...most runs on "the Highlands", however, simultaneously fall down and to one side, and in my opinion just as one learns more of skiing in that complex realm, one will better learn honing's essence on a bout than on a rectangle.  Remember, honing's primarily about what you're feeling with any one part of edge at any one time on stone.  When you become accomplished living that philosophy, I'll bet you could hone upon a circular stone.
To loosely quote the brilliant 1980 masterpiece Caddyshack, "be the edge" :-)

• # 3 Bouts = 22-27 sq. cm a perfectly-average "perfect" parallelogram would be 1.9 x 1.9" (49x49mm)
• # 4 Bouts = 27-33 sq. cm a perfectly-average "perfect" parallelogram would be 2.16 x 2.16" (55x55mm)
• # 5 Bouts = 33-39 sq. cm, a perfectly-average "perfect" parallelogram would be 2.4 x 2.4" (60x60mm)
• # 6 Bouts = 39-48 sq. cm, a perfectly-average "perfect" parallelogram would be 2.6 x 2.6" (66x66mm)
• # 7 Bouts = 48-58 sq. cm a perfectly-average "perfect" parallelogram would be 2.9 x 2.9" (73x73mm)
• # 8 Bouts = 58-70 sq. cm a perfectly-average "perfect" parallelogram would be 3.15 x 3.15" (80x80mm)
• # 9 Bouts = 70-84 sq. cm, a perfectly-average "perfect" parallelogram would be 3.45 x 3.45" (88x88mm)
• # 10 Bouts = 84-102 sq. cm, a perfectly-average "perfect" parallelogram would be 3.8 x 3.8" (97x97mm)

Select #10 size bouts aren't especially common, but the others can be had, in one shape or another, with regularity.

Aiding the straight razor set, bouts are rarely square-they tend longer and thinner...if your sharpening knives, perhaps a square would be best.

What lies below (various bouts/combos of each grade/size we stock) is amongst what we're best known for as a shaving shop, surprising as that is to me...this little shop's the de facto point of sale for most coticule bouts, so speaking comparatively we get a lot of them.  Tailoring the sentence you're reading now to current production, the Belgians can't even get close to enough rectangles from the ground to share with dealers, with just 4% of volume now being rectangles!  Once all the dealer pre-existing stocks are gone, for the forseeable future if you want a rectangle you'll need to contact them and be prepared to wait.

It is simply impossible for us to keep up with the great demand to see all the coticules in stock...too many email/phonecall conversations, etc.  So we take stones from inventory and list them below as quickly as possible, and when that's >50% done we'll start flattening/evaluating for more detailed listings (though stones' appearances are a fairly reliable arbiter of their tendencies).  We will be making a big push to list as many bouts as possible in early June so we can order some more!

Coticules consume massive quantities of this shop's time, and we can't keep 'releasing' them like concert tickets (someone, namely this author, has to nanny the coding updates while they're released!).  The best come and go like mushrooms after Southern summer nighttime rainstorms.

COTICULE BOUTS ARE NOT GUARANTEED TO BE FLAT WHEN RECEIVED, and in fact it is assumed that you'll do a flattening procedure when you get your stone before use.  In my opinion, it is quite easy, and only really needs to be done once if you're using a coticule to further refine razors which already have a healthy bevel upon them.

However, if you intend to regularly establish bevels with your coticule, we'd advise getting your own longterm lapping solution.  While all you truly need is some sandpaper, some time, and a truly flat surface for the sandpaper to rest upon, a DMT lapping plate ("W250CX*B", "W8CXNB", "WM8CXNB", "D8C", "D10C", & "D8XX" are the model numbers) will make life more enjoyable.

Lapping coticules initially is a worthwhile task, but much less critical thereafter.  They're hardly lapping-dependent like a good waterstone.

If you wish us to 'lap' (flatten) your rock purchase, click the add-to-cart button below.  The stone will be "pencil-grid" and then the grid will be removed with a DMT Duo-Sharp W250CXWB...twice.  The bout will also be "chamfered", which just means rounding off edges/corner a bit to create a flat plane free of 90° approaches.

Above/below; some of the various fronts of attack for utilizing coticule bouts.  The most challenging shape to me is an isoceles triangle.  The easiest are parallelograms.  With plain water use for touch-up/finishing work, any shape's of no limitation to me.  I can say nearly the same thing for de-eBaying an old razor, where little skirt strokes, stopping and checking, and localizing to another area, etc...are just as effective at putting a bevel on neglected blades as is using a 200x60mm.  If you wish to go the length in between, it gets more challenging.