Les Lat Hybrid
The Les Latneuses layer, or vein, is fairly rare. There’s the regular looking Coticule side, and then there is the swirled, marbeled or painted looking ‘hybrid’ side. Most of the time, both are together as one stone; a natural combo of sorts.
I don’t know if the name ‘hybrid’ is accurate. I do know that the term ‘back’ or ‘back side’ of the Les Lat layer is used at the Ardennes mine. Whatever the story really is, what I do know for certain, is that the hybrid side is usually very hard.
This particular Coticule is a bit of an anomaly in that there is no regular Coticule side. What we have here is a solo hybrid layer backed with slate. It’s fairly rectangular but one side is somewhat angled.
Because these hybrids are so hard, their surface becomes ‘glass-like’. I’ve read that there is no difference between honing on the hybrid and other types of Coticules – and I don’t think that’s quite accurate. Not only is the honing action different, the final results are also markedly different. Repeatedly – I’ve been able to produce way keener edges on this type of stone than with any other. This might mean that I adapter to them better though. Whatever the story is – I love Les Lat Hybrids.
This is a nice size stone that’s easy to work with and there’s a matching slurry stone around here somewhere. It’s a slower than average stone – and while using slurry from a faster layer speeds things up, it’s still not a fast stone. On water it’s markedly slow but the edges come up quite keen yet still Coti-smooth.
Approx. Dimensions: 7.0 x 2.25 x 0.5” / 178 x 57 x 12.7 mm
Depth of Coticule Layer: 0.5” / 12.7 mm
Weight: 22.5 oz / 642 g
