Ardennes Coticule, sharpening with a natural product
The Belgian whetstones from Ardennes Coticule are found in the Belgian Ardennes since 1625. The whetstones from Ardennes Coticule are also known as Belgian chunks, named after the chunks of stone required for the production of the Coticule and the Belgian blue whetstone. Both products are real natural products with a labour-intensive mining process.
Ardennes Coticule uses all the residual products that are released when the stones are mined. 1 ton of slate is required to produce 1 kilo usable whetstone. In short, with a Coticule or a Belgian blue whetstone you have an exclusive natural sharpening product in your hands.
Coticule and Belgian Blue Whetstone (BBW)
Both products sharpen your knives razor-sharp. The Coticule is a yellow stone supplied on a (unusable) slate. BBW contains fewer grenades than the Coticule and they are larger. The stone is harder and sharpens slower than the Coticule. The sharpening result obtained with both stones is almost identical. Because they are natural products each stone is unique.
Ardennes Coticule has a slate quarry with unique sediments that occur nowhere else in the world. The sediments are rocks formed over 480 million years from grey-yellow volcanic ashes and clay that contain hard grenades. Parts of the mined slate have been used as whetstones for years. The part that cannot be used for whetstones is used for the production of gres tubes and bricks as much as possible.
