A Suprising Coticule

Reading coticule.be gave me an urge to try one of these apparently unique, rare-ish "Les Latneuses" coticules.

I won't go into details about them, because I don't really know, but the difference about this is that they are a natural combination but instead of a BBW back, the coticule is fused with a greenish stone that seems to have properties very different to the coticule proper.

They're kind of hard to come by, from what they say, but I contacted Ardennes Coticule and they had one for me. I requested a bout (irregular piece) roughly 12.5cm x 2cm.

This is what I got:


It's not a bout--it's a perfect rectangle. Not only that, but it's THICK. But it was at a Bout price--apparently, because the back greenish half has some serious chips? I don't know, but I appreciate the price a lot.

Here's the chip, BTW:

I figure it's only a matter of time until the rest of it gives way, which is fine.

But here's the thing: This hone was the roughest I've ever gotten from anyone. It was covered in deep, coarse scratches and very strongly "domed" in the middle. It needed serious lapping. The coticule side was easy--ten minutes, it was smooth and flat.

The back, "hybrid" side (as Bart sometimes calls it) was...different.

After 3++ hours on a 400 grit diamond plate, it was ALMOST flat. Flat enough to use. I still haven't smoothed it bast there, and this stone is hard enough that I refuse to use it without smoothing it up to 1000 grit, at least.

Freaking HARD. Possible the hardest stone I've lapped--the Frankonian took longer, but it was bigger--more surface area to remove.

But that was only the beginning of the surprises, as this picture will show:


And this one:


Yep. The stone split in two. As I was taking the pictures this evening, I picked it up by the top half and, with a quiet "crack", the top came off in my hand. I didn't drop it, or bump it, or anything...it just came apart.

Soooo...that's not too cool.

I'm still not sure what to do with it. Any suggestions?