Career of the judge

Here, coticule is being excavated. Coticule is a yellowish grinding stone mined around Vielsalm/Lierneux (Petit Sart) and known worldwide as "Belgian Coticule" or "Pierre de Vielsalm." The material is a rare sedimentary rock of approximately 480 million years old , with unique grinding properties due to its high garnet content. These garnets have a dodecahedral, rounded shape, which makes them very hard-wearing yet leaves a smooth, polished surface. This explains the combination of rapid material removal and a very fine finish.

Coticule is primarily used for classic straight razors, which create a very fine, comfortable edge with minimal skin bite. Jean-Jacques Perret, in his 1770 book on self-shaving, described the Belgian coticule as an exceptional whetstone for razors. It is also used in woodworking, where carving chisels with a very sharp, smoothly polished edge are required for cleanly cutting wood fibers. The stone is highly prized for finishing quality knives and fine tools.

Remarkably, this rock contains a fine-grained, grayish-yellow volcanic ash interspersed with clay, transformed during regional metamorphism. But there's no volcano anywhere nearby! Where does this ash come from then? The volcanic ash that ultimately ended up in the coticule deposits is Ordovician and originates from a then- active volcanic area along the southern edge of the ancient microcontinent Avalonia (Brabant–Ardennes), not from a local volcano that you can still recognize in the landscape today.

The world's only commercial deposit is located here in the Belgian Ardennes, where coticule has been mined and processed since at least the 17th century.

Pascal Brackman