Thread: ONE COTICULE HONING

Originally Posted by pjrage

It would also seem, though, that with enough strokes, it shouldn't matter how narrow or wide the bevel is. It may not hone up as quickly, but if you spend enough time at it, either way should work, right? Similar to taking off the 1mm from a wooden table top. It would take forever, but you COULD do it.

I have been convinced of that for a long time, and in general I still believe that to be true for the most part. But there's one important other consideration that plays a part, imho. Every time you push the razor over the hone, there is a slight detrimental effect on the very tip of the edge. On slurry that effect is very noticeable, but also on any other surface, it is present. At the same time, there is metal removed from the bevel faces and this should overrule the tip deterioration. The razor is sharpened more than it is dulled, at least if you use a surface worthy of the name hone. Try honing on a piece of glass or marble, there is so little sharpening that you'll notice that a keen fragile edge slowly looses instead of gains sharpness. Now, you may ask yourself, what has this theory to do with the width of the bevel. Remember that on a narrow bevel the hone removes (on a submicron scale) a much thicker layer of steel with each stroke than when it has to work a wide bevel. The tip deterioration factor remains pretty much the same. So there is a different ratio between those two.
Take the BBW. I once expected that it would be a great polisher, when used with water, just like its big sister Coticule. I did some experiment. As much as I like the BBW with slurry, with only water it seems to slowly dull the edge instead of only polishing it. And yet, add a couple of layers of tape to the spine and it will cut a secondary bevel. That secondary bevel won't become very wide, since the Blue-with-water looses it's power very soon.

It is a hypothetical theory, and I might be wrong, but for the time being, it explains what I get, and it helps me devising new honing experiments. That's good enough for now, till some deviating experience force me to adjust my thinking.

To reiterate, by altering the bevel width, we not only (exponentially) change the time it takes to achieve our desired goals, but at very narrow bevels we also change the hones sharpening/deteriorating ratio.

I have literally tried thousands of strokes on a Coticule with water, thinking that it would only take enough time to get edge refinement off it. It did not. It seemed just to polish, without taking nor gaining sharpness. With the procedure presented in this thread, I got consederably keener results. Otherwise I wouldn't have posted. I hope others can confirm it. If not, I'll still be a happy honer. And shaver.

Originally Posted by pjrage

So, in the end, isn't it more a matter of which particular bevel angle you like better for your face?

I don't really care that much about bevel angle. They differ, roughly between 15 and 20 degrees on razors, and I could never quite determine a personal preference. I have noticed that some edges tend to be less brittle with an additional layer of tape. Yet I can't feel that during the shave. Only see it with the stereomicroscope and notice better edge longevity. But that's completely beyond the scope of this thread.

Best regards,
Bart.