Thread: ONE COTICULE HONING

Originally Posted by pjrage

Thanks Bart. I wasn't sure if the swarf was good, bad, or indifferent for it, so I just figured better safe than sorry. Does noticeable swarf after ~10 strokes, and very dark near black swarf after ~30x mean it's a fast coticule btw? I don't have much basis for comparison, so I'm just curious if that's normal, fast, super fast, or whatever.

That's a fast one. I bet it rivals a DMT-E.

Originally Posted by pjrage

Also, how about when the slurry starts to go very dry after numerous passes? Should I refresh it then? It starts to get to the point that it looks and feels like I'm honing on a just-about-dry hone with sand on it.

I keep the slurry from going dry by adding drops of water as I go along. If the slurry gets real dry, the dulling effect on the very tip of the bevel obviously becomes greater.

Originally Posted by gary haywood

Bart if i have a blade that is shaving ok could i tape spine and perform say 30 to 50 strokes on water with out having to start from dulling.

All that really matters is that you have a fully developed first bevel with flat faces.
If you perform the downstroke on glass with such a razor, it takes less than 30 laps on slurry to complete the bevel. Maybe only 10 or so. But if you're absolutely sure that the bevel meets all parameters, than I'd skip the downstroke and refresh it with 10 strokes on slurry before taping it.

I found a Wilkinson Straight razor at an antique shop near me for 3$. I snagged it since it had basically no rusting and no damages on the edge. It couldn't shave cigarette smoke though so I figured I Would try this method.

I am missing tape, so the second step will have to wait, but last night I was able to set the bevel and cut my arm hair with the coticule and slurry. It took about 8 sets of 30 with the Japanese stroke to do it, but it worked! Tonight I will try the following steps with electrical tape and then do a test shave post polishing step.

The thing I am most excited about is that my coticule is very fast at cutting and develops a heavy gray to black metal build up in the slurry after about 20 laps. I didn't have a slurry stone before so I didn't know how fast my coticule actually was. I am also excited that I don't have to buy 40 more hones to set bevels.

Thanks for sharing, Nick.
I'm looking forward to your results.

Best regards,
Bart.