Thread: ONE COTICULE HONING

Hey Bart,

got a question for you. I was watching an old coticule video from LX_Emergency and I was curious if you knew what kind of slurry stone he might be using..It doesn't look like a coticule at all.

Originally Posted by Dups

Hey Bart,

got a question for you. I was watching an old coticule video from LX_Emergency and I was curious if you knew what kind of slurry stone he might be using..It doesn't look like a coticule at all.

Why dont you ask Alex yourself?

hehe Well he's not on the forum right now and I figured that Bart probably knew what he was using.

This whole coticule thing is getting more and more interesting! I'm even considering getting another coticule :P

Originally Posted by Dups

I'm even considering getting another coticule :P

*chuckle*

Hey Bart,
have you noticed that the razor needs more refreshing since the bevel is so small on it? How does it measure up to a normal bevel maintenance wise?

thanks,

JF

Regarding the dubl duck I posted about a couple days back... I've had three shaves with it so far now. The first, straight off the coticule, was interesting for me. As I said, it did pass all of my sharpness tests pretty well. Could have been a touch sharper, I think, but really it was very sharp. But, during that first shave, the razor was pulling a bit more than I generally like. This actually made me use a little more pressure than I usually do in order to get the closeness I was after. The thing is, normally if I use the amount of pressure I did, I get irritation, and I actually expected the alum block to light up my face based on what I'd done to it... But, I didn't get any irritation at all, and it actually turned out to be a good shave.

So, not being completely satisfied, I was about to hit it on the vintage thuringian followed by pastes, but I decided to just try the pastes first. First 15x on a chromium oxide pasted balsa wood paddle, then 10x on the <0.5 micron red pasted balsa paddle. This immediately brought the edge right up to my sharpness standards. The two shaves after this have been an improvement. There is still a tiny tiny bit of pulling compared to my heavier razors, but I'm attributing it to the razor itself now (grind, size, etc), because in the end, these past two shaves were GREAT. Zero irritation and some of the closest I've had. For whatever reason, straight off the coticule (and then pastes in this case) seems to allow me to be more liberal with my pressure and number of passes, and still not get any irritation. I like it. Can't wait to experiment on some other razors. Just for the hell of it, I'm thinking after a couple more shaves with it I might hit the vintage thuringian and then the pastes again to see what changes, if anything.

Another thing I was thinking about, completely not related to this duck, is stropping. Now, I haven't noticed any problems yet, but I wonder how stropping is affected by the double bevel? I know they say that since the strop has some give/flex, it should be ok, but I would be curious to see some before/after stropping edge shots to know for sure how much the edge is or isn't affected by the strop. I mean, with perfect stropping, the edge wouldn't be getting hit at all, right? By perfect I mean a very taught strop and very light perfect strokes. With imperfect stropping (more realistic), where the edge is in fact hit, wouldn't the very light abrasion of the linen/leather eventually round the point where the two bevels meet, resulting in a sort of rounded bevel (but not necessarily rounded edge) ?

I've noticed a similar thing with my Dovo #41. The blade didn't feel as sharp and pulled just a tiny bit but it gave me a nice irritation free shave. I really want to get away from using any kind of paste so we'll see what the second shave with a few more passes on the coticule does today.

Originally Posted by Dups

I've noticed a similar thing with my Dovo #41. The blade didn't feel as sharp and pulled just a tiny bit but it gave me a nice irritation free shave. I really want to get away from using any kind of paste so we'll see what the second shave with a few more passes on the coticule does today.

Keep us posted!

Why are you getting away from the pastes?

Very good video bart i'm sure this will help people alot more. I have to if any one is trying this method i found your razor has got to be shaving arm or leg hair very well before moving on my first atempt was'nt shaving arm hair that well and i moved on to soon. second atempt i totaly dulled again and this time razor shaved arm hair realy well and the dovo tortoise was very sharp and passed hht with no problems at all right of the hone which is not normaly the case i have to strop first then razor passes hht. I like the method and i do think all us average daily shavers would only need one coticule. The only thing for me is would refreshing the razor be as easy i should imagine it would. I don't think bart has ad to refresh a razor just yet.

Well I like the idea of using only one thing to keep my razor sharp. I'm also not 100% sure that my skin appreciates the extra sharpness from the pastes. I have very sensitive skin.