Thread: Newbie hone on coticule

I've been shaving with a SR for two months now. My razor is a Dovo that was honed by Lynn, who did an excellent job. However, after two months and ~60 shaves (and some impatiance on my part) I finally thought it was dull enough to try to hone myself.
I purchased a 6x2 belgian coticule after I read all of the comments in the honing forum. I based this purchase on the comments about it having a dual honing role: providing a smooth edge with water only and the ability to reset a bevel with a slurry. I don't know enough about the stones to know if my stone is hard, soft, or otherwise.
Now to the honing.
I made a milky slurry, then honed 20 laps. After that I gave it 20 laps with water only. Then I shave tested it. It didn't seem as sharp as when Lynn honed it, so the next day I honed it more. I gave it 50 laps with a slurry, and about 30 with water only. Then I shave tested it. It seemed sharp, and did not pull, but still not as sharp as Lynn's honing.
I think this process was adaquate to give a good shave, but I know it can be sharper.
My question is whether or not any additional honing steps might give me a sharper edge prior to the polish? If so, then what?
By the way, it seems to pass the TNT and the TPT to the best of my noobie knowledge, although I am still working on those.
Any comments would be appreciated.

Slurry with a coticule can be quite dulling, so it should only be used sparingly. If the razor was shave-ready, but just needed a touch up, I would skip the slurry step altogether. I would just try a bunch of laps with water only to bring the edge back. The number of laps depends on your coticule and how fast it cuts....But if it's just a touch-up, maybe just try 10-20 laps with just water, test it, and add more laps if necessary.

I have a feeling giving your razor as many laps as you did with slurry dulled the edge just a little, which would explain why it wasn't feeling as sharp as before. But that's nothing some laps on the coticule with just water can't fix!

If you pick up a couple of less expensive, perhaps used but good condition, razors to practice on you can practice honing and still have your main shaver good and sharp. If you can get it back to a level of sharpness you like that is fine. Otherwise maybe send it back to Lynn for a re-honing and get some practice razors.

I'd say since you're more or less where you want to be and you got the razor from a bit dull to reasonably sharp you can just continue with the coticule till you're happy.
Don't go to milky slurry though. See how much progress you can make with water and if not much is happening do a very light slurry and see if this would get it sharper.
The first touchup I did on a Lynn honed razor was with a really small thuringian (4"x1" or so). 5-6 very light laps seemed to be doing something, so I probably ended up with 20 or 30 by the time I called it good again. Once a razor is sharp it doesn't need much to be kept there.

Lynn has some more mojo happening than just a coticule so if you're close to what you want, you're doing well.

Do doubt you'll experiment with higher grit hones and the CrO pasted strop etc. Just go slow & easy. You'll get there.

Originally Posted by mtstanley

I've been shaving with a SR for two months now. My razor is a Dovo that was honed by Lynn, who did an excellent job. However, after two months and ~60 shaves (and some impatiance on my part) I finally thought it was dull enough to try to hone myself.
I purchased a 6x2 belgian coticule after I read all of the comments in the honing forum. I based this purchase on the comments about it having a dual honing role: providing a smooth edge with water only and the ability to reset a bevel with a slurry. I don't know enough about the stones to know if my stone is hard, soft, or otherwise.
Now to the honing.
I made a milky slurry, then honed 20 laps. After that I gave it 20 laps with water only. Then I shave tested it. It didn't seem as sharp as when Lynn honed it, so the next day I honed it more. I gave it 50 laps with a slurry, and about 30 with water only. Then I shave tested it. It seemed sharp, and did not pull, but still not as sharp as Lynn's honing.
I think this process was adaquate to give a good shave, but I know it can be sharper.
My question is whether or not any additional honing steps might give me a sharper edge prior to the polish? If so, then what?
By the way, it seems to pass the TNT and the TPT to the best of my noobie knowledge, although I am still working on those.
Any comments would be appreciated.

The TNT might dull your edge if you are doing it at a later stage of your honing, be careful to when you use it. You seems to be on the right track, I would just try some more laps on with plain water, if you watch the water on your hone you'll see it's pushed away from the edge at first and as the razor gets sharper it'll start to flow over the blade instead of being pushed away. To me this is a reliable measure of when to go for a test shave, for this to work your hone has to be flat, and it might take some practice to get it right. An easier approach would be to just do 10-20 laps with water and then test shave, repaet until the shave doesn't improve anymore.

From what I've read about Lynn's honing I think he has a few more trick up his sleeve than just a coticule and not to forget his experience from the thousands of razors he has honed over the years.

The fewest laps I've ever used to do a touchup were with a barber hone. That would be a great addition to your honing ritual and they're not very expensive.

I normally only have to do between 5 and 15 laps on a Swaty to get the edge back to where I like it. Then you can either do a few laps with water only on your coticule or a chrome pasted strop to add some smoothness.

There's a good article in the Wiki about how to use a BBW & coticule setup for honing. If you do not have a BBW, no worries you should still be able to get a good edge by using the principles in that article. For refreshing edges, I find water-only is best. Heavy slurry will have the effect of making your edge seem duller, so perhaps go easy and if you have to use slurry at all, use thin. One of the principles in the Wiki is to gradually water down the slurry until you are doing laps with water-only.

Just out of curiosity, Is the Coticule lapped? You'd be surprised how many are not. I'd make sure that it's flat first off.
Secondly, your not going to get your edge like the one Lynn put on it. He's got a bit more experience on you, but you can make it shave ready. I think I would have first hit it with some chromium oxide on a pasted strop. All Coticules vary. Some are fast, some are slow, you said you know the difference in stones, so based on that, you should know how much work you'll need to do. I agree with the others, if your just touching up, A slurry is a bit aggresive, I'd try just water, light,even strokes, 20 or 30, then test shave. Again, Make sure your stone is FLAT......Rich

P.S. The last time I talked to Lynn, He was using Norton's as his main work horse. I think he said he actually wore our 4 of them. I also know he use the Japanese Naturals and is a fan of the Shaptons....

Originally Posted by zib

Just out of curiosity, Is the Coticule lapped? You'd be surprised how many are not. I'd make sure that it's flat first off.

P.S. The last time I talked to Lynn, He was using Norton's as his main work horse. I think he said he actually wore our 4 of them. I also know he use the Japanese Naturals and is a fan of the Shaptons....

I didn't lap the coticule. What kind of sandpaper would you recommend?

I did see Lynn's video. He says he uses the Norton 4000/8000, then polishes with a coticule. I'd rather not buy another hone right now if I can get by with just the coticule. I'm hoping I can get by with touch-ups for the time being.