Thread: Natural Stones

Hmmmm. Shaving is best done with a razor in hand.

Natural stones come from the Earth. They're mined, dug up, literally found in nature. They are pieces of 'rock'. They have been cut and shaped to resemble a hone a lot of times. Cut into a rectangular pattern. Sometimes they are irregular shaped. Most often they're not assigned a grit, or determined abrasiveness. Some are coarse, some are fine. Some are in between. Some are coarser than coarse, some are finer than fine. Varying levels. Some are good for razors, some are not.

Synthetic stones are made by man.

You can give yorself time before looking at stones . Learn to strop & shave now . Agonize over stones later.

Jte87,,,,the only thing that you really need to know & remember about natural stones, is that the "Coticule" is the Holy Grail of all stones.
With a coticule in your hand, all razors deliver a wonderful shave.
With a coticule in your hand,,,all in life is good.

Hi and welcome, as mentioned by Rez Dog naturals are sometimes a dark hole with no end :-) but i really like the stones, also i hate that there are not that much bevel setters....

If you are more interested in details check back Henk Bos Grinding and Honing Part 1-4 and on Coticules everything beeing around on Coticule.be...and for shure do a good search here youll find a lot of information already asked for and replied to...

http://bosq.home.xs4all.nl/

Originally Posted by RezDog

Hmmmm. Shaving is best done with a razor in hand.

The obvious illudes me again.

Originally Posted by RezDog

Hmmmm. Shaving is best done with a razor in hand.

I see what you did there .

.........But seriously, learn to shave and strop first with a shave ready razor, try to find a barber hone to refresh the shave ready razor when it starts to tug. When you are ready to hone, buy a Norton 4k/8k man made hone first and learn how that works, when you feel like you have that worked out then investigate natural stones. Every natural stone is different and every family of natural hone has a different leaning curve.

Naturals are almost exclusively finishers except for Coticules which are more wide range but come with a steeper learning curve

Originally Posted by jte87

I sent an email to The Perfect Edge but never heard back. I've checked out some of the older threads but am about as confused as I was before.

Its not really surprising he didn't reply given the breadth of the subject and the open-ended nature of your question. Give the guy a break, he makes his living by working hard, so I doubt that he has tbe time to write a small book on the subject, gratis, just for you!

As for your admission of being obsessive even over a grill, then I would take that as a good sign to leave naturals well alone and stick with synthetics. Not only are naturals one-of-a-kind, varying wildly within the same type of stone, but they take a while to learn and get the best from, much longer than synthetics.

Try the conventional way of learning with known synthetics that give proven results rather than trying to run before you can walk. You will save yourself a lot of headaches and frustration.

Besides, you have the answer to your question in the archives and hone postings on this forum. All you have to invest is your own time and effort.

Regards,
Neil

Man up jte87, this is a site for super men, fearless, eccentric wielders of open blades. As noted, the search box informs. And listen to Hirlau except he meant an Escher, not Coticule.