Thread: New Coticule

Originally Posted by JosephHoffer

Good news! I got it. I was watching a Gary Haywood video and I noticed that when he was honing I heard a squeak. Almost like when your doing dishes and you rub your finger on a clean wet plate and it makes that sound. And you can't make that sound without pressure. Not barring down on it but a little. So I made a thick slurry and started with small circles and half strokes and it build a dark grey slurry fairly quickly with some pressure this time (I was honing very very light like I thought I was supposed to). Once it was really dark I added a drop of water and continued with the same circles and half strokes. After 5 dilutions I dipped the razor is a glass of water, swished some of the slurry off and continued with it. I did that twice more then washed the stone off and the razor and used just water and like x-strokes. It was very sharp at this point. Popping hairs a few mm off my arm. After I stropped it I could finally do a HHT on the heel, middle and toe. It shaved very nicely and I'm very happy with the results. I honed another razor (just to be sure it wasn't a fluke) the same way and it turned out great . Thanks for all the advice and encouragement.

Awesome, glad to see you're doing well!

And indeed, pressure, good catch, Joseph. This is something I tend to forget to advise people, as it becomes second nature with practice.

Pressure with coticule honing can make quite difference. Mainly when setting a bevel that is, although you might squeeze out some extra keenness with pressured X-strokes on light slurry or plain water.

As you say, not too much, but enough. I try to not put more pressure on a razor than I would on a pencil eraser.