Thread: Choosing a good Belgian Coticule stone

Originally Posted by stev

This is kinda how i look at it now too, even though i am not in need, i still keep an eye on auction sites ect for random little bargains that come up, if i spend $10 or $20 on a stone that i later find is not right for me, then atleast i didnt spend the $225 to find out and i can live with 10 or 20 here and there.

You can get your $10 or $20 back, too.

If one buys a $300 8x3 stone and then has it and doesn't think it's that good, at the very best you'll get back some percentage of your money, but you have to deal with the idea that you're going to give a marginal stone to someone else and they could complain. That makes it all a losing proposition for me, because when a stone isn't very good, I knock a lot of money off. If I got it cheap, then I say just what it is and in one instance I got what I paid back. For a marginal but pretty stone. A dealer bought it from me and flipped it to one of the unwashed buyers out there for three times what I sold it for

Of course, the description of mine that said it was a marginal stone that took a great deal of skill to get a good edge with...that didn't go with it on the dealer's sale.

Originally Posted by Euclid440

I have yet to find one better than a 12k, or Thüringan or Ark, 20k or paste, not even close. For what you would pay for an 8X3, you could buy a good Jnat.

Maybe you just have to accept that coticules just aren't your thing. And that's fine. I have yet to find a better edge for my face than a coticule edge. I can get very close with a nice Thüringer edge, though. And if I felt I would need an 8X3 to hone well, I would probably re-evaluate my technique (plus for a good Japanese natural that size, you could buy a small used car).

Originally Posted by Euclid440

Still with all that, when you come across one in need of rescue… There is something about these stones that draws me in, perhaps years of guys here extolling their edges, (at one time it was the go-to stone at SRP for many, mostly European guys), but there are better edges, much easier and pretty much foolproof.

Learn your 12k, a 12k and chrome oxide should give you smoking edges.

Or just buy a Gillette Fusion or a DE and be done with it. Seriously, are there really that many honers who would want honing to be foolproof (i.e. colour-by-numbers)? Isn't learning about making mistakes and figuring stuff out for yourself?

Originally Posted by Euclid440

As has been said many times, few guys own just one coticule. No one owns more than one 12k.

Right. And no one on SRP owns more than one synthetic finisher. Really, this statement, rich in insinuation, proves nothing.

I wonder why it's so hard for some people (including mentors nonetheless) to accept that there are plenty of people who are genuinely happy with their edges of choice (in this case coticule edges).

Usually this is followed by something about how hard it is for beginners (the "But think of the children!" of the wet shaving community) or how much easier it is giving them advice on other stones.

Really, did anyone on here start wet/straight shaving because it was easy? Like I said, if you want easy, get a Gillette Fusion, a DE or an SE and call it a day. The blades they take are consistently sharper than anything you could ever hone, so why bother at all?

Mentors slamming a preference. So much for YMMV, I guess.

Best regards,

Pieter

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow, I forgot coticule guys were such a delicate bunch. Not to worry, I will type slowly…

Reminds me of how the site was years ago, when the Coticule was king and alternate thinking was a personal attack, often ending in a banning.

We have probably lost more folks, over Coticules as have over tape. Now there is something to argue over, (just kidding, for the rhetorically challenged).

Dude, if it works for you, rock on,

The OP was looking to improve a 12k edge with a Coticule, don’t think that is possible, but perhaps you could help him since you have the Coticule decoder ring.

Last I heard, he was using, “Film”…

There'll be no banning unless people get stoopid ie personal attacks. However....
As to the OP, this is a 3 yr old + thread & one would expect he has found his feet by now.
There is no need to necro post & argue about personal choice.

Regardless of belief system, natural stones have such a large range of action that they can do anything that may be required for a razor, from bevel set to polish. Of course synthetics can do similar jobs. You just have to have the right stone in your hands & the skill to use it.

my yellow rock is better than your white rock because I like it more #facts.

Just wanted to join the silly discussion on an old thread, have a good weekend everyone.

Originally Posted by Pithor

Really, did anyone on here start wet/straight shaving because it was easy? Like I said, if you want easy, get a Gillette Fusion, a DE or an SE and call it a day. The blades they take are consistently sharper than anything you could ever hone, so why bother at all?

Mentors slamming a preference. So much for YMMV, I guess.

Best regards,

Pieter

I don't see much 'slamming' going on. In a discussion, an explanation of the issues in selecting 'a good coticule' is not a bad thing. After all, the premise in this particular discussion is someone expects to be able to just buy a single coticule. We both know that the chances of that stone behaving exactly that specific way that he is looking for, are less than great.

Many of us here have tried several, and there are always some that work very well, and some that are just 'meh' for what you are trying to do with them. That doesn't mean coticules are bad. It just means that if you want one that does exactly what you want, you have to be prepared to go an a journey.

Now as for being easy...
I cannot speak for others. I got into this because I liked the idea of using a single retro style sharp edge against my face. That doesn't mean you 'have' to take the difficult road.

I like making my own razors, either starting with bars of tool steel to make my own damascus, or with a baseball sized ingot of wootz that needs forging down. Hardly the easy road I took. That doesn't mean I need to scoff at others for 'taking the easy road'.

To each their own.

I sure did start for the ease of it. No more going to the stores to buy cartridges. No more treating razor bumps. I most certainly did it for the ease of shaving. As far as homing goes it’s extremely easy I have it done by a pro I like. Now I agree if you like the edges off of a coticule. Then good for you. I personally haven’t met the coticule that delivers the shave I look for. But everyone’s face is different. If I had a sensitive face with peach fuzz they may work. I love these coticule threads they are like tape or no tape. Brings out all the pithy people. Tc

I had a chat with a member and he said if the 12 k Nani etc was around 50 years ago would they have used coticule etc ? I very much doubt it I love coticule and have owned lots of them I have had great success with some but for some reason not all of them that’s why I use my 20k G for finisher after the Naniwa. Even the easiest of coticule can be frustrating for many of us . If I was wanting a coticule I would just buy one and work with it

After he quit shaving, I used my grandfather's natural combo coticule for another 30 yrs with no complaints. Never heard about dilucot or any of that until I found this site.

Synthetics have their attraction to some, same as naturals do for others. Some use a combo of both.

I've decided that for my taste and face, arkies and thuringians are where it's at.