Yea, the Gold Dollar and their cousins are really more of a Straight Razor Kit. They can be made to shave, but…

You really have to learn to fix it, just so you can hone it. And in the end, I don’t know that, you will learn that much about honing, because a lot of what you have to do does not really translate to vintage razor honing.

You really are making the learning process much more difficult, than it needs to be and as said does require more tools than a “minimum” collection of hones can handle.

Maybe if you bought one, that somebody already made shave ready then just maintained, but hey… why not just use a good vintage razor?

Coticules are whole different animal and is a whole different kind of honing. It is much easier to learn to hone first then, experiment with naturals. They are capable of very nice edges, but a LOT depends on the hone, the slurry and the HONER.

The fact that you ALWAYS see Coticules for sale and you never see a 12k Super Stone or a SG 20 for sale, says something about Coticules… just saying… Not bashing, I own several.

Set yourself up for success, learn to hone on a proven synthetic progression… then begin collecting…. Stones.