Thread: Coticule/ natural hone grit question

A lot fo great info has been given.

I also use and prefer naturals for everything, I don't use anything synthetic.
I use a Coti from bevel setting through dilutions and end on plain water.
I sometimes throw in the BBW after I set my bevels on the Coti, or if the razor is not that far off, I can use the BBW to set a bevel also.

What I'm hearing you're problem is, is the problem with naturals. It's hard to estimate grits and hard to get 'progression' grits rating.
Hence why when I use naturals, I seem less to think in terms of grit, but more in terms of feedback from the razor and stone.
And it will take some time to get to know you stones. I'll be honest and say that I have no idea what kind of grit my coti on heavy slurry is, or on plain water; all I know is that I can set bevels on it and that it leaves a very smooth edge on plain water, albeit I prefer the Thuringian finish, so after the Coti with water I use a Thuringian.

I had enormous trouble earlier on, cause I was thinking, what if I didn't dilute enough, what if my edges are not ready to be finished, etc. etc.
Which are very valid questions, the only thing I was able to check was if the razor shaved arm-hair in every way possible so I knew my bevel was set, that was the only thing I knew for sure.
That's why after the bevel setting on the Coti I use(d) a BBW, and do some dilutions on that hone, because it's less aggressive and leaves a good keen edge. After that I go to the Coti with plain water and try some HHT tests off the hone. Plenty of discussion about the HHT, it's open to interpretation, but if you can manage to use it successfully, it's a valuable tool. I use mine coming off the hone to see if it passes, I get very good HHT from the BBW, Coti and Thuri. But not all of those mean that the shaves would be good. So, yeah, I had to figure it out the hard way.
It's a progressive method I use, but I like it because it gives me a little more certainty. It's all trial and error. Test are handy, but you need to know how to use them and how to interpret them.
In the end the shave test is all that counts, I've been honing for years and just a couple months ago found great success.


Also, when i first started honing I had a small natural BBW/Coti hone, that BBW side left the most amazing edge ever, unfortunately, I haven't been able to replicate results since that hone was lost with moving.