Thread: Why does my new coticule feel like I'm honing on gravel?

I've got one of the harder ones and I've been playing a lot with it.

I found lapping it to 1K helped with the rough feeling. Then burnishing it smooth also helped. The original finish from AC looked and felt smooth, but it was actually pretty far from what the finish needed to be for this rock.

So far I've got some nice edges from it but If I make a slurry I have to be very careful with the pressure I use to build it. Too much and it's back to gravel.

Without slurry it's really slow. With a very light slurry it speeds up by a massive margin. It doesn't take a lot, few light rubs to turn the water just slightly. If I put more than a med slurry on it the surface is lost as the softer parts of the stone seem to give way to that gravel feeling.

On that very light slurry the edge is really nice so I think I'm going to keep using it with variations of that until I find what works the best.

The finish of my rock is very different to how I imagined it was going to look. Out of the box it was dull and coticule looking. As I've progressed it up it's started to burnish a lot, and has taken an all over reflective finish on an angle, and spots of high polish that are visible from other angles.

I've got a camera on charge ATM to try get a decent picture for you.

Edit added pictures.

Originally Posted by S0LITARYS0LDIER

Have you shaved off it?

Although the stone FEELS like it's doing damage to the edge, I'm not sure that it does; I might have jumped to conclusions.
You are right though, I have to be fair and hone on it first, despite the feel, it might yield good results, I will hone up a razor and finish on that 'petas' Coti and see what gives, I might be in for a pleasant surprise

Thanks S0LITARYS0LDIER!

I just lapped it and it's a very smooth coticule, it lapped very easily

I've grid lapped it a couple of times and it seems that I've reached an overal smoother surface on this stone, the stone does have an interesting feel and I am starting to like it
It gives that sticky feel when honing on water, seems to leave a very mellow and smooth edge.
It's a pleasant change to finally have a 'soft' coticule, it feels totally different than the hard ones I have, I never realized that all my other vintage coticules are so hard, this one is so smooth and laps so easily. I'm actually very pleased with my Petas.

As I've read it's the Les Petas layer tends to be a slow stone on water and fast on slurry, but a bit tricky maybe?

I will try to hone a couple of dull razors, for the sake of my ease, I'll take out my Veinette's Coticule with slurry to create a bevel, as I'm very used to and know this hone fairly well, then I'll go to my Veintte's BBW with slurry to reach maximum keenness and finish on the Petas with water. I've actually been looking for a relatively slow stone on water that leaves mellow edges; all this time I might've already had one, but disregarded it because of how it felt some time ago. Woops.
This should be interesting , gidddyyyuuppppp

@Iceni - That are big garnets in your stone. My problem is different. I lapped my stone quite smooth, it is almost glassy now. I lapped it very long with w/d 400 and it helped. Then I used 800 and 1200. But the problem is always the same. After using the slurrystone the sharpeningfeeling is very good. But after two or three strokes I can recognize that the blade stops on the stone. Of course, only when I hone very slowly without pressure. I can´t see anything but there is a small obstacle and the blade does not glide over it. When I make normal fast strokes, the edge is destroyed. Than the shave is horrible because of the small chips in the edge. Otherwise it would be a fantastic finisher. I will return the stone and try a new.

no it's not big garnets. Its binder hardness variations. The garnets are microscopic, You can't see them in the slurry but you can feel them on your teeth... don't ask.

What you are seeing is the harder binder polishing like an arky, and the softer binder refusing to burnish.


Also are you working with slurry. Mine has an odd blade reaction if I set the edge with a slurry then try to finish without. It's like the blade changes angle slightly and the edge digs in just a fraction more. If you hone past that sensation then you go back to a glassy feeling. If you have an RSO to hand just give it an 8K synthetic edge then put the lightest slurry on and push past the grit phase, don't be tempted to add more slurry just keep pushing till it starts to feel smooth. If you get to the smooth sensation do another 50 ish laps. Off the stone it'll feel blunt, and will refuse to cut hair at all. And the edge will look pretty bad. Strop it for 100 laps and then test.

Ok, hehe, you´re right, spessartins are orange-red. Here is a picture of a La Grise surface. Are this garnets?

Yes. Here are some pictures I posted a few months ago showing the difference in garnet size between a La Verte and a La Petite Blanche:

http://straightrazorpalace.com/hones...ml#post1588792

My Petas leaves a very smooth skin friendly edge. I have no microscope to check for micro-chipping, but my shaves were really good
I couldn't see any damage to the shaving edge with the naked eye at least

...which is how it should be. My first Petas also produce very good edges. This one is different, here is a picture after finishing on the stone. On the right of the chipping you can see a decent cutting section, but something has caused ugly micro-chips.

looking at that I would say there is something toxic in the stone, perhaps it's a stray garnet, but I would think to cause damage like that it would have to be something more inclusive.

Have a word with the vendor who sold it to you, show them that picture and this thread, hopefully they will exchange it.