Thread: Burnishing a coticule stone

But at that point you are shaving with a chromium oxide finished edge, not a coticule edge. That being said, they are both comfortable in their own regards, in my opinion.

I can't agree fully with that. The edge is still buttery smooth after several crox refreshes. I've never had the same sensation on the skin with any of my other finishers. Even after multiple refreshes. While I agree the polish is no longer a coticule polish at that stage, whatever a coti does to give that almost round bar like feeling on the skin is still very much in play. Perhaps if I continue to use a pasted stop for a time then this will level out into an edge that would resemble any edge that has seen a lot of Crox on a strop. It's just not at that point, perhaps it'll get to a stage where crox become ineffective and the razor needs a re-hone. I can't say ATM because I'm not there, It'll take a quite a few shaves only using one razor to hit that limit.

I sincerely doubt there is any voodoo going on. Also, as far as I know, the hardness of a coticule has little to no influence on its performance. I'll get back to the inconsistency thing.

Anything I can't explain gets credited as voodoo. To be using a method numerous times, seated, on different razors, and not getting results on any when using 1 method. That tells me there is something amis. I'm certainly not done testing the coticule side of my rubbing stone. It's just not working on my hone atm. I may go so far as to contact Ardennes Coticule and have a selection of rubbing stones from various veins shipped. My own rubbing stone has colour change in it going to purple and at one end that change is pretty close to the face, so it could well be that my rubbing stone is producing a slurry closer to a BBW slurry. When I use something neutral like the glass block those problems vanish. When I raise similar thickness slurries, 1 neutral, 1 with the rubbing stone. The rubbing stone slurry is far faster at removing metal, The problem is my hone seems to struggle to finish an edge to buttery when I've use this method. I've not ruled out user error, I am more that aware it may be me. And I don't live locally to another honer to have them try it out, ATM this isn't a problem as other solutions have paid off.

I'm also not struggling with my honing. My flailing post may make it appear that way. I get good edges that are on par with blades I've sent out, and because I only have a small collection I know what each razor I own is capable of. Your man there asked how I was getting on with this rock. And rather than just post a basic reply I figured he might actually want to know what wasn't working as well as what was. It's easy to say you've been getting good edges with method X, It's much harder to say this wasn't working and to explain why a sharp shaving edge didn't feel right even if it was capable of shaving. Coticule is even harder because the sharpness is overruled a little by the buttery factor.

And it's my bad grammar making the stone out to be inconsistent, It 100% the edges. The stone in all instances felt pretty much the same once polished past the gravel phase, the edges that came off with the different methods most certainly were not. If I've read something works then I'm not the sort of person to test it once but if something fails then I want to know why. And if I can't answer that then I have to look at myself, take a few days, shave with something else or test another one from the same batch and see if the problem is with all the edges from that batch. And if it is then I have to look at that and think about how to improve on what I have or re-test the same situation on a fresh honing day. The goal in all instances is to be able to create the edge that works every time and feels right, and to do that you have to be aware of what didn't work and what to avoid doing.

And thank you for the criticism. It's made me look back on some of the things I've tested, and some of the things that need to be added to the pipework. And reminded me that when posting I flail, a lot, and often manage to miss key elements that I was thinking and failed to express or express poorly.

Finally, I'm very happy with my hone. I know it might sound like a lot hasn't worked with it. And it's true it hasn't been a smooth transition from simple solution hones like thuri's and N12K's. My every day razors are all finished on it ATM. And I can't see that changing in the near future because the edges I've been getting are fantastic. And I can only see them getting better. It's just taken a lot of playing to find a near dial-able solution.