Thread: Hones/Procedure

The secret to finer grit hones is very little to no pressure on the blade. When I first got my 16K Shapton I used to much pressure & to many laps on the stone. I learned to spend more time on my 8K stone before moving up in grit.
I have a Coti that I use a lot. I learned to finish under running water on the Coti This changes your finished to a whole new playing field to me. I also use the Coti on some razors that always feel harsh after the 16K hone. Two or three laps on the Coti with no pressure under running water really smooth's out those edges for me.

Slawman

As your experience and skill levels go up, so does your desire to expand, and for many our hobby takes them down the route of natural stones. I am not experienced in using Japanese naturals. I have messed with coticules and failed. For me in the last nearly a year I've settled on the Naniwa way, finishing up with a 20k Suehiro. I now get excellent shaves EVERY time with all my razors. I have a dozen or so in my active rotation (another 20 that I keep safe for a day to come) So, I must admit I am paying closer attention to jnat options, but to be honest I don't know what I'd need and how much I would need to spend to get a finishing set up of nats. The one variable I have changed is strops. I am an unashamed fanatic of Kanayama strops. IMHO they do make a difference to the quality of my edges. Leave that for another day. So after the Gok 20, strop up with 20 laps on canvas 30 laps on suede and 100 on Cordovan, using the #70000 Kanayama. Cheers gents and please don't send me jnat options. I am already on thin ice with she must be obeyed over my strop collection.....lol

Bob, have you watched Dr. Matt's video series on Coticule honing? The one main lesson I took from those videos was to finish with the Coti. under running water. What a difference that change in my Coti. honing has made for me.
I also like good strops. I have two vintage shell strops. A Koken & a Jager Barber supply. I do 50 laps on the Koken first then 50 on the Jager. The Jager is a smoother stropso I finish with that. The Koken came with a Scotish linen second strop & the Jager has a treated leather rough finish second strop. I have treated one side of that strop with.5 micron Dia spray with great results.
I treat my shell strops with Ballistol & I have good results with it.

Slawman

I did see Matt's videos, if I remember he used a modified Gd no tape. I looked at doing things in many of the suggested ways. I could not get any of my coticules to cut any steel, no swarf, not a mark, and for the life of me I couldn't get them to work. These were, two 8 x 3 selects from The superior shave, and another 2 #10 Bouts. New 8 x 3 selects cost a fortune and after I had 'converted' 5 razors to coticule edges, I had very ordinary shaves. Eventually I sold three of them as they were to me expensive paperweights. And I had intended to keep one of them to re visit down the track. In a stroke of irony this very morning I got an offer on ebay for the last one, and I posted it off to the new owner a couple of hours ago. I have been honing a fair few years, and my edges with synthetics are top class, I can't imagine a better edge exists. Now I hear the jnat guys giving their views. I readily accept the jnat must give great results in the right hands. I wasted in my eyes a fair amount of cash on coticules and although I am very interested in Japanese natural stones, I was savaged financially by the coti and as far as jnat go, I'd admit I would not know what a starting point would be. But I do know they Aren't cheap. So for the moment I will wallow in great shaves from my synthetics, but HAD is out there and I'm careful of repeating my prior problems. Cheers