Thread: Arkansas Adventures...

Hmmm, interesting. I think you may be the first person I've seen say that about the Chosera 1K. Slightly off topic, but can I ask why?

My coticule falls under the impulse buy category. Got a little more for a Christmas bonus than I anticipated, so I decided on a whim to see what they were all about. I kind of did the same thing buying a Jnat w/ tax returns.

My coticule kinda sucked, so I feel I'm still in the dark. I may try again, but be more selective next time. Buy with purpose, rather than on a whim as it were. If the Jnat is disappointing, then the same will apply to it.

Originally Posted by Steel

Call me challenged but it took me just as long on a 1K king synthetic as on my Washita with a slurry

No mystery there; a Washita with slurry is pretty damned fast. It does do a bit more damage to the apex than a synth bevel setter though - but it just needs a little more mid-level work to take care of that. Also, a King 1k is not the fastest synth in the 1k category by a long shot either. I actually quite like my Chosera 1k, along with my Shapton Pro 2k. Both are very fast and good synths IMO and similar micron size as regards abrasive particles.

Originally Posted by Marshal

My coticule kinda sucked, so I feel I'm still in the dark. I may try again, but be more selective next time.

Marshall,

Have you seen these 4 videos by "DR.MATT357" on YouTube regarding honing coticules? They did me a world of good, especially the last one.

https://youtu.be/AWO2TAfRGQM

https://youtu.be/FXHsETAasqc

https://youtu.be/35Mar_srvEU

https://youtu.be/to5Z-EFGDBY

Yep, I've seen those. Right up to his problem coticule video. They didn't seem to apply to my coticule, even running water was no joy.

Yeah that's one thing that makes coticules tougher than some other stones. There's often a very large variation in hardness as well as garnet size and garnet concentration. Any two given coticules may act like completely different stones. Tough to make generalizations with such characteristics.

I will say this about DrMatt's videos, they did help. As I tested and tinkered with my stone I worked in some of the techniques, and they did improve the results I was getting. So they are helpful, if you have what I would assume is a coticule falling within the normal standard of deviation following those instructions should get you where you want to be.

But honed up to a Norton 8K, then used like the "problem coticules" he made a video for, my stone was still walking the edge back and making the shave less comfortable. So in my estimation my coticule is even more troublesome than the ones he was working with.

Originally Posted by Marshal

Hmmm, interesting. I think you may be the first person I've seen say that about the Chosera 1K. Slightly off topic, but can I ask why?

My coticule falls under the impulse buy category. Got a little more for a Christmas bonus than I anticipated, so I decided on a whim to see what they were all about. I kind of did the same thing buying a Jnat w/ tax returns.

My coticule kinda sucked, so I feel I'm still in the dark. I may try again, but be more selective next time. Buy with purpose, rather than on a whim as it were. If the Jnat is disappointing, then the same will apply to it.

Just a situational thing for me, I suppose. I don't do much drastic bevel re-setting any more and don't plan to buy any more project razors so I will most likely not realize the 'value' of the Chosera 1K. The stone is a great tool. It's like eKretz said, a little easier on the apex than the washitas and softs but I did very well without it for a long time.

Both of my coticules are/were exceptional stones. I've been very fortunate with my natural stone purchases.

I suppose I've been lucky with mine as well. My Cnat is a great finisher, when I bought a Jnat I picke up a Shoubudani. Unbeknownst to me the newer ones are hit & miss, but mine seems to be a solid performer. All 3 of my Welsh slates hit it out of the park. Call me biased, but I don't think a bad Arkansas stone even exists so all of those perform quite well. The only stone that's given me guff is my coticule, so 1 out of 9 or so tested razor stones needing a little extra work to squeeze a good shaving edge from really isn't bad. And it does work, it's just so finnicky I'm almost scared to use it and upset the burnished surface of that soft stone.

Final results of the day's polishing, olive Arkansas:



And grey Arkansas:



I think it's safe to say these puppies are as ready as they're gonna get to put an edge on a blade.

The large grey one is still out of flat, it's convex both lengthwise and across the width of the face I've burnished. But at least now it isn't by so much that it can be seen by the naked eye. You pretty much need a straight edge and a light to peer at to know it's out of flat at all, and I'm hoping that'll be close enough to get me where I want to be when the hone is in use.

Now I just need to figure out which blades I'm going to use as test subjects. It's kind of a hard decision, because I'm quite happy with the way most of them are honed and don't want to change a good thing.

hi Marshal,

is your underperformimg coti a 'new' one ?

many of us have reported a surface texture 'washboard' or 'gravel road` with newer mined coti and I was wondering about specifically how yours was lacking...