Thread: new to coticules

I am getting these two and as a begginer not sure where to start. Any tips?

I think a lot depends on whether you are new to honing or just new to coticules. If you are new to honing, I would be hesitant to say the least, to starting out with a stone that can baffle experienced honers. As you seem to have already acquired coticules, I would if it is feasible to seek out experienced members who might be in a position to mentor you. Learning to hone with coticules as your 1st stone is like learning to drive in a Formula 1 race car, or a model T Ford, depending on your opinions on coticules... Lol

If you don't have a bevel setting hone (in the 1000-1500 grit range), I'd suggest you get one.

Next, decide which coticule you're going to learn honing on and stick with just that one. Put the other one in a drawer for at least half a year.

Next, make sure it's flat. Draw a pencil grid on the coticule surface, get some 300/400 and 1000 grit wet & dry sandpaper, put the sandpaper on a flat surface (like a glass plate) and sand the coticule down until all the pencil marks are gone. I prefer to do it twice, first dry, then wet.

Then, visit coticule.be and read as much as you can, with special focus on the dilucot method under the 'sharpening academy' header; it's the most straightforward method of honing with coticules.

Oh, get some good electrical tape.

That should keep you busy for a good while.

Best regards,

Pieter

Thankfully not my first stone to hone with. My current set up is a kuromaku 1k, goken 4 and 8k and ilr 12-15k.

That makes it easier. Where I would start is lapping them flat, maybe rubbing them together (very) lightly to get a bit of a burnished surface, then hone up a blade on the 8K Goken and see what happens when you do a handful of normal X strokes on the coticule. Say 25-30, test shave, repeat until it stops improving.

Edit: Not that I think a burnish is necessary, but I do think a smooth and relatively scratch-free surface is beneficial.

hey Redstraights92, it's good that you have the honing fundamentals down before you start with coticules (a mistake I myself made not long ago). With that under your belt, coticules can be sort of tricky as they vary from stone to stone, and vein to vein especially. my advice would be to lap them flat, you really only need to go up to like 600 grit to be honest, they release garnets with use so lapping to a finer grit beyond that i've found to be somewhat fruitless. Nevertheless, make sure you have a nice flat surface to work with so that you begin to learn.
Next I would say go at it similar to how you would with your 8000 grit synthetic. You didnt mention if you had slurry stones, but I would start out with just water if I were you to reduce the complication. My advice is to start with a razor that you know has a good new bevel set, and then hone how you would with your 8000, stopping every 10-15 or so strokes to inspect the edge. this is very important because those breaks to check your edge will inform you as to how your coticule "behaves". some are faster than others, some are softer and harder. and because these are natural stones, i've even found that some have more "bite" on one side over the other side of the same hone (though generally i find this in >=3" wide coticules)
Some coticules will be more tricky than others. The one I started with took me 2 months and a lot of help from the members of this forum to learn. Every coticule since then has taken less than an evening. but they are all very fun.
Please let us know how everything turns out for you. I'll be interested to see how you like the natural stones after moving off of synthetics for a little while!

Thanks all for the help. I have a dmt d8c that is broken in that will be using to lap them again thanks for the help.