Thread: Coti breaking glass HELP

NEW UPDATE:

Well I've been busy the last couple of weeks so haven't been fooling with the bout. Had a Radio Ablation done to the back yesterday morning and had the rest of the day off. Threw my ice/heat machine on my back and it was HONING TIME.

Grabbed 3 razors:
A GD dollar a fella ground the stabilizer down and gave me (I know, I know its still a GD). I use it to work on my technique. We'll see how it shaves.
A Genco Marty gifted me when I first started SR'ing (Marty is a top notch stand up dude!). This one is a challenge to begin with. There's an every so slight warp to the tang. It frustrating as all get out, but this razor gave me my first lessons in torque and pressure, and still teaches me everytime I hone it. Plus, it's a dandy shaver and has a bit of a spike (love the spike even though it's bites me once or twice).

And then there was my Engle Wedge. It's between 4/8's and 5/8's and came in a lot I bought when I first started honing. I love this razor. It's a little small; found I like 6/8 or bigger. But it's just a great grind. Can't wait to get a bigger wedge.

I took it back to my Nani 1k with one layer of tape to make sure the bevel was set. About 5 laps and it was good. Then did a normal progression on my 4/8k Norton; then my 12k Nani SS.
When I moved to the bout I decided to, well I'm not sure what I'd call it: Undilucot with a dash of Gary/Nick and a smidget of Pieter.
Added two layers of tape, a light slurry; did circles keeping it wet off feel with an occasional finger dip (like I first saw in Gary's vid on cuticle.be). Kept the old slurry and refreshed it a tad like the routine Nick suggested; then repeated. Cleaned the bout/razor fresh tape and did a second round and onto a third. On round three I felt the every so slight change and saw the undercut change to the slurry - stopped. Cleaned the whole set up: light slurry again and did the whole thing over with light X-strokes. Not sure how many laps I did...still felt right and had my wave.
Cleaned up my set up and pulled out the Ballistol like Pieter suggested. Two layers of tape, no slurry every so light X-strokes about 20-25.

Gave it a whirl just a few seconds ago. Pretty AWESOMELY COMFORTABLE shave. WTG/XTG was GLORIOUS! Had some burn when I threw on the Clubman, but I know that was my ATG. I need to spend a good couple of months really trying to dial in my ATG (same razor, same soap, and concentrate on angle, pressure, tautness, and shaving the lather). Between my lower lip and chin is supper baby faced (ATG can be like shaving a peeling suntan!), and my neck grain is all over the place (some N-S, N-SE/SW, S-NE/NW...just a dumpster fire). Still getting down attack angles, too because of the grain growth.

Plus, not the smartest thing. I tried my Baume Be sample for the first time. Really nice soap (I know different thread), but I need to dial it's use in a bit).

Still I am quite thrilled with the edge I got (hence the long post). I do feel that out of convince I'd really like to get a good sized rectangle. I'm always saving for my "habit" so I hope to find a good vintage from a trusted source (I check the classifieds here and at some other forums pretty regularly). If nothing pops I figure I'm going to just keep saving till I get the funds for a Select Plus from AC.

Sorry for the long post, and thanks again for all the help guys. THE JOURNEY CONTINUES!

Cheers and be safe,
Jer

Oh, p.s. Gary-I'm with Nick; love for you to produce and star in some more vids!!!

Great, i'm happy your getting good shaves off your coti. Next time you feel like honing a razor try omitting the last two synths you used before going to the coti. So Bevel set if you must, 4k and then do the coticule with everything you learned so far. See what happens. Don't get worried about what soap you use it shouldn't matter from the razors point of view, your skin is another story. Enjoy.

Here is what I do to avoid the slurry dulling affect of a coti: BBW. Yes, you heard that right. After setting a cutting edge (aka bevel) on the coti, I do most of the sharpening on the BBW, since it's slurry doesn't have the dulling effect of the coticule, then I slowly delute to a milky consistency and hone away till I achieve a nice undercut. After that, i then move to the coticule with plain water. I've only honed on coticules and BBW's I've never honed on anything else and for me, they have been pretty straight forward and easy to learn on as they don't require a stroke count, just learning the stone and an undercut.

It's been way too long since I've done any honing on a BBW, but I guess I don't see any reason why slurry dulling would not occur on a BBW in the same manner as on a coticule.

I'll have to play with it.

Originally Posted by Utopian

It's been way too long since I've done any honing on a BBW, but I guess I don't see any reason why slurry dulling would not occur on a BBW in the same manner as on a coticule.

I'll have to play with it.

IIRC, it's due to the BBW having fewer, more spread out but larger garnets and possibly a harder substrate/binder than the yellow? I've honed on 4 bbws, and 3 gave me some wicked sharp edges on slurry, the trick being to always use slurry. I've never been able to accomplish the level of sharpness on any yellow coticule that I've tried compared to the bbws, so I simply use the yellow with slurry for the bevel, the do most of the sharpending on the bbw and finish on the yellow with just water and soapy water.

I think there is no substitute for learning the nature of the stones you own.
I have a soft, aggressive coti that can set bevels. I have similar BBW that can quickly remove chips from a wedge. I would not recommend either as a finisher, yet my La Veinette can achieve sharpness comparable to a 12k.
Horses for courses.