coticule help

just got my standar grade 1side yellow 1side blue belgian cote. any adice before i hone? which side has a higher grit, and any idea what that grit would be?

Neither are 'grit' so to speak. These are natural hones. Go onto Welcome to Coticule.be - home of the famous Belgian Coticule Whetstone and read about the unicot and dilucot methods. Generally the blue is said to be 4-6K and the yellow 8-10K, but slurry on the yellow side can allow it to cut much faster at approximately the 1-2K level.

These are mystical stones which you can not apply a simple grit rating to. The properties of the coticule depend as to which layer in the quarry it was mined.

Go onto that site and read all about them.

Good luck

I honed on a BBW/Coti as my only two hones after a King 1k for quite some time. My yellow isn't a particularly fast cutter, but it's a nice finisher. I used to use slurry on the blue, which I diluted till I ended up with just water. I then went to the coticule with just water, stropped on leather, and shaved. BBW's tend to be very slow when used with just water, and I think they give a polish like a 6-8k; I'd say coti's are typically something like an 8-10k. These numbers are not exact because of the irregular shape of the grit and the variances among the stones. You'll have to play with yours to see what it can do. There are a number of ways to test out a hone; I usually like to take a razor off a 1k and play from there. I doubt you'll get anywhere without slurry, so I'd suggest take a razor off a 1k, make a light slurry on the blue, dilute it as you hone till you're honing with just water, and then test shave. Also, check the razor by eye and with any tests you know well now and then while honing to see what the edge is like. Note how many passes you've done, what your dilution was like, and how the shave was. Then do the same process on the blue with that same razor, and see if there is any improvement. Keep going till there is none. Then take a razor off a 1k and do the same on the coti side. Should give you an idea of the cutting speed with and without slurry and what kind of a final polish each gives. I don't know if this is similar to Bart's methods, as I've not really read his site, but I'm sure his methods would also provide a good way to test out your hones.

Enjoy.

It depends what you want to do with it. As a way of touching up a blade, the yellow side with water or lather is good. More than that does get more complicated and is explained on Bart's site, it's all gone into to no small depth. Bevels can be cut using just the yellow but it can take some time depending on the razor. I've now started using a 1K as holli suggested. The blue is a bit of a weird one. Personally, I haven't managed to get it to do anything that I can't do with the yellow, but play with it as already suggested, as your stone could be different to mine.

If you are new to Coticules, you really would do yourself a favor by starting with the Unicot method IMHO. It is very easy to use this method for creating a very nice edge. The Dilucot method is a little more difficult to get right. Be prepared to be very patient dealing with the learning curve, but enjoy your journey :)

Good Luck. I love the smooth edges off of a coticule

Cheers