Thread: Q about coticule

First time I got my vintage natural combo coticule it sat unused for over 40 yrs so it collected dirt and dust and it seemed to be glazed, so I lapped it.
But I was just looking up some info and I read that a Coticule is a non porous stone and couldn't get clogged.
Does this mean the metal of your razor stays on the stone instead of going in and that it remains in your water and you can just wash it away?
So the honing of your razor itself cannot cause glazing of the surface by filling it with the metal of the razor?
I was just wondering about this
thx for replies

Welcome to SRP. Yes, I believe that is correct . If you use water or lather as a vehicle to carry the swarf it won't clog the stone. Not sure about dry honing but with water you can rinse it. I have a fingernail brush I use too. I lap my stones every so often if I've honed a lot of razors on them. Coticules that is. Not a lot but some.

I was also wondering about dry honing, not sure about that either.
I rly like the coticules a lot, it being non porous is pretty neat too imo.
I've honed two dulled razors, caused by polishing them up, only using my coticule/bbw combo.
It's quite an awesome stone, with slurry, water, dry etc. you can just set bevels to finish off your razors!
Thanks for the reply, good to know!

You're welcome. There is quite a bit on coticules and other hones in the SRP Wiki here if you haven't already checked it out.

I once tried dry honing on a coticule, for whatever reason, and found that it just down the surface of my coticule, which was fairly soft, into white powder instead of making slurry. Looked useless for honing, so I stopped.

As my friend Bart says, "I like dry honing on a coticule about as much as I like dry intercourse"...

I don't like to dry hone on anything except a barber hone for a few strokes. I know some guys find it effective in some situations but somehow it gives me the creeps. I guess from when I was a youngster and took a pocket knife to a dry india stone until I loaded the stone up and scratched the heck out of the shiny blade.

Paraphrasing Mark Twain, he said something like,"A cat will jump on a hot stove lid one time and never will again. The tragedy is he won't jump on a cold one either." That is me and dry honing.

Originally Posted by jaspah

First time I got my vintage natural combo coticule it sat unused for over 40 yrs so it collected dirt and dust and it seemed to be glazed, so I lapped it.
But I was just looking up some info and I read that a Coticule is a non porous stone and couldn't get clogged.
Does this mean the metal of your razor stays on the stone instead of going in and that it remains in your water and you can just wash it away?
So the honing of your razor itself cannot cause glazing of the surface by filling it with the metal of the razor?
I was just wondering about this
thx for replies

The primary reason that the coticule does not clog or glaze is because it is constantly releasing grit during honing, so it is effectively refreshing itself.

Hi, should yellow coticules be lapped? Thx.

Originally Posted by ofelas

Hi, should yellow coticules be lapped? Thx.

Unless your stone came to you pre-lapped (mine did, by request) then yes, it should be properly lapped before use on a straight razor.