Thread: Coticule lapping

If a stone is not already flat I would start with a diamond hone or 120 grit sanding paper. Lately I've finished a few on 1500 and 2000 grit but a coticule should be fine when finished on 600 or 800.

I wouldn't worry about the chips or cracks you see. Just make sure the surface is lapped and the edges are beveled. I have one stone that has a lot of small cracks that can be felt but it's not an issue during honing. But if you really think the razor can get caught in it you can try smoothing the edges of the chips or cracks.

You can't reuse the slurry because it will be mixed with small particles of the sanding paper.

The chips look exactly like the ones I am experiencing with my (green) coticule. It´s hard to tell by my picture, but I think you will see what I mean.



My chip actually got worse from lapping. First it was just a little nick, but during lapping a bigger chunk broke out of the stone.
It seems like there are veins running through the stone. These are very light whitish lines. Normally they don´t affect honing, but unfortunately such a small vein was running at the edge of my coticule and just broke off. That´s probably what was happening to you.

I did not manage to round it off completely, not do I want to lapp off 1mm of valuable coticule.

When honing without tape I can feel the imperfection on the spine of the razor.
If honing with tape, I feel none (wich is very important) and get very good results.

So I guess if you chamfer the edges and round off the nick with sandpaper,
you will probably be alright