Thread: Coticule Slurry BS?

Originally Posted by spazola

I will preface this statement with the disclaimer that I am pulling this out of my RDB.

I think the important thing is, that garnet is known for being a friable abrasive. When it fractures the new edges on the fractured garnets are sharp.

Charlie

OK now I am a little confused, I thought that the Coticule DID NOT make "Friable" slurry (or "Breakdown-able" for us backwoods boys )
From my understanding a Friable slurry would be used like my Nakayama that I leave the slurry on there as I hone, and the finish becomes more and more fine as the Nakayama slurry breaks down... I have to dilute and finally rinse on the Coticule to achieve a shaving edge... On the Nakayama I hone to almost dry on the pulverized slurry/powder

Now Lost in the Science
g

Originally Posted by gssixgun

OK now I am a little confused, I thought that the Coticule DID NOT make "Friable" slurry (or "Breakdown-able" for us backwoods boys )
From my understanding a Friable slurry would be used like my Nakayama that I leave the slurry on there as I hone, and the finish becomes more and more fine as the Nakayama slurry breaks down... I have to dilute and finally rinse on the Coticule to achieve a shaving edge... On the Nakayama I hone to almost dry on the pulverized slurry/powder

Now Lost in the Science
g

Well, I've been stewing about this for a couple of years now, so at least I have company. Oh, and Glen, I think this remains firmly in the realm of pseudoscience!

Originally Posted by Utopian

Well, I've been stewing about this for a couple of years now, so at least I have company. Oh, and Glen, I think this remains firmly in the realm of pseudoscience!

You and me both Ron, with so much marketing propagated by the "Coticule Crew" I had pretty much given up on what is true and what is not. But you being an actual science guy bringing it all up again is interesting...
I know what works and what doesn't work in a hands on world, I like to read about the technicalities of why things work right up until they butt heads with what I know to be true... Then I always go straight to "Yeah that might be what you think is going on, but my razors say otherwise" and then as that series of jokes say "Is when the fight began"
But this is a rather fun thread so far...

Originally Posted by gssixgun

OK now I am a little confused, I thought that the Coticule DID NOT make "Friable" slurry (or "Breakdown-able" for us backwoods boys )
From my understanding a Friable slurry would be used like my Nakayama that I leave the slurry on there as I hone, and the finish becomes more and more fine as the Nakayama slurry breaks down... I have to dilute and finally rinse on the Coticule to achieve a shaving edge... On the Nakayama I hone to almost dry on the pulverized slurry/powder

Now Lost in the Science
g

Glenn,

I bow to you and Ron when it come to all things honing. I really do not know about the slurry. LIke I said I was pulling the info out of my butt.

Charlie

Originally Posted by Kees

Perfect crystals are rarely found in natural rocks. I have seen the red garnets with a mike, but never a perfect crystal. You can see a picture here: Belgischer Brocken, Schleifstein, schrfen, Schrfstein, Abziehstein

Click on INFOS and then the first picture on the left for coticule slurry and the third on the left for Belgian Blue garnets which are larger.

Well that was interesting. The BBW xtals were 3-12 micron.

So has anybody done a before & after honing, scope shot of coti slurry. Might show if the xtals break down or if they are actually from Krypton

Originally Posted by spazola

Glenn,

I bow to you and Ron when it come to all things honing. I really do not know about the slurry. LIke I said I was pulling the info out of my butt.

Charlie

I got confused on a ton of this long ago Charlie, I do know I can hone with them either way

Originally Posted by gssixgun

I got confused on a ton of this long ago Charlie, I do know I can hone with them either way

+1. I don't know why the light goes on when I flip the switch and, as Rhett Butler said," Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn" so long as it does. Similarly, I make slurry when I feel like I want that method and hone. What the shape of the garnet is doesn't concern me as long as the coticule .... or whatever, cuts the metal. Unscientific cuss that I am, if everyone was like I am, we wouldn't even have the wheel. Thank heaven there are guys like Utopian.

Ha ! Jimmy, imagine a world without bicycles

If the coticule releases the garnets then the rock around it becomes weaker and it would begin to crumble which is why over time even a coticule needs to eventually be lapped. It's in a way like accelerated weathering. Take a piece of typical Granite for instance. It's make up (typically) of quartz, feldspar and mica. First the mica deteriorates and weathers out turning to mud and then you have pits in the rock and then the feldspar goes and finally the rest just falls apart even thought the quartz is the hardest and it just weathers to small quartz pieces which washes away. Usually when you talk friable rocks sandstone is the textbook example but anything that behaves similar is friable.

I never considered this. In fact, I've always assumed the opposite--that the coticule was self-refreshing due to the release of both garnets (whether intact or fractured) and the substrate forming the slurry.
Do you have any basis for believing that the garnets are released and the substrate remains and is weakened? I'm not arguing this, I simply don't know.