Thread: My first hone

Still pretty new to proper shaving. My two straight razors were honed by the shop I bought them from and they're still working great but I figured I'm going to have to learn to hone sooner or later, so I picked up my first stone:



The shop described it as a Belgium Blue Whetstone with the lighter side to be used first and the darker side last.

I'm reading all I can about honing before I dig in and try it. I've reviewed the advice for beginners here but I'm trying to find other videos and tutorials. Any advice or links to share would be greatly appreciated.

Its a coticule, from what I can see it looks like the dark side may be slate rather than Belgian blue, so shouldn't be used for sharpening and is just there to strengthen the cream layer.

Its a great looking stone, enjoy using it. There are some detailed instructions of how to use it here

Looks nice!

I'm right behind ya, plan on picking up my first hones here in the next month or so. I'll probably go with the set that is sold on WhippedDog.com. It comes with 1/2 hones in the 4k/8k combo to learn on......

Good luck!

Joshua

That's a nice-looking little coticule. I say little, because it's a little small for honing. Not impossible, just a little small. The problem is that coticule honing is not simple as it is, and honing on a small stone just adds to the difficulty. OK if you've been honing for a while, but a medium grade of difficulty for a beginning "honist". All that grousing aside, I'd love to have that stone, it's sweet.

Well I'll agree that its a touch on the small side. The idea that coticules are not beginner stones is somewhat odd to me, as a beginner I couldn't get a decent edge on anything other than my coticule. These days I have several options but I find myself drawn back to it most of the time.

I've got a coticule about the size of the one pictured, and sometimes it's a lifesaver, one of those "when all else fails" things. It's just that it's hard enough to learn steady, consistent honing strokes on a stone that's 3 inches wide, much less on one that's 1 1/2 ". Then there's the learning curve of when to slurry, when to thin the slurry, when to lose the slurry, when to drink the bourbon.... what bourbon to drink..... all complicated for beginners.

Originally Posted by stimpy52

...when to drink the bourbon.... what bourbon to drink..... all complicated for beginners.

Well heck, that's easy. Van Winkle 13 years old, Lot B. Smells like a caramel nut brownie...decedent!

The shop has it inside out....

The light color site is the razor side.

The dark side will be one of two:

• slate from the mine trash pile
• belgium blue hone stone

It looks like a nice hone that should get you
many years of use. My Coticle was purchased
in the early 70's and does not show much if any wear.

The belgium blue is coarser than the
light Coticle side often by a lot. Slate
is just flat split junk rock used to strengthen
the thin layer of Coticle. For years belgium blue
was tossed in the junk pile it had too much garnet
in it and was hard on the old saws.

Many folk find that a rubbing/ slurry stone helps.
Check the classified for Coticule Combo Slurry Stones.
Many shaver vendors on the net also sell them.

Originally Posted by eflatminor

Still pretty new to proper shaving. My two straight razors were honed by the shop I bought them from and they're still working great but I figured I'm going to have to learn to hone sooner or later, so I picked up my first stone:



The shop described it as a Belgium Blue Whetstone with the lighter side to be used first and the darker side last.

I'm reading all I can about honing before I dig in and try it. I've reviewed the advice for beginners here but I'm trying to find other videos and tutorials. Any advice or links to share would be greatly appreciated.

niftyshaving has it right. The light cream colored side is the finest and should be used as a finishing side.
To determine what the composition of the dark side is please shoot some good pics of it both wet and dry and post them here. Then we can continue this conversation to help you even more.

I see a bunch of small nicks on the edges of that hone, those need to be sanded out. Gently sand all of the edges.
Sharp edges are not good for a straight razor, it can cause micro-nicks in the edge.

Thanks guys for the input so far. Here is a picture of the dark stone side of the hone, first dry then half wet:




A couple of follow up questions:
1) Any advice on "when to slurry, when to thin the slurry, when to lose the slurry"?
2) Is a "rubbing/slurry stone" simply another smaller stone like I already have? I figured the action of honing the blade would create a slurry. Is the idea of a slurry stone to create that slurry before honing? Do you have to do that every time or just the first time?
3) The nicks on the edge of the stone, what should I use to sand them out? Regular sand paper?

Thanks again gents...