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 Servant4Christ

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

Larry at Whippeddog provides a great service providing starter blades to the community and I recommend his razors without hesitation. However, I don't think anyone should try to learn honing on a half hone. A Norton is a great tool and its dimensions allow good heel to toe support of the blade (3") and a productive stroke length (8"). Half of a good tool is less than what it sounds like.

There are lots of shorter and narrower hones in use, barber's hones and coticules and rare old finishers, and they work just fine. But I think if you pinch your pennies just a little longer and get a full-sized Norton, you'll have a far better learning experience and a more useful lifelong tool.

Best wishes

Eflat,

Others may correct me here, but I have both slate-backed and natural combo - that looks like slate to me.

The urge to dive into all facets of owning/maintaining/restoring razors is almost irresitable. It was for me too. I ignored the counsel to first learn the shave, then learn to hone. I suffered quite a bit for it. At the risk of sounding like a wet blanket on your well justified enthusiam, I wish I had listened to that counsel about the shave first. Glen's thread last month was golden (as usual).
Straight Razor Place - Beginners Tips: October 2011
I get mail and write many new shavers. Its hard to write - probably even harder to hear - that learning the shave first will help you in all the other parts of honing. If you don't know what a good edge feels like, how do you know if you've succeeded or not with your developing skills?

Having a couple blades - don't have to be expensive, allows you to keep shaving while one is out being touched-up by someone competent on the stones. Many will hone for free (myself included) - just to gain more and more experience from having done hundreds of blades. This allows you to enjoy the shaves with proper edges and let you know that a 'good' edge feels like. With that knowledge, you can post your questions, enjoy the kind help of many highly skilled guys here (as I have) and zero in on that 'feel' that you've learned to enjoy.

I hope which ever way you chose to go, you continue enjoying your shaves. When learning to hone, keep your sense of humor nearby - its a challenge. You'll do it fine. There's just some dues to be paid.

I appreciate Lynn's constant reminder to have fun at it.

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.