Thread: Lapping coti/bbw

Yes if you use a slurry stone it constantly keeps the surface refreshed and smooth but if you were trying to further refine the surface beyond that what a slurry stone can do to see if the edge can potentionally be greater refind then the slurry stone is useless. I think i agree with glen when saying the question really is "does a smooth surface actually make a better edge?" or does it just change the speed of the hone? And if thats the case why would anyone want a slower hone that doesn't make the edge better...When your doing a final polish on a coti you don't want any slurry or release of garnets at all, as you guys know. what you do want for the best polish is a hard smooth surface with the garnets only exposed slightly. So as glen pointed out the question is does a smoother polished surface prevent release of garnets and reduce their cutting above the hone's surface?

In my opinion which does not have much experience only from our discussion, to get beyond the limit of the coticule you got to go with a harder, smoother stone which is well...obvious. Because no matter how polished you make a coti the garnets will still act the same, their the same size as before and they will still get released. BUT thats an opinion with no evidence...

Remember what I said about one question opening up more ???

Let's explore using the Slurry stone(s) just for a second

If the slurry stone is not cut from the same piece of base stone than the outcome is entirely up in the air, a harder slurry stone will change the surface of the base stone, but a softer slurry stone will break down and simply create slurry that rides atop the base stone...

See it continues to go deeper and deeper,, Keep in mind that anytime you are talking about any type of natural stone you can only speak for the stone that is in your hand at the moment... Each natural stone is by it's very nature different so one must be very careful when making broad statements about them...

IE: "A slurry stone will smooth the surface" that is not necessarily true it depends on the nature of both the slurry stone and the base stone...

Also using sandpaper/and even other stones on many of these stones/hones can embed an errant piece of grit that you really won't like the outcome of finding that while honing...
This is why so many of us use the Diamond Plates for our lapping needs


ps: Want an easy solution to the final polish on most any natural water stone if you want to try a "Slicker" surface/feel, try a slap of shaving lather

Just a side thought, i didn't want to start another thread... I was lapping the coticule with 2000k paper just dry, after reading a thread about uses of magical coti dust for repair i got an idea to put it on the back side of my strop. when i stropped today i used it at least it would take moisture off i was thinking, but I had a significantly better shave! very smooth. I don't use pastes but i can see now how it could help. I thought it was cool.

Originally Posted by 111Nathaniel

Just a side thought, i didn't want to start another thread... I was lapping the coticule with 2000k paper just dry, after reading a thread about uses of magical coti dust for repair i got an idea to put it on the back side of my strop. when i stropped today i used it at least it would take moisture off i was thinking, but I had a significantly better shave! very smooth. I don't use pastes but i can see now how it could help. I thought it was cool.

You should be careful when using the powder/slurry that you got from lapping the coticule with sandpaper. I'm glad it worked out for you, but I would typically avoid it since there's still a risk of getting some coarser stray particles from the sandpaper in with the powder/slurry.

Originally Posted by gssixgun

If the slurry stone is not cut from the same piece of base stone than the outcome is entirely up in the air, a harder slurry stone will change the surface of the base stone, but a softer slurry stone will break down and simply create slurry that rides atop the base stone...

That makes sense Glen. Question though...for example, with a Coticule, as long as you are using a coticule slurry stone, have you ever noticed a difference? I have used the 2 different coticule slurry stones I have, and even used my other coticules to raise a slurry, and I haven't noticed any difference. They are all from different veins. I can't remember where I saw it, but I thought I remembered Bart saying something about how it makes no difference on the edge when using different coticule slurry stones. Too much information! AKK! :P

Originally Posted by avatar1999

I can't remember where I saw it, but I thought I remembered Bart saying something about how it makes no difference on the edge when using different coticule slurry stones. Too much information! AKK! :P

Bart is a damn smart guy when it comes to these stones I think he has one as a second wife

But I don't think that is quite right, I don't see how it could be,,
Yes BTW I have tried a few on my own coticule and others and a few different ways of lifting slurry..

But you are talking about basically this

King 1k King 6k Norton 8k

Norton 1k Norton 4k Norton 8k

Shapton 1k Shapton 4k Norton 8k

Naniwa 1k Naniwa 5k Norton 8k

Chosera 1k Chosera 5k Norton 8k

Now if you expect all of those progressions to be the same at the end, then yes I guess it wouldn't matter what you used to raise the slurry

Keep in mind we just left the realm of Honing and Shaving, and launched ourselves into the realm of chasing that last elusive 1% of the edge that only matters to us nutz

So if we are talking about a simple shaving situation which is what Bart might have been referencing then yes I doubt you would feel much difference in the shave, just as the original question on this thread about is there a difference in how slick the surface of the finish stone is only us nutz care