Thread: An affair w/ a coticule

Originally Posted by regularjoe

Better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it. That goes for steak AND coticules.

I apply this principle to alcohol



BTW, cflaageriv, at the height of my hone experimentation I think I had 10 eschers 10 non escher thuringians and 20 or so coticules. The biggest coticule was 2.5"x12", combo with a BBW in a nice wooden box, very uniform color. I eventually sold it to a member who appreciated it more than I did, but I'm glad that I had it for 3 years or so.

Curious, what do you tend to gravitate to these days?

I mean, to be honest with you, I really can't see honing a razor that can be any sharper at all. However, I must admit, I've never tried anything with diamond cutters in it, i.e., spray or stone. Maybe that's the ultimate ticket...I don't know?

Oh, that's easy - naniwa 1k-5k-8k-12k and then one of my remaining eschers/thuringians or the japanese hone. That's a simple straightforward progression that gets the job done quickly and without guesswork (we're talking razors with rusted edges as a starting point) and the final edge after the thuringian or the nakayama is what my face enjoys most. But I still have a bunch of coticules and some other naturals just for fun.

I could loose the 12k naniwa, but since I have it, I throw it in the progression. This way is slightly more consistent and faster than going 8k to finisher, but there isn't that much of a difference really.

It's funny, people have all different tastes. This one friend of mine swears by Spydercos (I don't even know if that's correct, as I know so little about them). Whenever I bring up something about my Barber's hone or Norton or a BBW or coticule he always immediately injects something about the spyderco and its superior capabilities. In fact, at his house the other day he even felt compelled to demonstrate it's "finer" qualities for me.

There's plenty of hones that will do the job if you spend the time to learn how to use them. I like the naniwas because of the feedback and the speed and I'm willing to pay the 3x overhead compared to the nortons, but they are not more magical. The same with the coticules - I like that it's a stone dug from the ground that smells of clay, I like that it is nonporous and I like the feedback on most of them. And I also like my scottish hones for similar reasons. But when it comes to get a razor sharp, I rarely reach for these anymore, these days just I prefer to do the job quicker, and for me there isn't much mystery in using say coticule.
The spyderco is a bit different animal, for example depending how you lap it it will cut differently.

If you finish with oil or wd40 you will get the maximum from the coticule. It rinses off with soap just fine. Enjoy.

Originally Posted by Disburden

If you finish with oil or wd40 you will get the maximum from the coticule. It rinses off with soap just fine. Enjoy.

That is something I can safely say will never happen on my stone... You guys can say it over an over again all you want but Oil and especially WD-40 will never touch my coticule...
Nope not for me

Originally Posted by cflaageriv

Curious, what do you tend to gravitate to these days?

Gin ? .......

I think you did a very smart thing in buying a coticule for your son. Coticules have gone up in price quite a bit over the past 7 years and in fact have surpassed what my 401k has returned! About 3 years ago the Belgians started to deep quarry for coticule and that required a heavy investment in mining equipment, pumps, etc. and that's part of the reason for the price increase. They used to just blow up the quarry face, sort through for gradable stone, and bulldoze the dross to the side and then repeat the process.