Coticule size vs Natural combo
Looking for opinions from experienced coticule users. A little history first; I'm new to straights, been DE shaving for about 4 years. Found a vintage C-MON handmade Blackie, got it fixed up, and have been shaving with it off and on for a while. Poor man's strop kit has been keeping it going up until now. I've decided I want to jump full in, so I just ordered a new straight; Boker King Cutter; and a new strop. Now, I also want to be able to touch up the edge, with maybe a little bevel resetting, whatever is needed, to re-sharpen my C-MON, and to keep the Boker in good shape. Perhaps, in the future I may find another flea market special and want to fix that up. I like the idea of one stone to do this. My budget is $100; so I can't invest in a number of different hones for different purposes. Been reading a lot on hones and honing, and am interested in getting a coticule. I'm elaborating a little because some may find my question flawed, but I'm trying to avoid at this point getting suggestions about getting different types of hone; just trying to keep the comments focused/narrowed down.
Like I said, I've been doing some reading and it seems like some people can set a bevel with a coticule on slurry, but then can't quite get their razor keen enough. So they have found that by using the bbw side of a natural combo, they can increase the sharpness, and then finish w/ their coticule w/ water. On one site that sells coticules here in the states, there are a couple of natural combos I can afford, but they are on the small side; 40x100mm and 30x125mm. Are these too small for a newbie? I originally was thinking of getting a 50x150mm, site unseen, glued to slate, coticule for $100. Would that size be better for a newbie, and just concentrate on learning the stone I get? I understand that there is a long learning curve. I guess what the question really boils down to is this; would having the bbw side to use between the coticule w/ slurry and the coticule w/ water phases be worth the size disadvantage of the smaller stone? :confused: