Thread: Coticule help please

I'm new to the forum, and new to straight razor shaving in general. I bought a nice coti from the superior shave and a slurry stone. I've done lots of reading and watching videos, and practiced on my rock with the dilucot method every day, with mixed results. After having a little trouble reaching that keener edge, I emailed Jarrod at Superior Shave to see if he could tell what kind of rock I got. He said it appeared to be a La Grise, or possibly a slow dressante. I've read a lot about the la grise being a tough nut to crack, and being on the slow side. I practice with a Dovo SS olive wood and an old Melchior Brother carbon steel, and I have trouble getting past a certain point. I can get both blades to play the violin consistently before stropping, and occasionally can get popping in certain spots of blades after stropping, but something just doesn't seem right. I feel like I should have a much keener edge, but maybe I'm wrong. They shave fine, but I don't have anything to compare to except how my Dovo was when I bought it new from the apothecary here in Chicago, and he said he honed on a Naniwa. I've tried switching up slurry thicknesses, numbers of laps and cycles, finishing with Norton honing oil, etc. I take my time and am very diligent with keeping the strokes good. I actually even tried the dilucot on my little slurry stone, and it seemed a little keener on that stone. Not sure what layer or vein the slurry stone is. I tried the unicot method tonight on my main hone, and I just can't seem to get the edges keen enough to pop hair a lot with HHT. Could be my HHT method or the hair from my head not being good for the test. Sorry for the long post -- I guess I have 3 questions for anyone who would like to chime in. Does my bout look like a la grise to you, and if so, any tips that might make it different to hone with? Also, I know that an HHT is not the most definitive test, but should it definitely be popping hairs when ran across the blade to give a decent shave? Also, does the fact that the Dovo is stainless make it hone differently? Thanks in advance friends