Quote Originally Posted by dcaven View Post
I am using a yellow Belgian coticule with water and have experimented with as few as seven half strokes followed by seven X strokes to as many as twenty five half and X strokes. This is followed by twenty strokes on felt permeated with diamond slurry then twenty strokes on balsa with chromium oxide. Finally, I strop the razor. I never seem to be able to bring the edge back to the condition it was in when first honed. What am I doing wrong?
As Pieter said, 30 x-strokes on water or maybe 30 on very light slurry followed by 30 on water usually refreshes a Coticule edge.
You should not need the diamond or CrOx in addition (I imagine this is what TBS is alluding to).
I wonder what size diamond is in your slurry? Anything larger than 0.25 micron has likely convexed the bevel enough that the edge is no longer contacting the Coticule or the Balsa.