Originally Posted by
hatzicho
You don't need to go that high in progression bevore you get on the coti. The main thing about a coti is that it provides a very widde range of honing capabilities.
I always step to the coti after bevel setting on a 1K synthetic and use the 1 K only to have a defined starting point. Starting with a thick slurry on the coti and some pressure, than diluting more and more and reducing honing pressure until finally only using water, just like the dilicut method developped by Bart Torfs. You can also set the bevel on the coti, but that takes a bit more time and the point is, you always need to know exactly where you are in the progression to handle the dilution steps correctly.
But there is in my opinion really no reason to add a 4K or 8K step in between. You can easily remove the scratches that the 1K leaves with a thick coti slurry.
Under "normal" conditions with a good and fast coti an experienced honer should only need about 15-20 minutes to get a razor shave ready from a 1K with the coti.