So glad I found this Coticule video

I haven't been on this site for a while so I don't know if you guys have seen this. In the past I've had minor success with my coticule but now I'm getting edges I really really like. It's not a 1 stone technique because my Naniwa SS 5k does most of the heavy lifting and the Coticule just smoothes out the edge. I've tried that in the past with very mixed results (from very bad to ok) but now I'm using running water and it really makes a difference. So if you are having trouble with your coticule give this technique a try.

P.S. He strops after using the 5k stone and then he uses the coticule, I don't do that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXHsETAasqc

Yes, a good video by Matt, but this technique and performance depends on the stone, because you are just using the abrasive in the stone, minimizing the slurry that may or may not be friable, not all coticules wil perform the same. It is worth a try.

Coticules are one of the most difficult stones to figure out, probably because of two factors, the slurry and the stone. So if you try a Coticule, (and most of us have been bit by the Coticule bug at sometime), try all the techniques you can find, until you get good results, with your stone.

Alex does also have an interesting post on Underwater Honing, in his blog at thejapanblade.com from a couple years ago and a video, honing under water, with good results.

Actually it is very useful vid if you can tolerate a lot Dr. Matt irrelevant talk and make it to the end. Whenever I test a finisher stone I prefer to hone without a slurry first, and use it as a finisher after 8-9 k level stone, the reason behind that is finishing is relatively slow process which require the edge to be refined to the optimal level of what that finishing stone has to offer. However lots of us take Cotis and slurry them and releasing a lot of abrasive which it good if you are progressing not finishing as varying the slurry is like progressing on synthetic stone, and here were most of us go wrong with Coties we don’t refine the edge enough during the progression then we try to finish on clear water with 40-70 lap and the results will be disappointing. That’s why I test them without slurry as finisher first to understand and know the stone capabilities first, which helps me to set a par to aim to when progressing on that stone.

So as Dr. Matt said use it as a finisher :)

P.S. I am with you on not stropping in between

I liked Dr Matt's vids, because he explains certain things a beginner needs to know very well and with lots of patience. I had no trouble skipping through the "boring" parts. I find that experienced guys often skip a detail or two, involontarily, assuming the people know, because the knowledge is there (here, everywhere). Yet these details sometimes make all the difference in the world.

I'll repeat what I've said before, because it should always ALWAYS be remembered: There is only that tap and wobble test, not part of the coticule honing vid, where he doesn't say it's useful for razors with straight spine ONLY. So if a begginer took an old Wade and Butcher cleaver and tried something like that..... [emoji33] [emoji24] Who knows, maybe Mike got one of those, in his Wade and Butchered topic. ;)