Thread: Coticule lapping

Let's see now, the last time I lapped my Coticule was..............best guess would be a few years ago, use it on every razor I hone and the results are still great.

I also have the Phig and the Welsh stones, lapped them when first got them, lapped the Phig about a year ago but have not lapped the Welsh stones since the first lapping, get great results from them too.

I have about 4 that I finish on. Two have never been lapped, and I finish on them cause I think coticules give better (finishing) results if they're not lapped (and no slurry is used).
The two that I do lap also give a nice edge but not quite as good as the unlapped ones.
This of course could all be in the mind, or because the unlapped ones are better stones, or vice versa. On cotis I finish with extreme elliptical circles so it doesn't matter if they're dished or not.

Just to clarify, they're all vintage and the unlapped ones are between 1900-1950. If I got a new one to finish on I would only lap it once and never use slurry.

Here's my La Veinette after a year of use. I try to work the ends of the stone when I'm raising a slurry, and rotate the stone each time I use it (as you can see I hone a bit heavy on the heel). It was still performing very well when I lapped it, I just figured it was time. I also have some cotis that I use water only that I'll probably never lap.

Good evening gentlemen,

From the moment I owned a honing stone, I was told to get a lapping stone to make your stone flat. Well my 1st hone, (Naniwa 8k) had a sticker on it's surface which I removed. I learned quickly that it had to go. As far as lapping being regular, I quote Lynn Abrams, who rightly said, "Mostly flat is mostly good'. So lets not get too tied up about needing feeler gauges to make sure your hone is flat. If your hones are flat mostly , you will not need a gauge to find out. Common sense, if you are dishing out 8k naniwa Hones I can't imagine that you are doing it right.