Thread: For guys who have a hard time getting a good coticule edge

Originally Posted by Iceni

Mine doesn't, It burnishes, And gets slower and slower. I have to lap it ever few razors to keep it cutting!

Woah--Really? Thanks for posting. I've been wondering about one.

Originally Posted by Tjarven

It´s a stone not diamond... of course they do. If not you never need to lap it either. It´s Common sense there

Originally Posted by Utopian

No, they don't. Most do to some degree or another, but not all of them do. Not all of mine do.

**ducks for cover**

yeah I think there is a difference between what we know as "auto-slurrying" and dishing of a hone that is never lapped...

an Ark will eventually get dished out with prolonged use... would you call it a slurrying stone?

Originally Posted by Utopian

No, they don't. Most do to some degree or another, but not all of them do. Not all of mine do.

Depends on how many hundreds of strokes you use to finish a razor

Ooooh! A honing discussion!

For me at least, any shedding of grit would be considered auto-slurry. I would say that all natural stones do it - the variable here is the degree or rate and volume of production of auto-slurry. For those stones that would take years to dish, the degree of auto-slurry is very low - which may make it effectively zero during the honing of a single razor, but not actually zero. The finish on the honing surface also makes a huge difference to the degree/rate of auto-slurrying. Both a coarser lap with a coarser diamond plate or coarser grit of wet/dry and a lapping with a newer sharper diamond plate will result in a higher degree/rate of auto-slurry when compared to a stone lapped with a finer diamond plate or finer grit of wet/dry and/or duller, more worn in diamond plate.

As with most other things in this world, everything is relative, and goes by degrees. Those stones that barely shed any grit may give just as good a shave as those that are kept religiously wiped clean of auto-slurry or they may not - just as some stones can give a good shave even when slurried purposely. It's just a matter of getting to know your individual stone(s) and how they work best for your face.

Originally Posted by Tjarven

It´s a stone not diamond... of course they do. If not you never need to lap it either. It´s Common sense there

Well, I guess you know more about my coticules than I do.

I've had about 10 coticules (unlike Utopian, who could pave a small driveway with his...lol!) pass through my possession and three of those didn't auto slurry nearly at all and would take at least 100 laps to even detect any hint of a slurry, others got milky looking after maybe ten laps. The ones I kept started to slurry a small bit after 50 laps or so. They are rocks and they are all different I would think that even the softest ones work well with the proper techniques.

Originally Posted by Tjarven

It´s a stone not diamond... of course they do. If not you never need to lap it either. It´s Common sense there

Originally Posted by rodb

They are rocks and they are all different I would think that even the softest ones work well with the proper techniques.

Indeed they do, which is why I can't say I've had a bad coticule.

Originally Posted by eKretz

[...] The very hard coticules are relatively easy, but those just slightly softer stones can be problematic for some, due to their tendency to auto-slurry.

[...]

Hence we arrive at the method alluded to earlier. It's quite simple really, and very effective in my experience. Here's all it consists of: in addition to (or even rather than) honing under running water, simply pause every 5 laps or so and rinse the razor, then wipe the surface of the hone with one's fingers with a scrubbing motion while holding the stone under running water. I also usually give the blade a single wipe on both sides under running water - drawing my fingers from spine to edge to thoroughly rinse any tenacious garnets away from both stone and blade.

If you have ever raised a slurry on a stone then rinsed said stone under the faucet, you have seen how all the slurry isn't removed - some always stays behind on the surface of the stone unless it's wiped/scrubbed under running water - running water passing over the surface isn't enough to remove it fully. This technique solves that problem and gives me quite good edges.

Hopefully this is helpful to at least one or two fellows, happy honing!

Informative post, and indeed it should prove helpful. Getting rid of the slurry before the finish is why I rinse the stone under the tap while rubbing the surface with my palm, as well as rinsing and drying the razor's edge.

However, I do think people overestimate the number of auto-slurrying hones. I have not tried hundreds of coticules, but still quite a fair number and have only found one that slightly auto-slurries. I recall Bart Torfs, who has indeed tried hundreds of coticules, mentioning that auto-slurrying is not all that common in coticules.

To me, a sign of auto-slurrying is that when honing on plain water, steel is removed relatively fast but there is no noticeable increase in keenness (visually I find the difference to be marginal, even though to the trained eye it is detectable, just not as clearly as the lack of increased keenness). I have a small bout that does that, ergo minor autoslurrying going on there. I also have another bout that I can use to accomplish minor corrections in keenness on plain water. It is fast but still adds keenness, ergo there is no autoslurrying going on.

Interesting factoid: most (I hesitate to say 'all') Belgian Blue whetstones autoslurry. Like crazy.