There was some brief discussion in another thread about using a coticule dry, and this got me thinking... I'm playing around with different ways of using my coticule to finish razors to see if I can improve the edges I'm getting.

I thought I'd start a thread to find out what other methods you guys have tried, and what your impressions are.

Up until yesterday, I was using my coticule as a finishing hone after either the Belgian blue or Norton 4/8K. I was using it in the typical way, spritzed with water. These edges shave smoothly. They don't usually do well on the hanging hair test. The hair splits and peels rather than cutting.

The barber manual that Scott (honedright) recently posted says that a Belgian hone can be used dry, wet or with lather. (Interestingly, it doesn't mention slurry at all in connection with Belgian hones.) It also describes a yellow stone with a slate backing that must be what we call a coticule now. This it says can be used either dry or wet.

Another member mentioned that he had good results using his coticule dry, so I thought I'd give it a shot. Last night I took a Wapienica that needed a touch up and did about 50 laps on my tiny 4x1.5" coticule. I tried a hanging hair test afterward, and it snipped the hairs cleanly. It was about the best result on a HHT I can recall getting. I was interested to see how it would shave.

The shave this morning was OK, but it didn't feel as smooth as the edge from the wet coticule. My guess is that the edge from the dry hone wasn't quite as fine--it had more teeth, so it did better on the HHT.

This evening I honed up two razors: a Dovo that's been a little reluctant to reach fighting trim, and the same Wapienica. I finished the Dovo on the dry coticule and got a similar result--passing the HHT with flying colors. For the Wapienica, I slathered the coticule with lather and did about 50 laps. On this razor, the edge was more like the one I get from the coticule with plain water. The hairs would split and peel back but not cut.

I then stropped both razors on my new Tony Miller latigo/horsehide combo. The Dovo's edge didn't seem to do quite as well on the HHT after that. The hairs still cut, but not as cleanly. It's possible that I messed it up a little, or maybe the stropping is smoothing the edge somewhat. The Wapienica's performance on the HHT improved radically. The two razors now handle the HHT about the same.

I have no idea what any of this means; I'll see how things go in the morning.

Has anybody else tried anything like this? What were your results?

I'm curious about all of this because I've never had luck using lather on hones to this point. When I put it on a barber hone it always seems to mess things up for some reason. But the barber manuals and hone instructions say that the progression of dry, wet and lather will give you an increasingly fine edge.

Anyway, I'll post my impressions after my shave-test tomorrow...

Josh