Thread: Coticule chronicles

Josh,
I have very sensitive facial skin and the normal cup soaps dry it out. I use Tom's of Maine shaving cream as it's not drying and pretty natural. The only complaint I have about it is that the tube looks the same as their spearmint toothpaste and while I haven't brushed my teeth with shaving cream yet, it may be a possibility for others. Alternatively, someone might have a breakthrough shaving with toothpaste! ; )

Originally Posted by Howard

Alternatively, someone might have a breakthrough shaving with toothpaste! ; )

Hmmmmmm Toothpaste = Abrasive tooth cleanser... Shaving cream = non abrasive shaving aid. Lets see... Shaving dulls razor over time. Toothpaste cleans teeth with abrasive action over time.

A breakthrough! Shave with toothpaste and sharpen razor at the same time! By George! I think you have something there Howard!

Well finally after a few weeks of experimenting I had a break through with the Belgians. I took a 6/8 Fred Reynolds razor and went to work on the blue begian and coticule. The razor was in fine condition and just need a touch up, but I wanted to see how sharp I could get the edge by using a blue (slurry) -> yellow (no slurry) progression (so far this is how I've achieved the best results).

I did about 50 laps on the blue with a light slurry, went to the HHT and it only passed in the middle of the blade.... So back to another 100 strokes using a rolling X pattern technique...and it popped hairs across the length of the blade.

After, I switched to the coticuile for 50 strokes with just water then to 100 laps on my latigo strop and went for a test shave.

The results were by far the sharpest blade I have ever honed myself...and I got that feeling I had two years ago when I honed my first razor to shave ready condition. Working with these Belgians has turned out to be a very satisfying experience that I just wanted to share with anyone currently using these or interested in trying them out.

All the best,

James

I use for a realy dull razor, norton 4000 -blue Belgian with light slurry- yellow Coticule with light slurry -and finish with a 10 stokes in yellow coticule with only water.
With belgians the feeling of shaving is diferent.
For me the blue is a fast cutting 8000 and not a slow cutting 4000-6000. try to shave after blue only and after norton 8000 only, to see the diferences

I am currently starting on a dmt 1200 to reset uneven bevels or sharpen up really dull razors...then to the blue. I used to shave right off the 8k side of the norton, so it would be interesting to shave off the blue belgian to see the difference.

James,

I'm with you 100 percent on how you're approaching the Belgians. My big breakthrough came after reading a comment from Lynn that he posted a while back about how he found it takes a lot of strokes to finish a razor on the coticule after the 8K Norton--I think he said he was using 30 at the time.

I've arrived at basically the same formula--set a bevel on the 1200 DMT, do 50 to 100 strokes on the blue, then 50 on the yellow. Very consistent results.

If the HHT works well for your particular hair, I find it's best to shoot for a good HHT off the blue stone. That stone produces an edge that is excellent for the HHT, and if you're not snipping hanging hairs off the blue stone, you probably should keep working with it until you do.

One of these days I'm going to try to shave off the Belgian blue as Yannis suggested. I'm not sure I agree that it's more like an 8K stone, because it's hard to compare the edge from the 4K Norton to the one from the blue. It's almost like comparing a serrated bread knife to a smooth carving knife. The blue leaves very shallow grooves compared to the deeper grooves of the 4K Norton.

Keep experimenting!

Josh

I think that must try a TDM1200 in the place of 4000!

Josh , not to compare 4000- blue, but 8000- blue

Ah, my bad.

The 1200-grit diamond hone is great, but it's only for razors that are in really bad shape. For touchups I just use my coticule, and rarely I'll go back to the Belgian blue.

Josh

To all: I want to thank you all for your posts. I just received my Belgian Blue/Carborundum combo stone, and Yellow Coticule from Howard. Since I am just beginning my honing journey I appreciate the help and advice as well as the cumulative experience of all who have posted on this thread. I feel that I am ahead of the game already and I owe it all to you.

Thanks!

Josh, do you use the coticule exclusively for honing? Say I've got a good razor, it's fine in all aspects, just a little past the paste point. Would you only use the coticule?