Humbled by my coticule

I am trying to learn a one stone progression on my coti bout. I am not a glutton for punishment so I set the bevel on my synth and proceeded to slurry and dilute to plain water.

Not even close.

To confirm it was my ham-handed technique on the coti I reset and did my normal comfortable synth progression to 12k with chrome ox balsa and it shaves like a champ.

Always something to learn! Suggestions for educating myself? Lots of videos but I want to watch the ones that are worth watching as I get better at this I am realizing that anyone can make a video and claim to be an expert. Just to be clear I am not an expert and will not be making any "how to" videos anytime soon :)

Have you honed a good edge off of the coticule?

What size of bout?

It is definitely a more advanced technique. I tend to prefer to put the wear on synthetics and then move to my coti's.

One recommendation that took me a bit, watch your pressure and the resulting stria. Going from heavy to ultra light, without a smooth progression doesn't work well for me.

Do you have a loupe or other magnification? With the bevel properly set on your 1k, work with milky slurry until the striations from the 1k are gone. Add just enough water to maintain consistency. When the 1k striations are gone, you can then dilute on out to plain water. The plain water stage will take some time since the cutting action is much slower than with slurry. Keep the water on the stone clean, replace if it starts to discolor. I would give it at least 100 laps on water, then strop and test shave - hair tests on coticules are problematic at best. If not satisfactory, then follow the directions for the final stage in the unicot method, strop, and shave again.


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Take your 12K edge and hone it on your coticule like a finishing stone to see what it shaves like. No bevel set or pastes. If it's no good, then I'm thinking your coticule is gonna be a tough nut to crack - like mine was.

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Originally Posted by Marshal

Take your 12K edge and hone it on your coticule like a finishing stone to see what it shaves like. No bevel set or pastes. If it's no good, then I'm thinking your coticule is gonna be a tough nut to crack - like mine was.

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I have to agree with this 100%. I have two coticules and although they look the same, one is a great finisher and the other is not. I did exactly what Marshal describes above on the not so good one and the edge was so severely degraded that I basically put that one the shelf until I have time to mess with it. The other one doesn't necessarily improve the sharpness of the edge after a 12K synthetic but it makes it more comfortable and doesn't feel like it is any less sharp to me. A coticule is a natural stone - so there will be variation.

Adam

Check out the videos at www.coticule.be and watch the video by Glen (gssixgun) on honing with a Coticule. Coticules do have a bit of a learning curve and each one is different but once you learn your particular hone a Coticule can produce some very nice edges.

Try your hand on the unicot method as outlined on coticule.be.

It's a bit more straight forward, less specific coticule dependent and more fool proof than the dilution method.

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Originally Posted by dinnermint

Have you honed a good edge off of the coticule?

What size of bout?

It is definitely a more advanced technique. I tend to prefer to put the wear on synthetics and then move to my coti's.

One recommendation that took me a bit, watch your pressure and the resulting stria. Going from heavy to ultra light, without a smooth progression doesn't work well for me.

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It is a #9 near rectangle bout.

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Originally Posted by sqzbxr

Do you have a loupe or other magnification? With the bevel properly set on your 1k, work with milky slurry until the striations from the 1k are gone. Add just enough water to maintain consistency. When the 1k striations are gone, you can then dilute on out to plain water. The plain water stage will take some time since the cutting action is much slower than with slurry. Keep the water on the stone clean, replace if it starts to discolor. I would give it at least 100 laps on water, then strop and test shave - hair tests on coticules are problematic at best. If not satisfactory, then follow the directions for the final stage in the unicot method, strop, and shave again.


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I was scratching my head on the hair tests- thanks for letting me know not to worry too much if the razor doesn't pass that one. I have a loupe and I think I know what to look for so I will try that.

My coticule edges would seldom pass the HHT until after being stropped. Shaved great though.

In general, I and others have found that if you get a strong 'violin' hht off your coticule (where the hair bops across the edge) your edge is at a point where you can finish on water (30+ X-strokes, it's hard to overdo this) strop (min. 60 linen & 60 leather) and shave comfortably.

Not a fast, universal truth, but often the case. Check against a shave test and tweak when necessary.

synthetics are fool proof and I like the naniwas for that reason and there is no doubt every one should learn with a set .

Now you want to try your hand at coticule. Have you got a picture of your coticule? I don't experiment with different coticules newer days as I have two that suit my needs.

Go to coticule.be read through the sharpening academy it explains everything from hht to unicot to dilucot and stropping on linen and it's effects.

I have three Coticules and the work fine. I got better after I watched drmatt357 four videos on YouTube. I highly recommend them.

What you need to look at is the edge, with magnification. Often folks get caught up in looking at the bevel and forget the edge. As you gain more experience and learn your stone, you can do both at the same time.

Also maxing out the 1k bevel and edge will make your natural finish much easier and faster.

When jumping from a synthetic to a natural you can watch the bevel, (removing the deep stria), with a bit of pressure and circles, then concentrate on straightening the edge, with x strokes and light laps with thin slurry. Jointing it straight will help.

Some stones prefer finishing on light slurry, some plain water. Most require many more laps than synthetics.

It is a question of pressure, thickness of the slurry and the number of laps. Also try stropping, then finishing on clear water or very thin slurry to finish.

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Originally Posted by Euclid440

Also try stropping, then finishing on clear water or very thin slurry to finish.

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This has always given me my best edges off of a coticule

I find that when the edge isn't completely to my satisfaction after stropping, going back to a light finishing with water on the coticule and then back to the strop a couple of times helps zero in on the edge I want.

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Originally Posted by Badgister

I find that when the edge isn't completely to my satisfaction after stropping, going back to a light finishing with water on the coticule and then back to the strop a couple of times helps zero in on the edge I want.

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I have experienced the same. With coticules and Thuringians.