Thread: 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.

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.

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.

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.

It is a #9 near rectangle bout.

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.