Thread: Coticule methods not applicable to soft stones?

Got my first coti and I'm surprised by how soft it is. Sorta reminds me of my King 8k. I wanted to try the diluted slurry method but I think this stone will want to self slurry. Did I just happen to get a very soft coti? Are there others much harder than this?

Two obvious questions - how do you know how hard or soft it rates if it's your first one? What happens when you actually hone with it?

Well i lapped it and it's very chalky and like I said reminds me of my 8k king. Since it is my first coti I was hoping someone here would tell me if it sounds soft to them too. I haven't tried honing on it yet but it did work extremely fast when using it as a traditional stone on one of my pocket knives. Just did a touch up really and the draw felt very similar to other soft stones I own.


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It seems lots of coticules lap relatively easily. As you may well know, straight razor honing and knife sharpening are different. You will be using minimal pressure with a straight. It might auto slurry a little and that's ok, there is nothing to stop you from trying the dilucot method.

I don't have any King stones, but most of mine are quick to lap and I can see how they would appear chalky.

The easiest way for me to test a stone, is to take a shavable razor and give it 10 to 50 laps to see how the shave will be.

I have around 40-50 coticules and only two of them do not show any sign of auto-slurrying after 50 laps.

Originally Posted by Utopian

I have around 40-50 coticules and only two of them do not show any sign of auto-slurrying after 50 laps.

I've only ever had four, and two of them did not. One of them was labeled "Deep Rock" and it wasn't as good of a stone as it looked. Hard with large particles. The other was a very fine stone. I loved it.

You may use more pressure on cotis than I do, though - certainly one man's self-slurrying stone can end up being another man's "it'll hone on clear water indefinitely" stone.

I guess my first coti is a soft one. I just need to figure out where it fits in a progression. Has anyone compared the scratches left by a soft coti to anything? I need a better scope to do my own observations.


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If you consider it to be comparable to your King 8k, have you tried comparing shaves off of the two hones?

I wouldnt jump to the conclusion that you have a soft coticule. if you're putting a knife on it, it's going to feel soft. same with a chisel or a plane blade in my experience.
they're all easy to lap for the most part and the majority of mine autoslurry after awhile. So it may just be that you're not used to that feel or type of stone. I'm not familiar with Kings so much so I cant compare.
In regards to where to put in honing progression, there's lots of guys that finish with a coticule. I do on some of my razors.