Thread: Tam O Shanter vs Coticule

I come right off the 8K Norton to an Escher every day and consistently end up with a nice shaving razors. Some may need a minor pasting, some do not. The only problem with micro chipping I have ever had is with very hard Damascus razors.

You can experiment with 50 stones and find that they all do something that you like, but for every day consistency, the Norton 4K/8K is tops followed by either an Escher or Coticule.

Lynn

I generally don't take my sheffields to a very high grit. The sheffields are soft enough that the aggressive lower-grit shaptons leave deep gouges in the steel that take the arkansas forever to get out. The TOS with a thick slurry does this much faster than the pink. Accd to Norton the translucents are around 6k, but my pink cuts noticeably finer than that - it makes an edge a bit sharper than the Norton 8k. Once it leaves the pink then it gets a few laps on the boron carbide (~12k) and I usually call it a day. I've experimented going higher that that but the tradeoffs haven't really been worth it.

Originally Posted by mparker762

I generally don't take my sheffields to a very high grit. The sheffields are soft enough that the aggressive lower-grit shaptons leave deep gouges in the steel that take the arkansas forever to get out. The TOS with a thick slurry does this much faster than the pink. Accd to Norton the translucents are around 6k, but my pink cuts noticeably finer than that - it makes an edge a bit sharper than the Norton 8k. Once it leaves the pink then it gets a few laps on the boron carbide (~12k) and I usually call it a day. I've experimented going higher that that but the tradeoffs haven't really been worth it.

Sheffields are generally very easy to hone unless previously honed unevenly or extensively. The Norton 4K/8K Escher or Coticule with some paste if needed is all that is normally needed. If one is really been honed unevenly or ground up, send it to Joe for re-grinding.

Lynn

I have both stones in my collection and have honed razors on both. I like the Tam for a dull razor and the Coticule for a finishing stone. Microchipping of the blade is not an issue with Coticules or Tams or Eschers. If you're having a problem with microchipping, it may be the steel and not the stone. Steel that isn't heat treated correctly will be brittle and that leads to chipping. Are you using a Damascus steel razor by any chance?