Quote Originally Posted by Marshal View Post
Bouncing off this, as you can see, many (more? ) coticules are prone to auto slurry. The fact that the garnets are loose an prone to break out of the bonding material makes them very fast, an quite versatile for a natural stone. The downside is that should a larger garnet break loose, you're going to end with an edge that is disappointing to shave with.

I might suggest you try honing under running water. You can't stop the stone from auto slurrying, but you can wash the slurry away to minimize the damage it does.

I have to use my coticule with a 50/50 mix of mineral oil and mineral spirits to thin it out and use very light pressure. Otherwise the particulate it releases can degrade an 8K edge. When the stone wants to cooperate it is a good finisher. When it doesn't, I seriously consider relegating it to working on chisels and knives.
I have heard many get good results under running water, but it never works well for me. Mainly 2 issues I run into, maybe someone can educate me on what I do wrong.

1) The ergonomics stinks, I'm leaning over the sink with my arms extended further than normal. Typically, I hold the stone about shoulder height and pretty close, like a T-Rex honing.

2) And this is the toughest, I get crazy sticktion/suctioning of the blade on the hone. Dr. Matt claims this is when it is done, but that is far from true in my case as it occurs 10ish laps in. Once it gets bad enough, I go back to thorough rinses and my dinosaur position.

Albeit, this is generally with one specific coticule that I use the most with stone-in-hand honing