Thread: Finishing with coticule???

I have only had the opportunity the use three Coticules; one belong to a friend, a Select bout I acquired several years ago and one that was recently gifted to me, all three were different. It does take some time to learn each one but knowledge gained from learning one will help while trying to learn another.

Personally, I love Coticule edges especially on most Sheffield razors. Not all razors react the same to a Coticule, I've had a few razors that didn't like Coticules at all. You have to remember: when honing straight razors each country, each manufacture uses different metals which require different honing techniques and different hones. The more hones you have the more tools to work with. Simply put, honing razors is an experiment............

Originally Posted by DoughBoy68

I have only had the opportunity the use three Coticules; one belong to a friend, a Select bout I acquired several years ago and one that was recently gifted to me, all three were different. It does take some time to learn each one but knowledge gained from learning one will help while trying to learn another.

Personally, I love Coticule edges especially on most Sheffield razors. Not all razors react the same to a Coticule, I've had a few razors that didn't like Coticules at all. You have to remember: when honing straight razors each country, each manufacture uses different metals which require different honing techniques and different hones. The more hones you have the more tools to work with. Simply put, honing razors is an experiment............

I don't subscribe to the pairing of certain steels with certain hones. I mainly hone using one of my coticules (I have three, one of which a 1.5x10cm bout, all of their finishes quite indistinguishable from one another), with the odd session on a Thüringer (of which I incidentally also have three).

I have used them to hone a wide variety of Sheffield, Solingen, Eskilstuna, Japanese, USA, and French razors. I have yet to encounter a well-made razor that doesn't take a comfortably shaving edge off these hones.

I am a firm believer in the adagio that the biggest factor in getting a great result is the hands that wield the tools. But blaming the tools is just much more palatable to the ego. There are defective hones (also coticules; my fourth is one as it has hard inclusions). There are even more hands that have yet to learn how to use the ones that aren't.

Best regards,

Pieter

You might also want to try dry honing on your coticule, very light strokes. I've come to actually prefer that to finishing under running water, but as people have pointed out each stone is different. The other thing here is to just maybe manage your expectations a bit: your stone just may not give the kind of sharp edge you're looking for and that might be just fine! For myself, I take the smoothness of the coti-edge over the greater keenness of other edges more or less every time.

Also, of you want to improve your final keenness with a coticule you can put a bit of talcum powder on the hone, massage it onto the surface and do a bunch (I'd say at least 20) of finishing strokes. You can add a few drops of water if you want, but it's not a requirement.

Of course unnecessary works best if you maxed out your edge on water first.

Another thing I always suggest when people encounter problems with honing on their coticule is the unicot method. It's as fool-proof a method as you can get for coticules.

Regards,

Pieter

One thing that helped up my coticule edges was stropping the razor fully and then returning to the stone. Repeat stropping, but twice the laps what you normally do.

If you want a hands on opinion, shoot me a PM. I'd be happy to test it out/finish a razor or 2 on it, no charge.

That is exactly what I do.

Some tips and tricks I’ve found to help.

1. A honing oil. It will easily wash off with soap and water.
2. Soap and water.
3. Light stropping strokes on the stone.
4. Lots of stropping.
5. Adding a micro bevel with a layer of tape.
6. Practice using the same stone and nothing else.
7. Using paste.
8. Knowing when your edge is maxed out and some coticule do leave something to be desired in the finishing department. Out of 30+ I have owned I’ve had some fantastic finishers, some 4K range ones, a couple with inclusions that degraded every edge.

Good luck.

Originally Posted by dinnermint

One thing that helped up my coticule edges was stropping the razor fully and then returning to the stone. Repeat stropping, but twice the laps what you normally do.

+1, what he said.

“One thing that helped up my coticule edges was stropping the razor fully and then returning to the stone. Repeat stropping, but twice the laps what you normally do.”

That is good advice with any fishing stone.