Thread: coticule finishing

I just went and ordered a coticule and blue belgian from Howard and am wondering if people use just the coticule as the finish without having a pasted strop?

I will eventually invest in a pasted strop, but unfortunately money is tight and hones are just cooler than pasted strops so I purchased that first. Also for future reference do I just need a 0.25 pasted strop or do people use a 0.5 after the coticule?

I have a 3$ boker i picked up off of ebay that has some hone wear on the spine but the blade and scales are in perfect shape minus some minor corrosion on the tang that I intend to put my hand to practice on honing.

erik

Yes the coticle is a finishing hone. Many people here use it as the final polish before shaving. I'm sure some of them will be by later and post their experiences for you. I myself want one but haven't broken down and bought one...yet! I use an old barbers hone as my fine finisher and don't have a pasted paddle either.

You can certainly get very good edges finishing on the coticle. It may take some practice if you haven't honed razors before.

Jordan

A coticule works great as a final polish; however, you might want to try .5 chromium oxide after the coticule. Some people absolutely love this stuff and it is farily inexpensive. I like to shave directly off the coticule or escher though. It will take a LONG time to get a razor that has issues shave ready with just the coticule though.

I do exactly what HeavyDuty mentioned: from the coticule to the .5 Cr3O2 paddle. The chromium oxide just smooths out the blade for me really well.

This is a personal preference thing.

Though some use both in general you'll find people either use pasted strops exclusively or hones exclusively (for general maint not restoration). Personally I like hones. I find if I use a pasted strop with amplex .5 or .25 though the edge is very keen it just doesn't last as long as one off the hone.

So the answer to your question is yes the coticule will provide you with a great shaving edge. The Norton 8K will do the same but not quite as refined.

I do find it helps to strop on both linen and leather after the coticule. I never had great results with Puma chromium oxide paste.

Originally Posted by Kees

I do find it helps to strop on both linen and leather after the coticule. I never had great results with Puma chromium oxide paste.

Me neither, and I don't understand it. I have a little puma loom strop with green paste on one side and I just don't get good results from it. I have two other homemade strops with handamerican chrome oxide that are terrific though.

I don't have a pasted strop and finish all my razors on the coticule. I'm very happy with the edge I get although I haven't tried a pasted strop. It could be a case of I-don't-know-what-I'm-missing. When I strop it's 40/60 linen/leather.

I'm going to borrow a Cr02 paddle strop and see what I come up with.

Originally Posted by BrianP

When I strop it's 40/60 linen/leather.

That's exactly what I do!