Thread: Touchup with a Spyderco UF

I have a few self-honed razors that are "almost there" - I can get a nice BBS shave with them, but it just takes a bit more work than one of my honemeister-honed blades. For instance, going down the cheek or up the neck, I would do 3-4 strokes vs 2 strokes with the latter. There is no pulling WTG on the cheek, but some going N-S along the cheek at the side of the mouth and sides of the jaw.

If I understood them right, some threads would recommend doing several laps on a coticule for something like this. I don't have a yellow coticule, but I use a Spyderco UF as my finishing stone. I have also heard of the UF (as well as the coticule and escher) being referred to as similar to a barber hone (I take this to mean that it can be used for touchups, or am I wrong?).

My question is, can I use the UF in this scenario?

How many laps? There are many threads on the coticule but few on the UF - how fast or slow is the UF compared to the coticule?

Some have noted that the Spyderco UF is a fast hone and some like myself don't find it all that fast. I personally have a problem with that hone because it is so hard and smooth (lapping on a D8C made no difference in feel) that I can't feel what's going on and I've lifted the spine of several razors on it without knowing until I actually saw it at the end of a stroke.

The real answer is of course that it takes as many strokes as it takes. Try 10 round trips before your next shave... if not good enough, try 20 before the next one... etc. If after trying 3 or 4 times it's still not coming around, you should probably look at a different solution. I get better results with a Chromium Oxide pasted paddle strop. 50 laps and my edges pop hairs, stick like glue to my thumb and shave like a dream. I do need to go back to the coticule eventually when the pasted strop no longer brings the edge back quite as good as it did the first few times.

There are so many variables, it's hard to nail it down. Razor steel, your particular hone, technique.... it's never quite the same for two people.

Regards

Christian

All my lapped Spydercos seem to be fast cutters.

First I get a good even edge set on either a Spyderco medium or DMT 1200. Then I do 15 to 20 laps on the Fine followed by 15 to 20 laps on the UF. I make the last 10 laps or so on each hone as super-light as possible. Sometimes I use a fine grit barber hone in place of the UF. For me I get a great shaving edge this way.

On rare occasion I end with around 20-30 laps on a 0.5 chrome oxide paddle.