Hey all,
I'm so excited, I had to post this RIGHT after I shaved. I just received my natural belgian combination stone today, and HAD (note the pun) to try it out. I have a razor, a boker king cutter, that I honed using my nortons, and being only an amateur honer, didn't get the best result. It shaved, but not very smoothly. I have shaved with professionally honed blades, so I know how it should feel.
This was a was an ebay special razor, and used as practice for my honing, so a natural choice to try my new stone out! Anyways, I took this razor and gave it about 40-50 laps on the coticule side with water only, then stropped it on the linen about 30 times, then about 100 on the leather. By the end of it the bevel was exceptionally shiny and smooth, much better than right off my norton 8k. All I have to say is WOW!! It was like velvet sliding along my face!!! Such a difference.
I got a really narrow stone, 1 1/4" by about 6", and it was wonderful to use. I really liked using the narrow hone, especially since the blade I touched up had a slight warp to it. Just wanted to share my wonderful experience with you all. For anyone considering getting a coticule, GET IT! Plus it's nice to use a stone that barbers used to use, a real vintage old-school feeling about it:).
Dave
p.s. Getting a nice shave off an ebay razor that used to be covered with rust that you cleaned up and honed completely youself is an amazing feeling. :D