Thread: Coticule honers -- purists or pragmatists?

I'm a purist in that I want a great edge, and a pragmatist in how I get there.

That said, my coticule is hands down my favorite hone. I love that it can take any normally dulled edge (i.e. anything short of major microchipping or raggedness) and make it sharp again, quickly. The escher and certainly the chinese seem less effective for a seriously dulled razor. And I love the feel of the edge on the face. No razor burn ever from a coticule edge.

But... I have very thick facial hair and oddly, sometimes a coticule edge requires a little more pressure in shaving. The result is BBS w/ no razor burn, but a little pressure is required. This is fine for wedges and 6/8+ hollows, where the heft + momentum of the blade takes care of 'pressure' by itself, but for 5/8 full hollows I like to go either to my Y/G escher or chrome oxide, and then go light.

A coticule edge never provides that resistant-free squeegee wiping feeling I associate with the escher and especially chrome oxide. It just provides a very comfortable, burn-free, effective and long-lasting cutting edge, but one that requires deft handling to get BBS from. All things considered, I can see why it was the hone of choice for barbers.

Originally Posted by majurey

So my quesiton to coticule owners is this:

1. do you take a purist approach and hone only with the coticule because that's really all you need and you won't get a smoother irritation-free shave?
2. do you take a more pragmatic approach and use finer grit naturals after the coticule, and if so, how does it affect the feel of the shave on your skin afterwards?
3. do you use pastes, and if so what's your experience of what that does to how your skin feels?

I've had my coticule for about a month, and have played with it pretty much daily since, both re-honing existing razors and new junkers I pick up. I hone for fun and relaxation, and the coticule is a great learning tool. The permutations of feel, slurry and pressure response are the coticule "wildcards" that make it fun (or frustrating). That, and it never gunks up, ever. I constantly have to clean my Shapton 16K.

To answer your specific questions:

1. I'm not a purist. About half the time I follow the coticule with a Shapton 16K. For me, the coticule has replaced my 4K King, 8K Norton, and 12K Chinese. At the other extreme, the coticule with heavy slurry and pressure fixed a screwed-up edge on a big W&B Celebrated that I couldn't get right even on a DMT 1200, which amazed me. Even with razors I fail to get sharp enough with a coticule alone, it still polishes the edge to a mirror.

2. On some razors the coticule is enough, on others the Shapton is needed to get there. Maybe it's my technique, but the coticule performs best on my heavier razors that are less hollowed. That works fine for me, because I prefer those razors. For me, the coticule creates less micro-chipping than the DMT 8000, and polishes better than a Norton 4/8K, leading to a consistently smoother "felt" edge for me when shaving.

3. My last step is always a ChromeOx pasted balsa strop. I shave very close and have sensitive skin, and really notice the difference in edge smoothness when I don't use it. Not edge sharpness - edge smoothness.

For me, the ChromeOx strop alone hasn't worked for "touching up" or "refreshing" razors. But 5 or so laps on a wet coticule, followed by 5 laps on the ChromeOx, and the edge stays like new.

Originally Posted by dylandog

And I love the feel of the edge on the face. No razor burn ever from a coticule edge.

That's because the garnets of our Coticule stones are almost round. Our stones (Coticule and BBW) are the only stones on this world with this type of garnets. The whetting particles in artificial made stones are much much sharper and will leave tiny chips of metal on the edge of your razor. These tiny metal chips will scratch your skin and cause the 'burn feeling'.

Originally Posted by Bart

[...] Although I don't do it very often, one of my favorite honing methods is honing on one Coticule only. [...]

I've actually been trying this myself. I'll let you know the results when I feel confident enough to shave after doing this.

Originally Posted by bpave777

I've actually been trying this myself. I'll let you know the results when I feel confident enough to shave after doing this.

Now you got me nervous...