Thread: Coticule...

Hey guys,

I just got a coticule in the mail today. The stone is pretty small but one side is sorta yellow and the other one fairly dark..

What side is meant for what?

Can I use both sides?

I also got a Norton 4k/8k, a norton flattening stone and norton little white slurry stone..

Yellow side up! Unless the dark side is blue and then it depends!

Originally Posted by Dups

I just got a coticule in the mail today.

That's excellent! Where did it come from?

PS I have a 220/1000 Norton, but I don't have a little white slurry stone

Unless you specifically ordered a natural combination stone the dark side is slate (schist?) and can not be used for honing. The lighter side is the coticule and can be used dry, with water or with a slurry. Using it with slurry yields the most aggressive cutting, dry is the least aggressive. Most guys use it with water or a light slurry. The honing areas are overrun with discussion about which is best.

Good luck with the new stones.

I got it in a trade with a member on B&B, he stopped using straights so he sent me his Norton 4k/8k (only used about 4 times), coticule in a nice little wooden box, a norton flattening stone and a norton little slurry stone.

Hopefully that should be enough to keep me going!


I'm colourblind so i'm not sure if the other side is blue, it's dark green/blue i think..

Lets assume for the time being its coticule and not a combo, yellow side up and use it as Bill S advised, using a slurry for agressive cutting, water only for finer cutting and dry as a polishing method.

I think I've might have made a mistake...I used a barber hone to touch up a razor that was orignally honed with tape on the spine..I did not use tape when I did the touch up..

How can I bring it back without tape?

You will have to start over from scratch and create a new bevel, or tape it and go back to the barber hone. But since youve got that new couticule, its time to start learning to hone. Go to the tutorials and have fun!

So back to the 4k to set the bevel then 8k and then coticule?

Yup...that's how I would progress with it.

Mark