Thread: Passes on a Yellow Coticule

I don't think that's what they were getting at, Dups - I think they were saying that we like your questions, because while the wikis are great for reference, it's the interaction and comraderie that makes this forum great - your questions, intelligent and engaged, are a great avenue to continue and spur discussion.

Keep the questions coming!

Mark

This forum has always been open to the questions of new members or members new to the various aspects of straight shaving (honing included). Flaming anyone for asking a question is unacceptable. Referring them to the wiki or stickies is perfectly fine and is made more gentlemanly if an actual link is provided as well. Anyone being a jerk will be dealt with plain and simple. Feel free to continue the original conversation on topic.


Thanks,

-Rob

I didn't mean to come down on Utopian at all. I'm just saying that the search engine on the forum makes it hard to find specific information without having to read every thread with the word 'coticule' in it.

Originally Posted by kelbro

You make a good point here Utopian. With the 'Wiki project' progress, I was starting to see many posts telling new folks to "Check the Wiki, it's up there.". I have seen several previously friendly message boards completely disintegrate when the overall tone became "It's in the FAQs. Check there and then post back up if you don't find the answer." Besides being unfriendly and cold, I find it sort of rude.

Indeed. This is a discussion forum. Especially for newbies it is a lot easier to ask the basic questions and get some guidance. Sifting through the wikis is easy if you have a basic idea what you are doing, but if everything is new, all this information can be overwhelming.

Sarcasm and rudeness will not be tolerated.

I will try the coticule again today for some more strokes. Unfortunately I can't shave today. I want to give time to that nasty cut on the bottom of my chin time to heal hehe. It's such a shame I was having an awesome shave until that brain fart moment on my part:P

Originally Posted by Utopian

I think I remember David (heavydutysg135) saying that he did not see any evidence of overhoning after doing 600 laps on a yellow coticule. For that reason I have always stopped before reaching 550.
I suggest you do the same!

Actually I got well over 1200 strokes on the yellow (after 500+ on the blue) without overhoning the razor and it still shaved great (although not any better than it was after say 100 passes) That was obviously just for experimental purposes though and I would not recommend anywhere near that amount; unfortunately the thread was lost in the forum crash. I think that Lynn says in his video that after the razor is sharp off the Norton 8K then he usually does 10-20 passes on his 3X8 and then test shaves (now I think he is using Nakayamas and Eschers more for finishing though). So if you have a smaller stone then I think that you would be in good shape in the 20-50 range after the Norton 8K, you would probably want to be in the higher end of that range off a belgian blue. In my experience more passes will absolutely not hurt the edge, but it will not improve it any further after a certain point so you would just be wasting metal on your razor and your time. As Bart says coticules are natural stones with different levels of cutting power, so your best bet would be to take the numbers that you were given and do experimentation on your own to see what works best for your razors, your stone, your technique, and your taste.

David

Originally Posted by Dups

I didn't mean to come down on Utopian at all. I'm just saying that the search engine on the forum makes it hard to find specific information without having to read every thread with the word 'coticule' in it.

This is true. I resort to google often. To search the phrase: honing with a coticule, I would enter the following search string into google:

"honing with a coticule" site: 

Fortunately, google also seems to include 3 letter word searches

By the way, here is an excellent post by Howard on using coticules

In my searches I found old threads titled "How do you use the coticule", "Belgian coticule whetstones", "Belgian hones", "Belgium versus Norton", and so on. There is a lot of good information , and yes there is so much to sift through that is scattered around. This is part of the reason for the wiki: we hope to bring a lot of this information together to one place so that when someone like me who can't always answer a question from experience can direct a newcomer to experienced answers by people who can and have.

Your questions are of course welcome: they are the reason we even have a wiki

I love Howard's post. It is indeed a jedi thing. And it is relaxing to shut everything out and feel the hone. that is until my wife interupts me mid lap. Man that drives me crazy!

I was having trouble getting this scimitar like smilie engstrom sharp, and I just blocked everything out and felt the blade on my rolling x and dang if it isn't sharp now!

Originally Posted by loueedacat

I was having trouble getting this scimitar like smilie engstrom sharp, and I just blocked everything out and felt the blade on my rolling x and dang if it isn't sharp now!

It sounds like you are discovering the zen of straight razor shaving!

Originally Posted by Dups

I'm sorry guys but the search engine on the forum doesn't work all that great. You type two words and the engine gives you all the replies with either words in it but not necessarily the exact phrase.

I'll try to control myself and not ask so many questions in the future.

Dups, I wasn't being sarcastic and I wasn't being critical--quite the opposite. I was actually truly encouraging you to keep asking the questions. I meant it when I said that your questions HELP the forum members who didn't get around to asking their own similar questions.