Hey guys,
How many passes on a yellow coticule do you usually do as polisher after the norton 8k??
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Hey guys,
How many passes on a yellow coticule do you usually do as polisher after the norton 8k??
It depends on the razor. On some I've done as few as 20 and some I've done 100 and a select few I didn't count the strokes only the hours. Best advice is do groups of 20-30 and check after each group.
Depending on how large your coticule is - mine's about 3-4 inches long, so I do around 50, but probably about 30 on a 6 inch hone I would pressume.
Mark
Mine is about the same size 4 inches long by 1.5 wide.
I think finishing on a wet coticule is one of those things where 200 passes can be better than 100. But sometimes I d just 40 or 50 on easy to hone razors, and hours on more finicky razors.
I agree. I was playing around with my coticule a lot tonight, just using water and VERY light strokes. I checked the edge with a 30x magnifyer after every 30 or so passes, and there was only a little difference each time. I probably did about 200-300 passes tonight, but I always kept a close eye on the scratch patterns on the bevel with the magnification. I think as far as using the coticule with just water, the more passes the better (only to a point obviously). Just be REALLY light with the touch....I find that makes a lot of difference with the coticule.Quote:
Originally Posted by loueedacat
Dave
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!
:roflmao
By the way, Dups. I am really enjoying all of your questions. Even though almost all of them are restatements of questions asked many times before, each of them that you are asking are probably on the minds of 20 other newbies at the same time so keep them coming! You'll be smarter than most of us in no time.
I just watch how the edge move the water around, when the edge seems to undercut the water it's ready.
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.Quote:
Originally Posted by Utopian
This is a great board with a lot of experienced, helpful participants and I would hate to see the support and personal side of it relegated to a reference page.
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.
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.
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.Quote:
Originally Posted by kelbro
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
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) :D 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.Quote:
Originally Posted by Utopian
David
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:Quote:
Originally Posted by Dups
Fortunately, google also seems to include 3 letter word searches :)Quote:
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. :jedi: 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!
It sounds like you are discovering the zen of straight razor shaving!Quote:
Originally Posted by loueedacat
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.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dups
I know man that's why I said that I wasn't coming down on your personally for making the comment. I have a hard time finding info using the forum's search option. It's always way to broad.
Another resource that has helped me is subscribing to threads. When I find a really useful and informative thread that I know I will want to refer to again in the future I go to "thread tools" in the menu running across the top above the post. Click the arrow and the "Subscribe to thread" in the drop down menu. The thread will be saved in the User CP. Up on the tool bar you will see "User CP". Click on that and a menu on the left has a link to your subscribed threads.
As far as searches go I will often search for keywords in a specific forum rather then all forums. I use the "search this forum" link within the specific forum. It is on the right next to "thread tools" on the bar directly over the display of posts. It is below the general search button. A search in a specific forum can narrow it down considerably if it is a topic like honing.
I have never used the thread tools or any of the other buttons up there. Thanks for pointing out the obvious to which I have been completely oblivious!
Hoglahoo brings up a very good point. I too like using google to search the site for me. You can either enter it the way he does which is much easier or just go to advance search and put the SRP address in the domain search.
Like Dups said, often times you want to look up how many laps to take on a coticule and you have to look through every post on "coticules" and every post on "laps" to find what you want.
Keep up the good questions Dups, I'd like to think I'm not a complete newb anymore but I still learn a lot from what you would call a "newb question". Sometimes you don't realize you were in need of new info until you're reading it.
Agreed, Howard's coticule usage post is succinct and great. Can't believe I hadn't ever found it before you linked it here, thanks loueedacat. I love the last few lines from Howard's post, referencing learning to hone with a coticule by feel:Quote:
Originally Posted by loueedacat
In an online honing forum, that's about as close as we'll get to Henry V's St. Crispin's Day Speech at Agincourt. Heck, it made me unsheath my coticule and get to honing, since I don't hold my manhood cheap, sir!Quote:
Originally Posted by Howard
Great stuff, Howard. :bow