Thread: Shapton hones

Am I wrong, or did you mention in some post that you could specify what kind of coticule you wanted somewhere?

Originally Posted by KristofferBodvin

Am I wrong, or did you mention in some post that you could specify what kind of coticule you wanted somewhere?

Rob Celis of Ardennes Coticule is extremely forthcoming to deal with. He's a member of SRP, and if you PM him about this, I'm sure he will help you in any way he can. Straight Razor Place Forums - View Profile: ArdennesCoticule
He mentioned taking a few days vacation between Christmas and New Year, so he may not respond immediately.

Best regards,
Bart.

+1 on Rob. He's been great to deal with. Along with Bart, an excellent resource on this list regarding Coticules.

Ok, while I'm at the belgian stones.If the yellow are as versatile as you guys say, would you really need a blue one? The reason I ask is that I think it would be really cool to have a complete natural setup aswell as a syntetic.

Thanks

Congrats on getting a nice finisher, it seems like you have gotten your honing to the next level.

If you plan on building a natural progression you should IMHO get the blue too, it's a inexpensive hone, and it does a good job in removing coarse scratch patterns.

I've been thinking about these coticules, Shaptons, ebay specials, bevel setting, honing, finishing with high grid stones vs pastes strops (or both) and strops... what I seem to gather is that you need to develop a "feel" for what's going on during honing, especially with the natural stones.

To get started, synthetic hones sound more straight-forward: do laps on the 1,000, then the 4,000, then the 8,000 and then the 16,000, then paste strop and strop. The more I read about the coticule, the less sure I am that I'd manage to do anything useful with it.

Originally Posted by KristofferBodvin

Ok, while I'm at the belgian stones.If the yellow are as versatile as you guys say, would you really need a blue one? The reason I ask is that I think it would be really cool to have a complete natural setup aswell as a syntetic.

Thanks

Between the Yellow-with-slurry as a bevel correction hone, and the Yellow-with-water as a finishing hone is a keenness gap, that can be very difficult, if not impossible (depending on the specimen in question) to overcome, without the use of other hones.
The Blue with slurry can boost the keenness of a bevel formed on a Yellow with slurry.
If you finish that on a Yellow with water, you 'll end up with a pretty shaveworthy edge.

But you could just as easily follow the Yellow with slurry by any other hone that makes the bevel sharper. I personally add a Chosera 10K after the Blue, and finish that edge on a Yellow with water.

The Belgian Blue is definitely a very pleasant stone in use, and often underestimated. I use mine a lot.

Originally Posted by Cornelius

I've been thinking about these coticules, Shaptons, ebay specials, bevel setting, honing, finishing with high grid stones vs pastes strops (or both) and strops... what I seem to gather is that you need to develop a "feel" for what's going on during honing, especially with the natural stones.

To get started, synthetic hones sound more straight-forward: do laps on the 1,000, then the 4,000, then the 8,000 and then the 16,000, then paste strop and strop. The more I read about the coticule, the less sure I am that I'd manage to do anything useful with it.

That's because I am so good a explaining simple things in a complicated way...

In fact, honing on the Belgian hones is easy, pleasant, and fairly forgiving to having a somewhat less than perfect honing stroke. Achieving a very decent shaving edge is something that most aspiring honers can achieve within a few hours of practice. A simple honing method with DMT-E , Belgian Blue Whetstone and Coticule - Straight Razor Place Wiki
The quest that makes honing complicated starts later. It's the search for the ultimate edge, that offers incredible swift and close removal of whiskers, without simultaneously removing a layer of skin and that at the same time also offers fair longevity.

Bart.

I read your review of the chosera line, seems like a really sweet hone. Wish I had em all! All in time I guess.The comfort is that I'm in this for life.
Thanks for all your knowledge and help guys, really appriciate it!

Hello Kristoffer. You could get by on this basic set then fill in the gaps later if you wanted.

bj