Thread: Coticule and what i think

Originally Posted by Chimensch

What I object to is giving new people the idea that honing is complicated and that you need to spend a lot of money on hones. Someone could get by just fine with a barbers hone or a coticule and they could learn to get great shaves from them.

I totally whole heartedly disagree with your statement "in this day and age"

And here is why
Not one of the new production razors comes from the factory like they did in the old days with a "Hair Tested" stamp on the box... You can hardly ever find a truly NOS razor for sale on e-bay nor anywhere else for that matter, these were way more common just 2 years ago...

Even in the Golden Age of straight razors there were Cutlers who set the razor then the average Joe maintained the razor...

So to tell somebody new that you can get by with a barbers hone or even just a coticule is a path to frustration....

Now if you were to qualify that and say "You can get by with just a barbers hone or a coticule after the razor has been honed to shave ready and you learn how to use them to maintain your razor"

Then I would whole heartedly agree....

The difference here is a small one and many of you miss the point, are you maintaining razors or are you sharpening razors????

To maintain a razor requires exactly what you said, to sharpen razors requires Time, Proper Hones, and Talent.....

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Originally Posted by gssixgun

So to tell somebody new that you can get by with a barbers hone or even just a coticule is a path to frustration....

..

LOOKS like i am not crazy .

Originally Posted by hi_bud_gl

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LOOKS like i am not crazy .

I wouldn't go that far.

Originally Posted by gssixgun

So to tell somebody new that you can get by with a barbers hone or even just a coticule is a path to frustration....

Now if you were to qualify that and say "You can get by with just a barbers hone or a coticule after the razor has been honed to shave ready and you learn how to use them to maintain your razor"

Then I would whole heartedly agree....

The difference here is a small one and many of you miss the point, are you maintaining razors or are you sharpening razors????

To maintain a razor requires exactly what you said, to sharpen razors requires Time, Proper Hones, and Talent.....

Been there on that path to frustration twenty five years ago. Glen's statement is totally on the money IME not IMO.

Originally Posted by gssixgun

Now if you were to qualify that and say "You can get by with just a barbers hone or a coticule after the razor has been honed to shave ready and you learn how to use them to maintain your razor"

Then I would whole heartedly agree....

That is exactly what I have always said and meant. If you are starting with a shave ready razor and not doing eBay specials, you can shave for an entire lifetime with a barber hone or a coticule. I know because I've done it. Whenever anyone asks me, I always explain that I only buy new or NOS razors, that I can usually hone them myself but, a couple of times I have had to send them out to be honed the first time. This is my factual experience during 29 years of shaving.

One last clarification ... I am saying you CAN do that, not that it is the ideal. I did shave off of a barber hone for 28 years and in the last year I have done a lot of experimenting. I have a Norton 4K/8K, a BBW, three coticules, a Chinese 12K and pastes. I just don't use them very much because I am able to maintain my shave-ready razors with a coticule and shave to my satisfaction.

I think that new members should be exposed to all the points of view. I find that they are intelligent people and can decide what they want to do based on their needs. I am not a honing expert and have never presented myself as such. All I have ever done is responded to someone who asks, "do I have to buy all these different hones?" and I say "no you don't HAVE to. If etc., etc., you CAN..."

For the life of me I don't understand why people get so nervous about this subject.

Originally Posted by gssixgun

Now if you were to qualify that and say "You can get by with just a barbers hone or a coticule after the razor has been honed to shave ready and you learn how to use them to maintain your razor"

Then I would whole heartedly agree....

The difference here is a small one and many of you miss the point, are you maintaining razors or are you sharpening razors????

I have recommended barber hones many times, but I have always declared that the razor needs to be made shave ready first. I have maintained 7 razors in my gym locker for 4 years with just a barber hone so that is why I continue to make the declaration that a sharp razor can be maintained indefinitely with a barber hone.

Though I have always emphasized the need for initial sharpness, I have failed to point out that the honer still needs to be able to do the honing stroke correctly. That is still a critical issue.

On the plus side for barber hones, and in defense of my recommendations for them, I always tell people to only do a few strokes on them, then strop and shave. If it shaves well you're done and if it doesn't, just repeat until it does shave well. This method has the advantage of the shave being the only assessment. No skill or knowledge is needed to know how many strokes to do or when to move up to the next grit. It's the simple approach that worked for milions of men a hundred years ago.

Ha!!!

We're on opposite sides of the planet but we were both defending our barber hones at the same time!

Originally Posted by Utopian

Ha!!!

We're on opposite sides of the planet but we were both defending our barber hones at the same time!

Small world, ain't it?