Thread: Coticule and what i think

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?