Thread: Belgian Coticule as a finishing hone

Remember who sold it to you Ryan....LOL....! I have several Coticules, each are unique and can be used as a finisher, can you go further?, absolutely, My new favorite finisher is the Naniwa Superstone 12k. As a matter of fact, I shaved right off it, no pastes at all, I did strop, then shaved. Everyone has their favorite hone. You have Shapton People, Japanese Natural people, Eshcer People, even some who shave off a Norton. I feel the Coticule is one of the most versatile hones out there because of the Garnet properties. There is no other hone like it. The Garnet's are as unique as each hone. This is when I wish Bart were still here. Can you shave off your Coti, Yes,? can you go to an Escher, yes,? or a Nakayama,? or a Naniwa? It depends on you, and your blade and your skill. If your not honing correctly, it doesn't matter what you use. As Hunter asked, The harder, the better finisher. A good test is the Scratch test. Scratch your Coticule, If it leaves a deep visable scratch, you have a soft one, If it leave nothing, it's very hard. Something in between this would be medium. this test makes more sense when you have several coticules. They are a wonderful finisher and a small piece of history that will one day go by way of the Escher....It's a rock worth keeping....
P.S. As Jimbo said, I'm using mine as an itermediate hone, right now...But have used Coticules as a final finisher, Oh Yes.....

Originally Posted by zib

Remember who sold it to you Ryan....LOL....

Why, zib did of course!!! PS - I see you've jumped on the Naniwa train, let me know how it's going, as I was leaning more towards the Shapton sweet 16.

Anyway, I think zib did a great job of summing up the coticule. Mine happens to be a bit on the hard side, so it makes for a great finisher. But it's also highly versatile. Like I said in my previous post I've shaved off a coticule edge and I can't complain, and I have fairly sensitive skin too.

Now is it just me or are coticules taking a beating lately? It seems a few months ago people were singing their praises, but lately members are dumping all over them.

I finally got my act together and honed up all my razors today, finishing with diamond pastes. Except for one razor, the one I've been using for weeks as my go-to, which was finished on my coticule. I held it back for contingency (I'm sure I could wreck all my blades on a bad day!) but I have no plans to rehone that razor, it works fine as is.

I think I'll keep a coticule-honed razor available in my rotation at all times.

Originally Posted by Ryan82

Why, zib did of course!!! PS - I see you've jumped on the Naniwa train, let me know how it's going, as I was leaning more towards the Shapton sweet 16.

Anyway, I think zib did a great job of summing up the coticule. Mine happens to be a bit on the hard side, so it makes for a great finisher. But it's also highly versatile. Like I said in my previous post I've shaved off a coticule edge and I can't complain, and I have fairly sensitive skin too.

Now is it just me or are coticules taking a beating lately? It seems a few months ago people were singing their praises, but lately members are dumping all over them.

I am not sure if they are taking a beating or not - I really like mine, it's just that I forked out over 500 dollars for a natural Japanese 30K+ stone. Why would I use an (at best) 8-12K Coti as a finisher when I have the J nat sitting in the cupboard?

I think they are a great, versatile stone, and I fully believe what Bart (and others like LX_Emergency and Joshearl before him) found - they can be used for anything from bevel setting to finishing if you know what you are doing. But in all honesty, like any general thing, they cannot compete with a specific finisher as a finisher. Nor can they compete with a specific bevel-setter as a bevel setter. But if it is all you have (or it is all you want to have), it will, unlike the other stones, do everything you need it to.

James.

That's the way it goes my friend, As I always say, "To each his Hone"....Ha... Anyway, I couldn't resist. It's funny you mention the the Shapton 16k, I have one in my cart right now at SRD. I have another thread going, where I'm trying to get peoples input on going from the Naniwa 12k to the Shapton 16. You know, eventually, we'll buy them all anyway....and I need to stop Hijacking this thread...I don't know why there's a bunch of anti Coticuleness lately, but I agree, I've read it. I still like them..
Those Japanese natural are expensive little buggers. I'd like someone who has one to hone a blade for me, I'd love to see what they can do. I've talked to OS about them, I'm almost afraid to buy one, as I have an addictive personality as it is....

I have to agree with Bruno. I CAN use one of my coticules as a finisher, and I HAVE used my coticules as finishers, but I have other hones that are finer and so I usually use them.

Perhaps a better poll queston might have been, do you consider a coticule to be an acceptable finishing hone? I suspect that is the true intent of the poll.

Originally Posted by Utopian

I have to agree with Bruno. I CAN use one of my coticules as a finisher, and I HAVE used my coticules as finishers, but I have other hones that are finer and so I usually use them.

Perhaps a better poll queston might have been, do you consider a coticule to be an acceptable finishing hone? I suspect that is the true intent of the poll.

+1 and as you said, it really depends on The Coticule.

There was a long period when I only used the Coticule as a finisher before I started using an Escher. I worked fine and although I could usually shave off it, I used the pastes simply because from a glide standpoint, they have been my preference.

For those of you finishing with the Coticule, give a try shaving and if close or if you like the shave, go back and do 5-10 more strokes on the coticule and see how you like that.

Have fun,

Lynn

I use my BBW/Coticule as a finising "Hone" but it's not the end of my work on the edge. After the coti I move to Cr02 leather than to the regular strop. Works just great for me

I'm still looking for 1 more step in a natural stone but it's kind of on the back burner. I don't know what I'll end up with as I could go with a few different stones and be happy, kind of leaning tward Japanese as I like the looks of them more

I voted yes. I have a couple of coticule and a couple of vintage thuringians, one a dark blue and one a light yellow/green. Although I've gotten great shaves off of the escher edge, I've gotten equally appreciable results off of the coticule edge. There's a slightly different feel, but for some razors I simply like the edge right off of the coticule. It's all a matter of preferrece IMO.

But it can definitely be used as a finisher.