coti smoothness

I stroped my ti silver wing spec ial edition on my livi loom strop and caught the edge on the metal bar and it dulled halve the blade but did'nt cause any real damage.

I thought i'd hone it back with coticule slurry then dilute with water. It took quite athew laps on my kosher coti as it is'nt the the fastest cutter with slurry but it did get there in the end i finished on water 15 to 20 laps on livi chr.5 ox then stropped and it passed hht nicley. the blade had previously been honed my naniwas and ch.5 the shaves were great but i always thought it lacked a lttle smoothness but all my ti's have same feel to them Usauly i have always thought coticules lack a little keeness but not in this case the shave was so smmoth it was like silk i though i'd like to share this with new guys and experiance guys on srp becauase i gave up with coti because of lack of keenes but i'm starting to realize it was me and my aproach . I find you defanatley have to dilute your slurry slowly and finish on water and athew laps on paste optional .

The resulting shave was exallant and i forgot how smooth and sharp the coticule can achieve i think it needs patients and practice and you need to no what your coti can achieve they are exallant all round hones . I learn't how to make best use of mine through bart on srp is information is second to none!. Thanxs bart

Gary, you being a pro barber might be able to comment on this ..... After honing a fair amount of razors on synthetics and on naturals I came to believe that the reason all of the old barbers I knew in New Jersey a quarter of a century ago honed their razors on a coticule.

The smoothness is one big thing and they don't get "scary sharp" to the extent that they nick the skin easily. Not that you can't get a razor that sharp on a coticule but as a rule they are plenty keen before they ever get to that point.

Sort of like the difference in shaving with a DE and using a scary sharp Feather as opposed to a more forgiving Derby. That is IME anyway. YMMV.

BTW, I bet your loving that Livi loom strop. They are bad to the bone.

Yes i'm loving the loom strop i'm sure the livi paste makes a differance compared to my hand american powder that is good but i think the livi paste is better and after coti so long as my edge is very good of coti the green paste realy puts a great edge on my razors i only use it to give real keeness and not to make a bad shaver good my edges have to be all good of hone then i will add paste to give more glide .

I'm with you Gary, the coticule might not put the sharpest edge on a blade, but it's definitely among the smoothest.

They were starting to get a bad rep around here for a while, I don't know why. Does the trick for this shaver though.

Not sure why either--they're super versatile. Following a good slurry dilution trick, you could go to a sharp, but slightly more "aggressive" hone (Chosera 10K or 1 micron diamond lapping film or something) & then polish using the coticule w/ water only. Best of both worlds. You won't really lose much if any sharpness, but you will get that smoothness.

All this talk makes me want to buy another one!:)

Nothing discerns better between my skin and whiskers than a Coticule edge. At least, nothing I tried so far.

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Originally Posted by Ryan82

They were starting to get a bad rep around here for a while, I don't know why. Does the trick for this shaver though.

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They require a rather different approach than synthetic water hones. Translating methods from one to another is a recipe for frustration.

Every once in a while, I fall completely in love with them all over again. Seems that I'm not alone with that aberration.:beer1:

Bart.

I have never been able to get hold of the "lack of keen" concept.

I sounds to me any harshness produced by more aggressive hone being tamed is a sure case of de-burring.

Could well have been on my 1st few attempts w/ that stuff (diamond film). After I figured it out & only did the number of strokes needed, I found I still preferred the smoothness of finishing on the coticule.

I was referring more to an earlier thread posted by Bart where he talks about honing on a Chosera 10K, that giving him a very keen, but slightly aggressive edge, and then polishing on a coticule.

Right now, the Naniwas are working pretty well for me, but HAD, coticule nostalgia, whatever you want to call it is presenting itself...:hmmm:

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Originally Posted by PA23-250

Right now, the Naniwas are working pretty well for me, but HAD, coticule nostalgia, whatever you want to call it is presenting itself...:hmmm:

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I call it being a discriminating shaver who likes variety. Once I was in a rare bookstore looking at a set of Burton's Arabian Nights. I told the seller that I was really interested but I wondered if I would ever read all of the volumes.

He said that it was like the ocean. While he might never go there it was really nice to have it nearby in case he ever wanted to. That is one of my rationals that enables having all of these hones. :) Yes I bought the books.

My new want-list as a result of this thread:

• 8x3 select-grade coticule (good luck finding one now:boohoo:) or 8x2 I guess would do fine--I just think the 8x3 looks cooler.:D

• Livi loom strop w/ his brand of crox (the SRD crayon)

• A new TI

:rofl2:

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Originally Posted by PA23-250

My new want-list as a result of this thread:

• 8x3 select-grade coticule (good luck finding one now:boohoo:) or 8x2 I guess would do fine--I just think the 8x3 looks cooler.:D

• Livi loom strop w/ his brand of crox (the SRD crayon)

• A new TI

:rofl2:

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Wow, you don't have cheap tastes! :D

That's always been my problem!:D Actually, I'll probably end up just getting a cotton weave replacement piece & pasting that, since that's what the loom strops use for pastes anyway.

The livi loom strop realy is worth the money its so easy to use the leather is more like velvet normaly i do loads of laps on cotton then the leather . after finishing on coti i did 15 ch.5 and 25 laps on yellow leather shaved realy well .

I have the naniwas etc but its nice if you can achieve agood edge of coticule alone if not i no ican always drop back to naniwas or nortons and there quik and work . I've honed 5 razors on coti they all shaved as good as any razor should with the finishing the aid of srd paste which i still think is the best i've used it may be because its on some kind of cotton what livi makes for his loom strop

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Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

I call it being a discriminating shaver who likes variety. Once I was in a rare bookstore looking at a set of Burton's Arabian Nights. I told the seller that I was really interested but I wondered if I would ever read all of the volumes.

He said that it was like the ocean. While he might never go there it was really nice to have it nearby in case he ever wanted to. That is one of my rationals that enables having all of these hones. :) Yes I bought the books.

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That's a lovely story, Jim. Umberto Eco has a vast personal library and considers the unread volumes to be the most important.

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Originally Posted by Ryan82

They were starting to get a bad rep around here for a while, I don't know why. Does the trick for this shaver though.

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In our search for an ever sharper edge we tend to forget the smoothness of the humble and trusted coticule. Another problem is that no 2 coticules have the same cutting qualities, some are less useful for straights. In the olden days coticules were hand selected by the vendors (like Pike etc.). Nowadays they are sold as they come and no one tests them before they get to the user. Maybe Howard Schechter does? But even then there is a large intercoticule variability. Synthetic hones do not have that problem.

I've just brough my self an 8x3 select kosher grade of a chap i hope its a good one

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Originally Posted by Kees

In our search for an ever sharper edge we tend to forget the smoothness of the humble and trusted coticule. Another problem is that no 2 coticules have the same cutting qualities, some are less useful for straights. In the olden days coticules were hand selected by the vendors (like Pike etc.). Nowadays they are sold as they come and no one tests them before they get to the user. Maybe Howard Schechter does? But even then there is a large intercoticule variability. Synthetic hones do not have that problem.

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Sounds like J-Nats with O-S. Id like to try a coticule one of these days.