Moving right along...

Hi, I ended up buying the 2 x 8" Belgian Blue and Yellow Coticules along w the 2" x 2" Slurry Stone, thus far and am happy with the performance of both stones and a 60+ year old Leather Strop finish! I could swear that 2 of my less expensive Soligen (EBAY) razors are very close to Shave Ready since they do indeed remove hair above my upper wrist w a minimum of effort.

I was 'moved' by how fast the Blue as well as the Yellow hones remove steel! I rec'd some Sage advice from "Dylandog" concerning my becoming proficient with the stones that I already have, instead of going hog wild buying more; Thanks!

Just for the heck of it, I pulled out the box w my knife collection in it and put the Slurry Stone to a boot knife, only to see it become able to remove wrist hair in less that 30 seconds!

I have learned the 'touch' needed to remove metal, using equal pressure-strokes. I am thrilled to have experienced this and am wondering why I had not discovered it long ago...

I do have a question;
"How do You finish a Razor's Edge?"

A 12,000 Chinese hone/stone,

paiste imregnated Balsa strops,

or ?

I'm sure anyone you ask might tell you a different way to finish the edge off.

Some people shave straight off the Coticule with just water, some people like expensive Japanese natural polishing stones, or diamond pasted strops.

It really is a personal choice. If you are curious about finding what YOU prefer and what feels good to your face, I would say start with the less expensive choices and proceed from there.

You can buy the most expensive natural polisher, but without the technique and experience, you could probably get just as good a shave from stropping off newspaper (yet another way of finishing.)

I'll tell ya what I did, but it is by no means the only way.

The 1st thing I got was a Chinese 12k.

After using that, I decided to see how stropping with newspaper would help (it did.)

After that, I decided to buy some CrOx paste and made a balsa strop (The How-to is in the Wiki :))

I still haven't tried a leather strop, but I do have the leather sitting here :)

After that I decided I wanted a Coticule, so I got a combination one (Coticule/BBW.)

That's about where I'm at right now. Until I get more money, I won't be able to try out some of the pricier finishing methods (Nakayama, Escher, etc.) but I'm sure at some point I will. It's a learning process, and I'm trying to find out what combination gives ME the best edge/shave.

Hope this helped :p

I finish it with a cordovan leather strop :)

If you're asking about the last stone that touches the blade, that varies. I've used coticule, escher, nakayama, norton 8000, naniwa 8000 or 12000, barber hones, dalmore blue.... a lot of options.

F.Y.I. There is a almost MINT condition Escher stone GOLD MEDAL STAMP -CIRCA 1840 GERMANY

on EBay right now at $38, auction # 150380800691. 4 Days and 20 hours left to go in the auction. It looks GREAT and I am sure that a Collector will spend a stupid amount of money on it, but then again; One never knows, right?

I'm surprised that your blue removes metal quickly - mine is rather slow and I thought I'd read that most are. But, being a natural, they do vary, so it's good you've got one that you like.

As far as finish, I used to shave straight off my Coti. Then JoeD got a C12k and I tried his razors and decided that I wanted one too. Then, after my gf saw me looking at and talking about Japanese naturals, she got me one, and it became my finisher. I have also shaved off ChromeOx, but I prefer using stones, though I do go to paste now and then.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by gugi

I finish it with a cordovan leather strop :)

If you're asking about the last stone that touches the blade, that varies. I've used coticule, escher, nakayama, norton 8000, naniwa 8000 or 12000, barber hones, dalmore blue.... a lot of options.

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+1 except I have yet to get a Nakayama. When I first got a natural yellow/blue I would finish on the yellow with water only and get great shaves.... after stropping.

[QUOTE=holli4pirating;472424]I'm surprised that your blue removes metal quickly - mine is rather slow and I thought I'd read that most are. But, being a natural, they do vary, so it's good you've got one that you like.
I was referring to a couple of the knives I have as their steel is a bit softer than a razor's.

I was referring to a couple Pakistani knives I sharpened as they are a bit softer than the steel in a razor.

I tryed most finishing hones and paste i just finish on coticule with water and a good qulity strop with linen.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dmpljim

F.Y.I. There is a almost MINT condition Escher stone GOLD MEDAL STAMP -CIRCA 1840 GERMANY

on EBay right now at $38, auction # 150380800691. 4 Days and 20 hours left to go in the auction. It looks GREAT and I am sure that a Collector will spend a stupid amount of money on it, but then again; One never knows, right?

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It's at $202.50 right now with still 4 + days left on the auction. I gotta watch this and see how high it will go!