Thread: Leo's Daddy Learns to Hone (picture heavy)

Originally Posted by Scipio

As I had no slurry stone for the coticule, I broke a small piece off, which worked like a charm.

Glad you got on well, good work sir, I LOVE the shave from my Jolly Rodger off a coticule

I just worked through the entire thread, and I liked it.
Very charming and funny

I also *love* coticules, so this thread has everything I need.
But I did make an observation.
Shown in this picture:

is how you tape the spine. When how much layers are applied is of no matter.
But it looks like your tape went over the shoulder of the blade.
It should not do this!
The shoulder is higher than the spine itself, so applying the tape over it will change the geometry at the heel.
Maybe that´s why your secondary bevel looks uneven.

You should apply the tape only to the front of the shoulder, not over it.
This way everything stays nice and flat
and your 2nd bevel will be absolutely fine

Originally Posted by Lesslemming

You should apply the tape only to the front of the shoulder, not over it.
This way everything stays nice and flat
and your 2nd bevel will be absolutely fine

Dude, you're awesome. I hadn't even thought of that!!!!!

Thank you!!

I'll let you know what happens.

Originally Posted by tat2Ralfy

Glad you got on well, good work sir, I LOVE the shave from my Jolly Rodger off a coticule

Where do u find large coticules like that?

Originally Posted by Bart

The good news is: you now know you can get it sharp. You only need to copy it to the entire edge.

Question: Can I fix what's wrong with this edge at this point by continuing to do taped water-only strokes working on the second bevel, or do I have to start over again with the slurry?

Originally Posted by Scipio

Where do u find large coticules like that?

I acquired my beloved "#10" at Welcome to Coticule.be - home of the famous Belgian Coticule Whetstone of course. #10 is indeed an exceptional stone on many levels.
That is my friend Barts website, he visits the quarry at Ardennes, collects a select batch of Hones, tests and asseses them.
Check it out, Sir Bart runs a small cosy forum of Coti nuts, and is not only the perfect host but a master at Honing with a coticule

Im familiar with Bart's site, but I didnt know he sold them. Ive noticed within his vault Bart has coticules of different properties, number 10 as you mentioned for example; however when I go onto the Ardennes site, the only choice other than size is 'select' or 'standard' which I understand is purely aesthetics.

Is it possible for me to acquire a 'custom' coticule, ie. one with the properties I want such as being rapid at bevel setting, and a superb finisher?

I have a small coti 'bout' and since Ive learnt how to exploit it fuller, (mainly since I read this thread!) and learnt a bit more about cotis and their differing potentials dependant upon which quarry they are extracted from; I now want a larger one!

If you go to Bart's site, apply for membership and enter the cafeteria, you will find untold treasures of information, also the prices of the stones in the vault, Bart does not sell these however, but can reserve a specimen on your behalf, stones are collected and returned directly to the quarry, the vault can be looked at as a sort of showcase,once your reserved stone has been returned to Ardennes you simply email the quarry direct and they will deal with the sale.
Hope this helps
Best wishes
Ralfy

Originally Posted by olafurson

Question: Can I fix what's wrong with this edge at this point by continuing to do taped water-only strokes working on the second bevel, or do I have to start over again with the slurry?

Greg, if I understand correctly the middle of the blade is not capable of shaving arm hair? in which case it may be that you will have to start again, this shouldnt take very long as you are really only undoing the 2nd bevel and making a slight correction on the 1st one, however, before you do that you might want to try taping the spine and doing 20 light laps on a very light slurry, the key word here is light, and then 30 laps on water only, strop and see how it shaves, it will only take a few minutes and might save you doing any extra work.

Bart does NOT sell them. The guys at Ardennes mine send him, or he picks up batches at a time, testing them to see if they can make any correlations between the layers and how the stone will perform.

He lists them on his site in the Vault, and in the Cafeteria (forum) he will list the prices as he gets them. Once he has reviewed them, you will be able to click the pictures of each hone in the Vault and see his "review" of it.

Once he is done with them, they are sent back to Ardennes, and the ppl that are interested in each stone get "preference" to purchase the hone from Ardennes, not Bart.

If you are looking for something specific in a hone (certain dimensions, layer, etc) I would probably either ask Bart, or email Rob at the mine and see if they can find something to suit your needs. I'm sure they would let Bart test it out if he was so willing to, before you decided on purchasing said hone.

We are truly blessed to have someone that is friendly with the mine owners/operators that we can turn to for our needs/wants.

Bart really is an asset here in the community, and I for one am very grateful for all he does.

Originally Posted by Scipio

Im familiar with Bart's site, but I didnt know he sold them. Ive noticed within his vault Bart has coticules of different properties, number 10 as you mentioned for example; however when I go onto the Ardennes site, the only choice other than size is 'select' or 'standard' which I understand is purely aesthetics.

Is it possible for me to acquire a 'custom' coticule, ie. one with the properties I want such as being rapid at bevel setting, and a superb finisher?

I have a small coti 'bout' and since Ive learnt how to exploit it fuller, (mainly since I read this thread!) and learnt a bit more about cotis and their differing potentials dependant upon which quarry they are extracted from; I now want a larger one!