Thread: BBW versus Coticule

They never wear out! Literally

Originally Posted by Scipio

They never wear out! Literally

Oh yes they do (some of the ones that I've seen, you wouldn't believe), but they do take a very very long time to do so. Bought one today that (I think) my great grand children can use (yippee).

Ok, but u would have to use it one hell of alot, ie. on a daily basis to do so. They dont wear out as quickly as Shaptons or Naniwas for example.

I'm sure a coticule would last me a life time. I have had blues and yellows i personaly think you can shave of blue no problem . I have to say i only use my coticule nower days and my blue came redundant so i sold them. The only differance i noticed is the blue is slower cutter than the yellow when used with slurry . i can set a bevel with dmt 1200 or norton 1k and easily do the rest with coticule i can even set abevel on my coti as it cuts very fast with a good slurry i would have to say you realy don't need the blue.

Originally Posted by MrMike

I just ordered a Coticule. My previous honing routine was 10 slurry laps on a BBW, 10 water laps on a BBW, 10 water laps on a Swatty, 30 laps on a chrome-ox strop. This seemed to provide good results on one of my razors (I screwed the other up using too much pressure).

Now I'm adding a yellow to the mix. Is there any point continuing with the BBW? I'm trying to just touch them up once a month. Once my other razor comes back, that should be about every 15 shaves (I try to alternate between my two).

thx

-Mike

Hi Mike,

If I understand you correctly, your use your hones maintain sharpness on well-honed razors. That is a very good approach, provided that your beard doesn't tear microscopical chips off the razor's edge. With some beards (mine ) on some razors that happens, and those require re-honing eventually. But other razors only demand occasional touch-ups, and if you do that on a hone, you could practically go on forever.
With the procedure you described, I'm fairly sure you could leave out the BBW (hence just the barrberhone and CrO) and you would never notice the difference with your original routine. Not because a BBW is a worthless hone, but because it's just redundant in that procedure.

With your future Coticule, you should be able to do 30-50 laps on water, instead of the using the barber hone. If you don't wait too long in between touch-ups, you could probably just skip the CrO as well.

Whether you use the Swatty or the Coticule to re-awake the edge, if you follow with 30 laps CrO, there will be no difference in the final edge.

The BBW puzzles me. I don't really like it for finishing on water (although they're not all the same). With a very light slurry, the finish seems better and it's a good stone to get a keen edge, yet it acts very slow. 10 laps will get you nowhere. I think, that with the right procedure, a BBW can possibly yield excellent edges. It has the potential for being one of the most cost-effective options to get a very good edge. At least, that's what I hope to find with a series of upcoming experiments dedicated to the BBW.

Bottom line: in my opinion with purchasing a Coticule, you're not extending your touch-up procedure, but you are expanding your arsenal of possibilities for that task.
And you bought a hone that will allow you do to much more than touch-ups.

Best regards,
Bart.