Thread: Coticule Usage

Originally Posted by BHChieftain

The thing about the coticule is that every stone is different, so I'm not surprised to hear so much conflicting advice on what technique works best, including "dry" or "lather" honing...

All I can say is I have a natural BBW/Coticule (6" x 2") that I use exclusively for my razors, and I get absolutely fantastic results. But it took me 6+ months of experimenting to figure out the slurry dilution rates and honing pressure on both the BBW and Coti sides to get these results. Every stone is a puzzle, and the journey to unlocking it can be extremely rewarding (or extremely frustrating...).

I've tried a bunch of different techiques, but with my *current* stone, the BBW+Slurry (thinning over time, but not too thin...), then Coticule + *extremely* light slurry dilluting to water works great. But on a previous rock, the BBW+slurry was not as good as just Coticule + thicker slurry , with dillution (Unicot, I think is the term) worked well. All depends on the specific rock I think...

Another thing-- I think some razors just work better with coticules than others. I've had a Livi "regrind" razor (relatively softer steel) that I just could *not* get sharp with my coti, but on the other hand, I have a Wacker razor with very hard steel that would just chip with a synthetic hone, but hones up utterly fantastic with a coticule hone...

Lastly, thing about the coticule is that I am convinced that while it does not result in the keenest edge possible, it can result in the smoothest edge which I think is more important for a comfortable shave. I say this because when I've gotten razors back that have been professionaly honed, they can easily pass the hanging hair test, but I get razor burn using them, whereas my own coticule honed razors do not pass the hanging hair test, but I get a great shave without razor burn...

Chief

i had the same problem i could'nt pass the hht on my coti's they were still shaving well. nower days some three years later my razor pass hht on the very fine hairs and the shaves are more than good they are exceptional and even smoother . like you said it takes time . i find alkso a good tm linen and horse hide makes all the differance to a coticule edge unlike other edges from manmade hones the linen seems to perk the edge up . i use my coticule or coticules using dilucot , i will use my 1k naniwa to set bevels to save waste my favourite coticules. that s about it then my tm linen and hors hide 7 times out of ten i get magic edges the other 3 times can take a little rehoning to get there . i have used add on in the past such as 12k naniwa or escher after coticule i've not noticed massive differances only in cases where i'd not peaked out on coti , btw very impressed with the 12knaniwa escher does a similar job to coti both being natural.

infact sham honed me two razors up on escher the edges were very good indeed. i've compared them to my coti edges and there is not massive differance in my opinion they both leave nice edge .

I was looking for the perfect coticule thread to get lots of info on how to best use cotis. Turns out I had already created that thread.

I just got a coti bbw stone so I've been searching to see how others use theirs so I can fine tune my edge to that perfect shave.