Thread: The Dilucot and the Hanging Hair Test

Originally Posted by Qatsats

What is the problem with a coticule for a newbie and what would you recommend? I'm just starting out and have a DMT-E, a BBW and coticule. I'm having some difficulty but have attributed that to my developing skill level and not to the stone. I'd appreciate any advice you could give.

The variation from coticule to coticule is one factor and it plays a big part in the difficulty of becoming both proficient and consistent when using slurry. Using the coticule as just a finisher, the only variables (that I can think of) are how fast does it cut and how fine a finish can it leave. But add in slurry, and you get questions like how thick should the slurry be, when should you dilute it, how much should you dilute it by, what stroke/pressure is most appropriate for the work you are doing, etc etc. All of those characteristics are influence by the variation in coticules. (These also apply to any natural hones)

Plus, when you raise a slurry or dilute, you are working with approximations. "The slurry should be the thickness of milk," is a common saying, but that means the actual thickness will vary every time you make the slurry. As you hone, you may push some off, that will vary too. When you dilute, you may go by drops of water, but that will also vary. These affect the consistency of a user on a single coticule. (These also apply to any other hone used with slurry)

Synthetics have far less variables because they are the same. While the exact numbers of strokes will vary from person to person and razor to razor (based on how that steel cuts and how much pressure the given person uses), all the other variables are eliminated.

It doesn't really matter which synthetics you choose, so long as you learn how to use what you get. Personally, I am loving Naniwas. But I have only really tried Nortons and Naniwas (and the King 1k, and Spyderco medium and fine).

Originally Posted by Absinthe

You got me puzzled though with your question about the tape. I didn't use tape to set the bevel, I followed the dilucot procedure step after step as it is explained on the video on coticule.be (bart's video?), he isn't using tape either, he's using tape at the final stage of the unicot method to form a 2nd bevel if I understood this right. So are you saying I should have taped it to set the initial bevel?

P.s. I forgot, I noticed the blade undercutting the dirty water pretty well all along it's length while doing x-strokes, then when I thoroughly rinsed the blade and stone and did x-strokes again on just water, the blade had much more trouble to undercut the water, is that normal?

1.: No, no tape for the initial bevel. You can, if you want, though. You can make a dilucot with a taped spine, too. That´s up to you. If you struggle using Dilucot, you can still make an unicot edge out of it, just by adding tape (not too thin tape! no sello/scotch tape. Some electricel insulation tape or something) and making the final stages of unicot. follow the instructions word by word, and it should work.

2.: Undercutting slurry/water can be an indicator of sharpness. the sharper an edge, the better it undercuts water/slurry. and, the thinner a slurry, the harder it is to undercut it. water is the hardest, of course. But I wouldn´t say that your razor has to undercut plain water. Would be good, though.

Regards,
tok

Thanks tok for this helpful reply.

I use the opportunity to thank all of you again, for helping me out so much, it's because of you guys that I'm becoming a honing addict!

I took a day's rest today, but I gotta return to the stone tomorrow in order to get that blade sharper, I guess the bevel is set by now, or is it possible to shave with an unfinished bevel?

There is some sharpness as tells the undercutting of the slurry, the armhair popping, the fair enough shave, however still not enough drag or stickiness on the TPT, which doesn't necessarily indicate poor sharpness according to richmondesi.

Tomorrow I'll try to go back to a very light slurry and only do x-strokes and dilute it slowly to only water again, then I try a shave test and if it doesn't shave better than the last shave, I try the unicot method from the final taped stages onwards on wednesday and I'll retry a shave test on thursday.

Does that sound like a good plan or would you proceed otherwise?

I'll keep you posted and thanks again! This is fun!!!

Yes, sounds like a good plan. I highly recommend to read Gary´s tips that are added at the dilucot tutorial on coticule.be lately. They´re gold.

Regards and luck,
tok