Well, I decided that I would figure out how to hone/maintain my only razor (Dovo Bismark) with nothing but my coticule that I picked up while in Italy.

I have 3 other synthetics (400, 1000 and 5000 Naniwa super stones) but I have this unexplained desire to want to master the coticule. I've tried the superstones with mediocre results, I'm sure totaly due to the terrible technique that i probably have and not having a good finisher.

So tonight, I blunted my razor (on the bottom of a glass) and started to set the bevel following the dilucot method. I spent an hour trying to shave my arm hair with little success and couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong. I sharpied the bevel and i was making solid contact ect. Then, just on a whim I started to dilute my slurry anyways and MAGIC happened. I could shave the hair on my arm after about 60 half strokes with a lighter slurry. After two more hours of progressing the edge, then messing it up and starting over, I finally have a blade that seems sharp. I could not get the edge to pass the HHT test off the coticule, so I gave up. I finished with 45 laps on pasted linen, and 80 laps leather. The bevel is very nice and shiny and it now finally passes the HHT test fairly well. Not perfectly, there is still a slight resistance in a few spots but after almost three hours, that's good enough for me.

Ill shave with it tomorrow morning and find out if I at least made the edge as good as it was before I started. I'll be happy just having a comfortable shave for now. I'm sure this'll get easier as I practice, if not I'm going to have to buy many more razors to practice with

I don't know how you guys mastered this type of stone without losing at least a little bit of sanity, I hope I keep enough of mine to at least remember why I thought this coticule was a good idea though.

Here's hoping.