Thread: water + dreft?

I just went to the koordenwinkel to buy me a coticule (was cheaper than I expected so yay! ) and the salesman explained me how to use it (with one of the most beautiful razors I've ever seen I must add), which was very nice of him.

He started out be wetting it with a mixture of water + dreft (which is something used for doing the dishes) first. I knew about the water part but that dreft part was new and I forogt to ask him about it. So can anyone tell me why to add it to the water, does it make it slicker or something?

Originally Posted by harold

I just went to the koordenwinkel to buy me a coticule (was cheaper than I expected so yay! ) and the salesman explained me how to use it (with one of the most beautiful razors I've ever seen I must add), which was very nice of him.

He started out be wetting it with a mixture of water + dreft (which is something used for doing the dishes) first. I knew about the water part but that dreft part was new and I forogt to ask him about it. So can anyone tell me why to add it to the water, does it make it slicker or something?

I do that sometimes too, but i have forgotten why.

the same reason some guys use lather on their barber hones instead of just water. the pupose of the water is to "float" the ground off metal on the top of the stone so it doesn't clog it. This is exactly the way soaps remove dirt from things they envelope the dirt particals andd float them off of the surface where they can be rinsed away. On your sharpening stones this would just be a more heavy-duty way of keeping the metal from cloging the pores. As far as slicker, it might make it a little slicker because soap also increases the viscosity of water and it might cut minutely slower because of this but I don't think you will notice the slower cutting as much as the cleaner stone.

Works a little like a buffer between the razor and the grit, raising the contact grit level compared to the hone itself. It also creates a greater suction to keep the razor flat on the hone with less pressure.