Ok, I've been straight shaving since Feb and have accumulated a nice 7 day rotation. I've been able to get away without really honing them since then but the time has come for some love for them. I had a nice TI Le Grelot and was getting a bit dull so in spite of not touching my coticule for the last 3 months or so (I had never gotten the hang of it) I tried just touching it up 3 nights this week for about 20 minutes a night. I really concentrated on keeping the blade on the stone without rocking. The coticule is fairly slow I think, and its 60X200 so not the easiest to keep the blade in tact at all times for a beginner.

The first night I thought I did ok, but the shave was poor the next day. Just wasn't really sharp enough to cut the hair, but was sharp enough to cut be face in one place.

Second night, better result and a better shave the next day, but still not good. Still needed to use a DE for a 4th pass.

Day 3, just couldn't get a sharp edge. Tried for about 30 minutes, and then grabbed my norton 4K/8K and in 5 minutes had a very nice edge on it. Great shave this morning with that edge.

So I know I can hone, but that darn coticule is giving me fits. I started with a milky (2% ish) slurry for 15 passes, then every 6-8 lightened it up with a splash of water. Maybe a total of 30-50 passes in total. I was fairly sure I still had a good bevel as I had shaved successfully with it the morning before I started. I seem to have achieved a decent edge a few times that cut hair on my arm, but then 8 passes later it was dull as it was when I started. Like I went backwards.

I know You'll tell me to keep practicing and I intend to, but some tips would help.

TIA - Jim