the devil that is my coticule

[justalex]

Thought I'd annoy all the guys here with another coticule journey post... I'll try and make it short dont worry

Ok, got a standard grade coticule on the advice of Gary Haywood, who has honed many razors for me and all fantastic edges from his coticule, so i took the plunge and got one.

I tried the dilucot with varying success and other methods that me and Gary have toyed with; setting bevel on thick slurry, go to water back to thin slurry then to water again, basially playing around with the dilucot and moving the parts around.

I played with pressure changes and speed of stroke and had verying degrees of success... The enlightenment came when I realised that I was setting a bevel with medium heavy pressure then diluting with light pressure and wondering where I went wrong when the razor comes off rough.

I thought about it and came up with a theory that it was like coming off a 1k stone and going to light strokes on a 12k and expecting it to perform.

Essentially here's my coticule sharpening process;
semi skimmed milky slurry with no feel of chalkyness when honing - hone medium pressure until cuts arm hair with resistence
same slurry - light pressure, until cuts hair with little resistance
dilute twice by putting razor under tap to dilute
wash slurry off and hone on water with light strokes
make alot of thin slurry (as much water as you can hold on the stone to make semi skimmed slurry)
do no pressure strokes (as little pressure to keep the edge on the stone and no more) circles, halfstrokes, whatever your preference.
dilute to water and finish

I go back to slurry after water as it gives the razor such a soft edge, like a butter knife soft.

I hope this helps more than it confuses people, I've found pressure change on a slurry to be paramount in determining the stage of honing your at. sort of like a multi tiered pyramid method dictated by pressure


happy honing
Alex

[mjsorkin]

Interesting, thoughtful stuff. Congrats on your dedication to understanding your stone, and honing on coticules.

Coticules get pretty complicated. Slurry and pressure introduce quite a few variables.

I started out trying to use various one stone methods on coticules myself and I found that it was too confusing for me. I started honing just on synthetic benchstones until now, I'm able to produce a very consistent shave ready edge.

Now I'm attacking coticules from the other direction. I'm going to be taking shave ready razors, and putting them on the coticule for light finishing and touchups. Later, after I see how that works I will start introducing some slurries and maybe skipping some synthetic stones in the progression.

It's important to remember that, no matter what stone you use, you are attempting to achieve the same effect on your edge. First forming the bevel, then refining the edge. Light pressure helps, while still making sure that the edge stays in contact with the stone. Edge contact is top priority for me throughout the progression, with reduced pressure a secondary priority that comes along with good consistent strokes.

Michael

[johna2231]

I like this a lot! Thanks for sharing.

John

[DoughBoy68]

Working with slurry is the key to Coticules. I set my bevels with a Norton 1k as Coticules are supposed to be slow setting bevels from what I've read. I have only tried to set a bevel with a Coticule a couple of times and it was slow. Now sharpening and finishing with a Coticule is a totaly different animal.

I've watched Gary Haywoods videos and he is a master with a Coticule. A couple other guys to check out are Lynn Abrams and Glen (gssixgun) on SRP. These guys experiment with different hones including Coticules using different techniques. Check out some of their videos, very informative.

[zib]

Good for you. Learning your individual Coticule is the key to success with those stones. I think Coticules require more dedication than other naturals to get the most out of them. I hardly use mine these days, but once in a great while, I have a razor that responds well to a Coticule, so I'll break it out.