Hello SRP,

Over the last month or so I have really started to take an interest to honing, and I must say that I'm getting better at it slowly but surely. I've been practicing with my crapola Gold Dollar razors that I bought to teach myself how to hone, and I figure if I can get those to hold an edge then I'll have less problems honing something a little nicer (at least that's my hope).

My current setup is a King 1k & Naniwa SS 1k for bevel-setting, then a Norton 4/8, followed by a Chinese 12k for finishing. Lately though, I have really been fascinated with the possiblility of "condensing" the bulk of this process into using one single stone, so I started reading up on Coticules. I have watched the Unicot & Dilucot methods very closely and I must say that the process(es) are intriguing to me. So what did I (the honing noob) do? I went ahead and bought myself a 2x6" select-grade Coticule!

Now I'm wondering; did I get myself in over my head? Should I learn to master the other processes (the Norton 48, Naniwas, etc..) before attempting to use the Coticule? Is it really that much harder to learn? I kind of equate it to learning how to drive on a stick-shift (which I did), so I'm definitely up for the challenge. In fact I think that's what drew me to wanting to use a coti, is the potential for it to be harder to master. How else am I supposed to try it, though? I don't know anyone who owns one, so I figured it's worth the $$ to have a new & challenging hobby!!

Does anyone have any tips/advice for a noob wanting to get into Coticule honing? I would greatly appreciate any input, even if it's "dude you're not ready for that yet!!!"