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David,

Yep, my bad. :) You read my post correctly. I'm going to go back and edit it...

Howard, I know you and the Belgians recommend using the coticule with slurry. How heavy of a slurry do...

Thanks for all the great info, guys. The Ross Cutlery field trip sounds like it was a real treat. Maybe one day I'll make it out there.... :)

It was interesting to hear that David uses a diamond...

David,

That post was great--thanks for sharing! It confirms a lot of things we've suspected, like that it's impossible to overhone on the Belgian hones, for example.

The 1/2" wide hone thing...

Dylandog,

The lack of info about Belgians is what gave me the idea for starting this thread. :) Bruno and Howard gave me some great info through PMs and e-mails, and I thought it would be nice to...

I tried out my Solingen razor this morning, and again I am stunned by the results. I think I've found the perfect shaving edge for me.

On the weekends, I usually shave around noon on Saturday,...

The second day of my experiment went almost as well as the first. I actually considered skipping my shave today, because after 21 hours I barely had any stubble. But what fun is that? :)

I always...

Yannis,

I remember now--you're the guy. :) Were you the one who said the German guys use the blue as a finishing hone?

Thanks for the inspiration. :)

Josh

Thanks for sharing your experiment, heavyduty. I actually looked at this experiment from a different angle, and I'll get to that in a minute...

But first, I have to say this is one of the best...

OK, in keeping with the original intent of this thread, I'm trying another experiment tomorrow. (Not that I mind the hijacks at all--it was good discussion.) I thought I'd post now so I don't chicken...

I'm with Bruno, who helped me figure this coticule thing out. :)

The coticule alone is great for quick touchups. I might try sets of 10 laps, and I'd probably end up doing 30 to 50 total.

Josh

Ah, my bad. :)

The 1200-grit diamond hone is great, but it's only for razors that are in really bad shape. For touchups I just use my coticule, and rarely I'll go back to the Belgian blue.

Josh

James,

I'm with you 100 percent on how you're approaching the Belgians. My big breakthrough came after reading a comment from Lynn that he posted a while back about how he found it takes a lot of...

I've arrived at pretty much the same conclusion. The dry honing is a good trick to keep in the arsenal for when nothing else seems to work. :)

Tonight I also tried using a very, very light slurry....

Well, Ivo said he's able to get the HHT to work coming off his coticule, so I've been trying it out. In the last week or so I've been able to get most of my razors to pass pretty well off the...

JScott,

I'm not sure if you'll see much improvement from a coticule over the 12K. It can't hurt to get one, though. :)

I'd recommend the 6x2" size from Howard.

Josh

I thought I'd clarify something: Ivo mentioned dry honing after wet honing produced worse results, and I think that makes sense. The barber manuals recommend using water and then lather for...

I'm continuing to play around with the three finishing approaches I mentioned--dry, wet (no slurry) and with lather.

I have to agree with Ivo and Howard that, on balance, the edges from the wet...

Telly,

Don't worry, we won't bite. Sorry if I came across like I was jumping on you. :) Not my intention at all--I like the analytical approach you're taking. Thinking before doing usually means...

Tim's photos were what helped me figure out how to use my coticule, actually. I was trying to use it with a slurry and getting terrible results, and then I saw those pictures and it clicked--no...

Just to clarify--the dry-honed edge was "sharper," right?

My theory right now is that the wet/lather edges are truly sharper, but the dry-honed edge has just enough bite (tiny teeth?) to it to...

I think Ivo is right on. When I first got my coticule, I was using it with a fairly thick slurry, and the edges shaved very poorly. I found that after using the slurry I had to go back to the Belgian...

*blushing*

Well, shucks... Thanks, guys. Glad you found some of this useful. Keep in mind that I didn't come up with any of this--I just found that it works for me and thought I'd reiterate what...

Si,

I'm with you. I grow to love my coticule more every day... This thing is amazing.

The test shave with the Dovo today was spectacular. This thing has turned into a whisker killing...

Well, I'm going to have to redo the test before I can post my impressions. Today I used a soap instead of the cream I had been using, and I think I must be alergic to it. My face was burning badly...

Ah, maybe that's what I've been doing. I don't think I've been going particularly fast, but I'm probably using about the same speed that I would normally use... I'll have to get out my barber hones...