Thread: Pastes on coticuled edge

I use a kosher and MASSIVE coticule (kosher at work, MASSIVE at home) then onto metal polish on black card that is stuck to a lapped chisle hone with double sided sticky tape.
I have just finished two razors, Taylors eye witnes 6/8+ round point and a Cornwall Hollow 11/16 slight Oblique point. They both cut every arm hair they come into contact with little resistance, I have quite fine arm hair!! The Cornwall wasn't playing ball, but now it's fine!
I did about 40 laps on the metal polish, after getting the edge a sharp as I could on the coticules.
The edge and spine wear (which is crisp,small and neat) is like a mirror too, in beautiful contrast to the slightly tarnished ancient blades.
HHT works on my fine hair over nearly every part of the edges too - I could go further!
I think my honing just needed more work, of the right type.
I've got some Cro2 comming too.
M trainee honemiester-I wish!

Lots of great advice on this thread.

My two cents: I finish on coticule or escher and frequently follow it with a few laps on a chrome-oxed hanging canvas strop. But for the first shave after any honing session I always skip the chrome ox. The reason is that I want to make sure that I'm getting a great edge off the stones and that the chrome ox is adding smoothness only. If I can't get comfortable BBS after this test shave, I go back to the hone. This also lets me measure my improvement as a honer. In Bart's great phrase, so much of honing with the naturals has to do with "chasing keenness." You'd be surprised how your edges keep improving even when you're way past the apprentice stage.

But the main thing is, I think most of the paste problems people talk about ('teardrop' edges, weak edges) come from depending on paste to do the work of hones. Keep working on getting the absolute most out of your coticule, and if the pastes add something by way of comfort, that's great. Used sparingly, I have not found chrome ox on hanging linen to produce rounded or weak edges.

It may also help prevent rounding that I have a very hard vintage canvas strop, so stiff that it sounds like a little vespa when I'm stropping on it, and I pull it very taut and use little to no pressure when stropping.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

Sometimes it's not the arrow but the Indian.

Jimmy, you said 8 and half words, where I needed two posts...

Originally Posted by PA23-250

For extra sharpness after the coticule, I'm thinking a finer hone is the answer, followed by a few strokes on CrO just to smooth/even things out.

Don't forget that you could also look for extra sharpness before the Coticule. I've been using a Naniwa Chosera 10K lately, and although I can shave right off it, the edge really improves from a number of swipes on a Coticule with water. The outcome is significantly keener than that of a DMT-Blue/slurry-Coticule/water progression.

All the best,
Bart.

I've had the exact same experience as bart. when I started I relied on a pasted paddle, and I had to repasted strop every other shave. Now I'm hooked on coticule and escher and almost never touch pastes. In fact, first time I've touch pastes in months was this week to deal wiht a green lizard that I just haven't been able to get sharp, but I'm so unwilling to go back to my old days of resharpening every two days that I like to just stick to stones now.

I prefer hones over pastes. The edges last longer and truthfully whether I use my Coticule or Escher or natural Japanese stone the razor is plenty sharp and smooth for me. I don't need to go further. Now there are a few razors with very hard steel that do better with a diamond pasted strop and these razors tend to maintain their sharpness much better than using a pasted strop on"normal" razors. Also, pastes and hones sharpen differently and I don't like mixing the two. But that's just me.

Don't forget that you could also look for extra sharpness before the Coticule.

On that note, has anyone tried the coticule dry first? I read an old barber manual where the recommended progression was dry-wet-lather. I tried it myself last night after the blue/slurry, but I haven't shaved with it yet.

I think someone a while back (can't find the post) said it was keener but harsher when used dry.

So after reading more of the replies about pastes it seems that they should be used primarliy in edge smoothing, not sharpening. It also seems that using pastes to maintain sharpness also greatly sacrifices the edges durability. So what I plan on doing in the future is to only use the pastes right after the stones. If an edge needs touching up, I'll go to the coticule first to attain the sharpness, then use the pastes just to add a bit of smoothness. But of course I'll play around and find out what works best for me.

I actually tried using my coticule tonight with a bit of mineral oil on the surface instead of water. I found a few posts that referred to using an oil on a coticule, and it worked quite well actually! It had a real nice feel to it, very smooth, and I found it very easy to keep the razor flat on the hone with no pressure. I suppose the oil has the same effect as using lather on the hone. It adds just a bit of lubrication, and I find the razor "sticks" the surface more easily, keeping it sucked onto the stone. I plan on using it with oil for future honings, as I use my coticule solely for finishing.

Thank you for everyones input in this thread! Definitely a pleasure reading, and gives me a lot of inspiration to practice honing and stropping more.

Happy shaving,

Dave

OIL?!?! Here's a good question: if it does the same thing has honing with lather, then why not use just lather?

Originally Posted by Ben325e

OIL?!?! Here's a good question: if it does the same thing has honing with lather, then why not use just lather?

Yeah, I may just use lather in next time. I just wanted to try the oil out, that's all . I use mineral oil on my razor when I store then, as well as mixing it with chromium oxide powder to apply to a strop. So I wasn't too concerned about mineral oil. But you're right, if lather works just go with that! I just like to experiment!

Dave