Having a coticule is like having a girlfriend. They're all awesome, but you have to take the time to understand what they like. Most will give you a happy ending if you treat them right.
I had this same quest for quite a while. It turned out that once I got the hang of coticule honing, I could put a nice edge on a razor with almost all of my coticules. The only "magic" part is that I don't know what changed as I went from incompetent to competent at putting a razor edge on with a coticule. It happened during a lot of repetition, somehow.Lol, I have five coticules now, surely one of them is the magic one that will hone my razors.....
Same here, and only happened quite recently. Not exactly sure what changed but I'm not complaining.The only "magic" part is that I don't know what changed as I went from incompetent to competent at putting a razor edge on with a coticule. It happened during a lot of repetition, somehow.
But if you sent it out to be honed you would have missed out on the joy of victory.In life I have had many difficult lessons sometimes because of circumstance and sometimes because of my own ignorance, or my stubbornness.
Having been shaving with a straight razor for the last eight or nine years I made the fateful decision to learn to hone at the same time.
Starting with a cheap Chinese water stone I struggled, duh of course I did. After lapping it flat though I could get an edge to shave after a sort, not well or comfortably but it would take off hair, irritate skin, and do blood letting all in one go.
Later I came in to possession of a coticule and was able to get my first pain free shave. Dilucot became my go to honing method, but it still wasn't perfect!
It was at this time the addiction began, many of you would recognize it. I scoured flea markets, antique stores, the big digital Bay looking for the next hit, er hone. I bought stones, bid on stones, even flattened a stone I found in my landscaping, all in pursuit of the all-shaving edge.
One of those lessons came recently. I had found a couple of deals on a couple of King stones, a 1k/6k, and a G-1 8k finishing stone.
Grabbing my "Robeson's best" razor I set a bevel, worked it up to 8k. I always do a quick arm hair test between hones to judge progress and all seemed well till I took it to the translucent Arkansas stone I like to "finish" on. At this time I need to stress that "finish" is in quotes as after finishing on it I found that the razor no longer cut hair comfortable. So back to the 8k it went and after the Arkansas it was once again obvious the edge was bad.
Deciding to experiment I took the razor back to the 8k and instead of my no name translucent I finished on my Norton 4x1 translucent HB14. Bang just like that the edge was screaming sharp.
I shaved with that razor and it felt like nothing on my skin but I had the best shave I have had in all the time I have been shaving with a straight razor.
I decided to investigate what could have gone wrong and really looked over the no name Arkansas. Turns out that when I flattened it my food enough just wasn't good enough. So back to lapping it went now I'm suffering from an inflamed elbow but I got a flat stone out of it that finishes beautiful.
My second lesson is that apparently my dilucot technique isn't up to snuff and I'm deeply annoyed with that. I suspect all of this could have been avoided if I had just sent a razor out for honing.
The only "magic" part is that I don't know what changed as I went from incompetent to competent at putting a razor edge on with a coticule.
Not exactly sure what changed but I'm not complaining.
I agree that "truly great" stones do happen. I have one JNat like that. It cost me far, far less than many others. Often enough, when I forget what stone put the edge on the razor I just shaved with, and want to know, because the edge seemed beyond perfect, I look it up and yup, it was that stone again.Coticules are like JNats, truly great ones for razors are maybe 2% of the lot.
Coticules are like JNats, truly great ones for razors are maybe 2% of the lot.
I can see this with razor honing and to be honest I'm there too. I've got the finishing coticules I'll own until I die but those coarse, hard, very fast ones are few and far in between and that's all I look for now out now just for knives and tools. But I've sold off a lot of good finishing coticules this last year.I had this same quest for quite a while. It turned out that once I got the hang of coticule honing, I could put a nice edge on a razor with almost all of my coticules. The only "magic" part is that I don't know what changed as I went from incompetent to competent at putting a razor edge on with a coticule. It happened during a lot of repetition, somehow.
I enjoy having all these coticules, though.
This is a good sumation of my "home it until it's right" philosophy. Though a few blades may die.It is not really “that” difficult, and we, the fora make it much more difficult than it needs to be.
All you need is a good quality coarse stone, a good finisher and perhaps some paste like Chrome oxide in the .50um range, for better comfort.
The biggest “mistake” new honers make is not fully setting the bevel. A fully set bevel is flat, from heel to toe, in the correct bevel angle and meeting fully from heel to toe.
The trick is how do you know? There are a host of test, that you must calibrate for yourself. Calibrate, understand when a test passes, and more importantly when it does not.
The simplest “test” is to look straight down on the edge with low magnification. If you see shiny reflections, the bevels are not meeting. Joint the edge and hone on the bevel setter until you do not see shiny reflections.
Once the bevels are meeting fully, then remove all the deep stria with the following stone to refine the edge. A 1k, 4-6k and 8-12k progression is all you need, and you can drop the mid grit and jump straight to 8-12k if your technique is good. It can be done but for a new honer not recommended.
Where guys fail, is not getting the bevels to meet fully at bevel set and not removing all the deep bevel setting stria fully.
A pro hone razor will teach you nothing except what your razor is capable of. The question most new guys ask is, “how do I know when I am finished at each grit”.
Google (My Second Try at Honing). It is a long post of a new honer, the second razor he had honed, with excellent micrographs of his bevels at each step of the progression.
All you need to do is make your bevels look like his bevels at each step of the progression. He did not use any magic stones, I think he used a Norton 1,4 & 8K, finished on a Naniwa 12k.
Almost set
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Fully Set
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I think I'm still using too much pressure, but getting there.