The Coticule Club!

[Lomez]

Hey guys, just finished a bad shave, didn't even wanna try above the lip.

Sold off all my DE stuff in a final effort to learn to hone and strop properly. Going into work tomorrow with a 14 yr old's mustache...

I thought it would be cool to have a thread where we can post our coti hone routines, a place where we can come vent if we feel like giving up, a place for accoutability (if only to ourselves), and where newbies to the cot can exchange ideas and break throughs, and even ask the resident pro's for idea.

 

[eKretz]

I just got a new vintage coti that took me a little bit to figure out. I previously had a La Verte that was pretty easy to finish on but very slow. The edges were pretty good from it but definitely more on the keen side than the comfy side. Got the new to me vintage 2" x 8" stone a couple weeks ago and found immediately that it was WAY faster than the Verte. It will start to blacken a slurry in a matter of a few strokes, and about 10 - 20 strokes on straight water.

Initially I tried to use the stone the same way as my old La Verte - thick slurry to start and diluting down to thin, then straight water - but couldn't get a good result after the slurry honing - not cutting arm hair.

I figured out that I needed a much thinner slurry to start with on the faster stone, and from there it's been outstanding. After a 2k Shapton Pro (which I probably don't even need with the speed this thing has) I do about 20 - 30 laps on a thin slurry then dilute to straight water with a few drops every 10 laps or so and do another 30 very light laps after washing all the slurry from the stone and razor. Perfect shave. Keen but still very very comfortable, even ATG.

 

[HunterBlades]

I just shaved off a Rouge Du Salm and it was pretty awesome. I can tweak it for a better shave, I was testing scratch pattern and it made a great mirror polish quickly.

That is actually the back. Top honing plan is chamfered and inclusion free. Really cool grain and holographic effect.

 

[eKretz]

I don't know what layer mine is - coticule or BBW, but they are both fast cutters. The pattern on the BBW looks very similar to yours Gabe, but I don't think it's as red. BBW has the same "holographic" thing going on though where stripes appear and disappear depending on viewing angle.

 

[HunterBlades]

The slurry on that stone is wine colored. I have no other BBW. The stone above is definitely a high grade hone though.

 

[Guesstimating]

I just shaved off a Rouge Du Salm and it was pretty awesome.

Is that what it is? I have a stone that looks exactly like it, thought that was just a regular BBW (it's a vintage barber-sized hone, glued to a coticule). I used it a couple of times following coticule and the blade became fairly sharp (nothing spectacular, but usable for me - I'm still learning), but less smooth. Is there a trick to it?

 

[Sharpchef]

Is that what it is? I have a stone that looks exactly like it, thought that was just a regular BBW (it's a vintage barber-sized hone, glued to a coticule). I used it a couple of times following coticule and the blade became fairly sharp (nothing spectacular, but usable for me - I'm still learning), but less smooth. Is there a trick to it?

The Rouge de Salm is a variation of BBW, and a little finer and faster in my opinion. For good results on BBW and Rouge de Salm i can only say, the last strokes should be spine leading.

I will post my coticule method later this week, i call it nocot.

Greets Sebastian.

 

[Lomez]

Did all my bevels the other day, and this morning honed 4 razors on the Coti, which is a La Veille Rouge from TSS.

#1 was the longest honing session, I will time them next time- bc my strokes seem to be the same pace. Started on a skim slurry finished on water.
#2 Heavy cream slurry with pressure, def saw a quick color change to gray, which I believe to be the pressure vs the slurry thickness.
#3 Didn't make a slurry with the rubber at all, just a lot of pressure, to see if it would turn gray on its own, and barely did, finished with water. This was probably my easiest session.
#4 Slightly greater than misty slurry, then fin on water.

The bottom right (see below) of the stone feels rough when the razor goes over it. With the eye, I can see diff striations. When I freshly lap it with a DMT-C (325), it feels smooth for a few laps, but then gets this rough feeling in one area again.

Should I be avoiding that area? It sounds like it stops my beautiful swish sound with a dulling crumble..

 

[Lomez]

 

[Lomez]

Hunter, that stone is gorgeous!

 

[eKretz]

Very likely that the stone is giving up binder particles in that area (and probably some garnets too) and exposing more garnets by a greater amount if it's only louder/grittier feeling in just that spot. I'd steer clear of that corner for finishing.

I have a tiny coti with some ridiculously fast and pretty coarse BBW but on my larger coti the BBW is really pretty fine and smooth - I haven't tried a shave from it yet but I think it will give a good one.

 

[David]

Have you tried reworking the chamfer on that corner? I've had stones do that before where the spine is sort of riding on the rail of the stone...I rolled the corners off and it fixed it. Just a suggestion.

 

[HunterBlades]

Hunter, that stone is gorgeous!

Thanks. It is a really enjoyable stone to use. Good speed and feedback which leaves one of the best mirror polishes out of nearly any stone I have. It looks great next to my 150yr old no backing coti too. They make a nice pair.

 

[slant81]

 

[HunterBlades]

How is your coti working out? Getting better results?

 

[Lomez]

I got a passable shave the other day, but nothing I would call impressive. I redid the corners like David recommended, but haven't tried it since. Had to walk away for a day, haha.

 

[eKretz]

I found that my super fast coti gives the smoothest edge with a fresh 1200 Atoma lap and straight water passes. Outstanding edge that way and super smooth/comfy. HHT4 to HHT5 every time depending on how good a job I do and the razor quality. It eats steel like a mother with any sort of slurry, whether generated by diamond plate or rub stone. It doesn't give as smooth of an edge when used with straight water after scrubbing/smoothing the stone with a rub stone. So to do a one-stone progression I use a light slurry to get the bevel set with some small amount of torque applied to flex the blade a tiny bit, that way when I switch to straight water passes it doesn't take much time at all to get to a finished edge since almost all of the work is getting done at or very near the apex. After the slurry work I do some straight water passes with a little bit of torque, then relap the stone with 1200 Atoma and 30 laps on straight water with very little pressure is usually enough to finish up.

 

[Brianskeet]

I found that my super fast coti gives the smoothest edge with a fresh 1200 Atoma lap and straight water passes. Outstanding edge that way and super smooth/comfy. HHT4 to HHT5 every time depending on how good a job I do and the razor quality. It eats steel like a mother with any sort of slurry, whether generated by diamond plate or rub stone. It doesn't give as smooth of an edge when used with straight water after scrubbing/smoothing the stone with a rub stone. So to do a one-stone progression I use a light slurry to get the bevel set with some small amount of torque applied to flex the blade a tiny bit, that way when I switch to straight water passes it doesn't take much time at all to get to a finished edge since almost all of the work is getting done at or very near the apex. After the slurry work I do some straight water passes with a little bit of torque, then relap the stone with 1200 Atoma and 30 laps on straight water with very little pressure is usually enough to finish up.

That is interesting! You have basically found a way to unicot your razor without tape! I think it is safe to say you have that razor stone combination figured out. Time for a new coti

 

[Lomez]

That makes me wonder.. if I were to glass the edge, would I be able to learn much about my coti by it's beveling speed and slurry level need?

 

[Tacetman]

I was really happy to find this thread. I bought a coti a few months ago to use to touch-up some of my razors. Great results touching-up previously honed edges, but after a few weeks I decided to try a full bevel-to-finish job on one of my Gold Dollars. It's been a couple months with a 20-45 minute honing session every few days, and I have still not seen results.

I recently purchased a Boker that did not have a good bevel set on it prior to shipment. I am on deployment and mail to/from my area takes a really long time (3-4 weeks), so sending it off to a honemeister to get re-set is not an option. I desperately want to be able to take this thing to a shave ready condition, but after 2-3 honing sessions it would shave arm hair, but was nowhere near acceptable shaving quality.

Last night I glassed the edge and tried to start fresh. My biggest realization was that the technique for half-strokes described on coticule.be (rest one finger on the blade near the spine while performing strokes) doesn't work for me at all. I have small hands and trying to get my finger to give light, steady pressure on the blade while performing a proper stroke wasn't working. I free-handed several hundred half-strokes on VERY thick slurry, and at the end of it the heel of the razor will shave arm hair like a champ, but the toe and middle of the blade are still quite dull.

Fairly frustrated with my results so far. I have 3/5 razors that I am continually touching up, but it would be great to be able to restore the other 2 and work them into my rotation...

Any ideas?