Oil on Coticule.

Bald as · Dec 9, 2016

My Coti has a somewhat Jekyll and Hyde personality. Initially when I first got it I tried slurry and diluting the slurry, water only and basically anything else I could think of to get a half decent edge. The back side is BBW and it was a better finish than the actual Coti. Even after careful lapping with fine W/D the surface while very smooth felt like a rough gravel road when honing - a very odd and disconcerting experience. I was extremely disappointed as the results of the blade and shave where about equal to a 3k in appearance and feel. I have a nice set of Arkansas stones and as an experiment I decided to try straight baby oil on the Coti. My own research had revealed the Coti was regarded as an oil stone by many barbers in the past. With oil on the Coti the lightest touch and very minimal strokes and any edge, including my Jnat is remarkably improved. The oil suspends the blade and turn the stone into the most extraordinary fine finisher. Prior to using oil, the stone, even with very light pressure would randomly chip or damage in some way the edge from a previous hone. With oil, the edge of the edge is beautifully straight, the bevel has no scratch pattern under a 60x loupe and stropped just on leather only the shave is wonderful.
I was ready to bin my Coti as a junk stone however now it is usually the final finish no matter which stones I use. Nothing matches the finish it gives using baby oil. It washes clean at the end of a honing session with some warm water and dish detergent. No sign of any oil contamination.
I use the same approach with my C12k using Kero only and absolutely no ill affects. A much finer result as well.

duke762 · Dec 11, 2016

Right now I'm using an oily Coti on an 0-1 wood carving tool and I'm really liking it! Got this stone by accident in a lot and it's just been sitting around for 3 months because I only use oil. Didn't want to use water on any of my tools or knives. This stone just climbed way up my go to ladder. I'm an Arkansas stone junkie but this Coti is rocking my world! Thank you gentlemen!

foodgrower · Jan 23, 2017

Hello folks,

I ran across this thread and registered just so I could reply to it.

First I don't use a straight razor, in fact I don't even shave, I have a full beard, so I don't know how well I would fit in here overall.

That said, I have some information that may be germane to this discussion - a consideration, if you will, about using oil on your coticule. I use an old (at least 60~70 years) natural combo for finishing my outdoor and skinning knives. It belonged to a great uncle that was a barber when I was a child. I have owned it for at least the last forty years and in that time I have always used it with oil to no ill effect. In fact the stone seems to wear better (less?) and I really like the result I get on my blades.

Just recently I noticed a hairline crack in the stone that extends through the stone from side to side and runs for approximately three inches from one end on a diagonal towards the outside edge of the stone, following what I can only describe as a grain mark in the stone. This crack is so fine that I never noticed it when sharpening and probably would not have noticed it at all if it wasn't for cleaning the stone to fit it to an inlet wooden box I am making for it.

Now that you have some background, here is the consideration, cleaning the crack of oil preparatory to repairing it has been an absolute nightmare. I have washed the stone in soap and water, I have used spray solvents applied externally, I have immersed the cracked end of the stone in solvent and let it soak, and I've used heating and an absorbent powder in an attempt to wick the oil out of the crack. With all this effort if I warm the stone and use my thumb to push on the edge near the crack I still can express a light trace of oil from the crack.

So. using oil on my coticule hasn't been detrimental to it based on my experience but, if you ever need to repair your stone it could present some challenges in getting it clean enough so you can repair it.

Cordially,

foodgrower

Legion · Jan 23, 2017

foodgrower said:
Hello folks,

I ran across this thread and registered just so I could reply to it.

First I don't use a straight razor, in fact I don't even shave, I have a full beard, so I don't know how well I would fit in here overall.

That said, I have some information that may be germane to this discussion - a consideration, if you will, about using oil on your coticule. I use an old (at least 60~70 years) natural combo for finishing my outdoor and skinning knives. It belonged to a great uncle that was a barber when I was a child. I have owned it for at least the last forty years and in that time I have always used it with oil to no ill effect. In fact the stone seems to wear better (less?) and I really like the result I get on my blades.

Just recently I noticed a hairline crack in the stone that extends through the stone from side to side and runs for approximately three inches from one end on a diagonal towards the outside edge of the stone, following what I can only describe as a grain mark in the stone. This crack is so fine that I never noticed it when sharpening and probably would not have noticed it at all if it wasn't for cleaning the stone to fit it to an inlet wooden box I am making for it.

Now that you have some background, here is the consideration, cleaning the crack of oil preparatory to repairing it has been an absolute nightmare. I have washed the stone in soap and water, I have used spray solvents applied externally, I have immersed the cracked end of the stone in solvent and let it soak, and I've used heating and an absorbent powder in an attempt to wick the oil out of the crack. With all this effort if I warm the stone and use my thumb to push on the edge near the crack I still can express a light trace of oil from the crack.

So. using oil on my coticule hasn't been detrimental to it based on my experience but, if you ever need to repair your stone it could present some challenges in getting it clean enough so you can repair it.

Cordially,

foodgrower

Interesting.

Welcome to the forum.

SliceOfLife · Jan 24, 2017

I wonder if putting the stone in a vaccuum chamber would work without damaging the stone. It should vaporize the oil, no... at least if a little heat is introduced?

Anyway just spit-balling. A very interesting consideration. Coticules are pretty prone to "faults"; and while they rarely actually need to be filled (I've had some stones that were split all the way through the coticule (stopping at the bbw), which you could never tell (you'd guess it were just a manganese line) after a good lapping to even out where the sides of the crack/split met, if they were large enough oil would be a problem then I could see it complicating a repair.

Steve56 · Jan 24, 2017

I have de-oiled jnats by soaking them in isopropyl alcohol overnight. You could also use some types of freon, which oil is attracted to, photographic film cleaning solutions come to mind, used to degrease film after drum scanning with oil.

Cheers, Steve

scag315 · Jan 25, 2017

Huh, alcohol at room temp? That's strange as at that temperature most common oils are insoluble. You would need a much higher temperature which could damage the stone. I would imagine a simple detergent would be the best method. A soap and water soak would be the way I'd go, probably dawn dish detergent. Since Coticules are non-porous outside of cracks it's not like an Thuringian that will soak up oil, you're just more or less trying to get it out of tricky places. I've heard of people putting stones on the top shelf of their dishwasher (again the heat will make oils more soluble) however that's not a risk I'm generally willing to take. I'd imagine you would risk cracking the stones at higher temperatures.

David · Jan 26, 2017

Simple green has always worked fine for me. The coti in the pic below was full of oil. The pic was taken after a one hour soak in simple green. You can see the oil wicking out. I soaked it again overnight and it was good to go. Most of those cracks didn't need filling, but the ones that did took the super thin CA in and held it just fine. I've soaked many cotis and arks in simple green for extended periods of time with no issues, and also several thuris overnight with no problems.

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Oil on Coticule.

Bald as

duke762

Rose to the occasion

foodgrower

Legion

SliceOfLife

Steve56

Ask me about shaving naked!

scag315

David

B&B’s Champion Corn Shucker

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