Looking for some information about a birthday surprise coticue

[ChiTownShaver]

Thanks in advance everyone and also a huge thank you to B&B and its members for all of the awesome information and helpful mentality I've found here while reading!

I started using a shavette nearly a year ago and am getting decent with it but its incredibly unforgiving, only one major scar so far though. I've been planning to get into full fledged straight shaving for some time now but money has been very tight since I'm unemployed. I was talking about this with my uncle recently and he got one of those smiles when I mentioned my interest straights and honing and said he had an early birthday present in the garage for me. It's a 4"x2"x3/8" for the coti layer. The backing is BBW and slurries purple. He said that he bought it at an estate sale last year to sharpen his chisels for the princely sum of $3. The box says its an extra extra old rock Belgium hone. I've been reading up about honing for a while now and know some about coticules and was wondering if you amazing and knowledgeable members might be able to tell me more about the awesome present I was given. I can't find much info on the company on the box.

Should I just practice with it to learn its characteristics or is there a way to know some of that in advance? I've read/watched several videos on honing techniques and motions. Can this stone be used as a finisher? I was thinking of getting a DMT1200 as a slurry stone/bevel setter to help reduce costs. Is that a good idea? I made a paddle strop out of some old walnut with leather/balsa+crox. Would that be a sufficient starter honing setup?

My plan was to buy a new straight from TAoS with the gift card to TAoS for $150 from my girlfriend's awesome parents and if it isn't shave ready have a member here hone it for me as a benchmark edge. I do want to learn to maintain my razors myself but figured I should have a proven benchmark to start from. I was thinking of buying a few GDs to practice honing on to compare with. Is this a good plan or would you guys recommend something different?

Thank you all again and sorry for all of the questions at once/wall of text. I still can't believe he gave it to me and cannot wait to try out a real straight soon.

 

[Guesstimating]

Congratulations, that's a great looking coticule. If the color is accurate, it looks very similar to my vintage La Veinette, so I'll wager it's from the same stratum.

I'd check Coticule.be (if you haven't yet) as it has some great (and nicely condensed) info on how to use a coticule.

DMT 1200 is a good choice, but I would also seriously consider getting a slurry stone in addition to a bevel setter. I believe ThePerfectEdge has them listed right now for $10 a pop and TheSuperiorShave has them from time to time.

Also, if you want to go a cheaper route, King 1K is a great bevel setter that can be had for ~$30 and is hard to beat in the performance/price ratio department.

Good luck.

 

[Brooksie967]

That's a heck of a $3 stone. I'll give you $30, pm me your PayPal

 

[DJKELLY]

$31.99.

 

[Brooksie967]

$31.99.

Rude lol.

 

[ChiTownShaver]

Yeah, I've been waffling between just using the DMT or getting a slurry stone too. I guess it's better in the long run to do it right than try to be cheap.

My uncle seems to think he has an old straight and strop hiding somewhere in his barn. The chances of it still being useable are pretty low I'd wager though.

 

[eKretz]

Haha, what is this b&bBay?

You need to figure out the process/procedure for your individual coticule before deciding whether using a rubbing stone or a diamond plate is better for generating slurry. I have a nice old vintage coti that is a super fast stone on both diamond and rubbing stone generated slurry, but it needs to be smoothed after slurry honing by lapping with a diamond plate or it gives a slightly harsh finish.

I've tried without smoothing the surface after slurry honing and with smoothing using the rubbing stone - no dice either way. A fresh lapping with my worn-in Atoma 1200 and about 60 - 80 very light laps on straight water gives me HHT4 to HHT5 and a superb very smooth shave.

 

[RusenBG]

I have the same , its not a hard , fine finisher . It is a fast soft 6 7 K midle range hone , almost synthetyc feeling , from it . The red part of BBW is not a BBW or at least is a coarser , faster stone from an ordinary BBW . The best Midle hone i have ever used in my life .
After 1 K make slurry and go to the Red side , When it began to shave hair easily . go to wite part with thin slury and every 15 strokes dilueting to plain water .
Amasing stone , best hone ever , in the midle . the red layer is some kind of red coarse Coti , much faster than the BBW . that has ordinary wave - grain patern.
Youll have to find a thuringian hone for finishing , and in 90 % of the honings you will have the best edge ever .
Very good hone , but soft . no presure on it .

 

[SliceOfLife]

They're not always the same. The Extra Extra OR I had awhile back was plenty fine, and I'd say it was about average softness. It did have an aggressive feel to it (similar to a good La Veinette).