Do you ever need to lap a coticule?

[DESkydiver]

I know that over time the Norton 4k/8k needs to be lapped on occasion. Would you ever need to lap a Belgian Yellow Coticule?

I looked at http://coticule.be/ and did not find anything about lapping. Does one follow the thoughts that if it is not mentioned it is not needed?

 

[FiveOhNine]

You don't 'need' to lap anything, but yes, coticules do dish, so its generally recommended to flatten them.

 

[jkh]

It is probably best to lap your coticule when you first get it to ensure is flat. But coti wear very slowly and don't swarf up, so unless you are honing a ton of razors or other hand tools you won't need to lap it again for a long, long time ... if ever.

 

[thanks]

I used mine quite a bit practicing often, and noticed it had a tendency to dish when doing back to back dilucots. Then again, I guess I just may have had a softer than normal coti?

 

[SliceOfLife]

I lap gouges out of them when I get them... after that, no.

 

[DESkydiver]

You don't 'need' to lap anything, but yes, coticules do dish, so its generally recommended to flatten them.

Agreed, you don't 'need' to lap anything, but is recommended...

 

[azmark]

It takes a lot of honing to get a coticule to the point of dishing and if I'm not mistaken the dishing is from raising slurry than the actual razor.

Bart recommended in a thread here or coticule.be that raising slurry evenly and hold the coticule at different points helps to keep the wear even. By no means do you need to lap as often as synthetic hones and for this reason is why I use coticules. Honestly I don't lap any new coticule except for chamfering the edges.

 

[Joe Edson]

I got a vintage coti on eBay and it definitely needed lapping. Have read somewhere that you can go 500-1000 razors before really needing to lap them again.

 

[honed]

Try to raise slurry mostly on the ends, that helps keep the dishing out.

A coti is also easy to lap when you need to.
Just a couple of minutes on 600 wet/dry will do.

 

[DESkydiver]

Some good information here…
New coticules probably should not need to be lapped at all;
Over time, raise the slurry more towards the ends to keep dishing to a minimum;
If you do need to lap, use a 600 grit wet/dry;

I am currently using my ‘calibrated eyeball’ with a Starrett calibrated machinist’s rule to check flatness.

Thanks guys

 

[thanks]

Yeah mine dished due to ridiculous slurry creation methods. I experimented quite a bit with slurry, so I guess mine was not a normal case. Almost no actual wear on the stone, though! When i said dish, I didn't mean as in a full dish. It only took a couple minutes to lap out.

 

[honed]

Oh & you can also lap them dry, works just as good & then there is no mess.
And you can save the coticule powder!
Over at coticule.be there has been some experimentation with that on strops & so on.
Maybe it can make for an interesting paste

 

[Bart]

I looked at http://coticule.be/ and did not find anything about lapping. Does one follow the thoughts that if it is not mentioned it is not needed?

Here you go.

Kind regards,
Bart.

 

[danjared]

Here you go.

Kind regards,
Bart.

Wow, thank you for that Bart. I found it very helpful and wish I had read that thread sooner.

And, erm, where's that thanks button?

 

[DESkydiver]

Here you go.

Kind regards,
Bart.

Yes, thanks Bart. Perhaps I did not find because I was searching for "lap" as compared to "flatten" which was part of the article title.

Good information.

 

[BladeRunner001]

Yes

 

[kwigibocity]

I'll chime here...we use a particular coti @ the shop for finishing water-only, as it is the epitome of sloooow, silky ones.

On that particular stone I do indeed notice it seems to have a distinct improvement in the uniformity of the friction feeling transmitted to my fingers after a lapping, though we're taking about just a quick dusting w/ the DMT.

As force of habit we generate slurry on the edges like with a nagura stone, and there's other keeper (and much faster/harsher) coticules where I can't feel any difference at all from using the lapper plate.

 

[Sparq]

IMHO when a hone gets dished and one uses a regular X-stroke (as opposed to i.e. a 45 degrees stroke), the surface curvature of the hone acts similarly to taped spines. If you stick to one hone or finish your razors on a dished one, there should be no problems. If you however do your bevels on a dished hone and then continue on a flat one, you will not like the results at all (try removing tape after setting bevel...).