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Dry coticule finish...

I was reading through various forums yesterday and saw a conversation between 2 very knowledgeable gentlemen and they were discussing old barbering manuals and there was a classroom that many coticules could have instructions to refresh a razor on the coticule dry for a quick touch up and this piqued my interest. Ive been using them finishing on running water as is usually the advice given around forums but i never feel like the razor gets very sharp. I understand the dynamics of what coticules do to an edge and how the teeth are removed but what i was getting was wholly underwhelming compared to an ark progression or even synth waterstones.

I decided i was going to go through the progression on my coticule, and after im done with the running water i will dry my stone and hone on it dry. i start with bbw/lpb slurry because the mix seems to give me better edges. My new coticule is really fast, i do a dilucot in like 5 min, go to running water until it sticks. My coticule auto slurries a little after about 25 laps but it doesn't give up much.

When it's dry it feels like porcelain, as most do, and honing on it is like honing on my norton hs-4 i think it's from the 40s. It's translucent but with 0 teeth, unlike my big primitive translucent from dans. Honing on a dry coticule is a lot like honing on a wet one. Smooth strokes until it sticks.

I got surprisingly sharp edges from this, far surpassing anything i could ever imagine a coticule wwould. 20-100 strokes on that norton, depending how i feel, and my razor was as sharp as any synthetic has given me.

Try it or don't, i thought it was interesting that this was the proscription for barbers with their coticules and i was amazed how well it worked to bump up the keenness. Have fun!
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Interesting idea, I don’t know why I never thought of trying this. I’m sold, I’ll give this a try today too.
 
I’ve had very good results with mineral oil on Coticules.
I had pretty results with oil but dry now it away. Today im going to try wet>dry>oil and see where that lands me. I love natural stones especially early fine and versatile ones. Ive had a long love for ark because that's my local stone and they seem to be really hard for some folks. I really like these coticules, I've been buying them to pass to my kids when they get big enough.
 
So it just washes of .that's great thanks I'll have to give it a try.
As long as you use mineral oil it'll never take more than a drop of soap and a quick rinse. The stones were boy that look like bricks of grease have been neglected and never really maintained. As long as you clean it afterwards all stones will continue to look new and not as though they have been slathered in oil and grime.
 
I’ve had very good results with mineral oil on Coticules.
Ive had good results with mineral oil on every natural stone i have/do use, i don't know why some people hate it so much, like my little brother. I have wanted to try running water>dry>oil, i bet it will bump the keenness a decent amount. Especially if you have a really hard/fine coticule. Im lot of different stuff soon i just finished sharpening most of it, i just need to take better notes. I always just hone until it feels right.
 
How do you get the oil of once applied for further use? I've not tried oil incase it doesn't come of.
Dawn and water will take mineral oil right off any stone, no problem. At least every stone i use. I clean oil off of any stone im not actively using, even if i'll be ingesting it again shortly. I want my stones to make it to my great, great, great grandkids and hopefully they'll use them for wet shaving or making a living and not just sell it all.
 
Coticules seem to be surprisingly non-porous - you can actually do quite a lot to a coti without feckin it up in my limited experience - the only thing is them being quite brittle / fragile apparently. But I'd be quite happy to put oil on one.

For more porous stones though you need to consider it carefully - oil will get in and affect their use with water after a bit. It'll also change the appearance. You can get rid with a degreasing soak, but you don't want to do that really with any layered stones, shales in particular.

Do not put oil anything but the hardest of the hard a jnats for instance (and even then you wouldn't gain anything from it). But you'd be fine putting oil on, and getting it out of, any novaculite I've come across.
 
Coticules seem to be surprisingly non-porous - you can actually do quite a lot to a coti without feckin it up in my limited experience - the only thing is them being quite brittle / fragile apparently. But I'd be quite happy to put oil on one.

For more porous stones though you need to consider it carefully - oil will get in and affect their use with water after a bit. It'll also change the appearance. You can get rid with a degreasing soak, but you don't want to do that really with any layered stones, shales in particular.

Do not put oil anything but the hardest of the hard a jnats for instance (and even then you wouldn't gain anything from it). But you'd be fine putting oil on, and getting it out of, any novaculite I've come across.
Any advise on using this coticule? Half the stone is really nice, but the red speckled part seem to be brittle and tears up the edge. There is a different feel honing from different directions, almost like like rubbing something against the grain, if that makes sense:)
I have even tried it wet, oiled and even dry. It is really hard for a coticule, but seems to be brittle in some areas.
I have also used it with different surface preps. Under running water you get suction to the stone. To me it does not seem to like finishing under running water.

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Any advise on using this coticule? Half the stone is really nice, but the red speckled part seem to be brittle and tears up the edge. There is a different feel honing from different directions, almost like like rubbing something against the grain, if that makes sense:)
I have even tried it wet, oiled and even dry. It is really hard for a coticule, but seems to be brittle in some areas.
I have also used it with different surface preps. Under running water you get suction to the stone. To me it does not seem to like finishing under running water.

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Oh, I'm afraid I'm no expert, certainly not in terms of using them for razors, though hopefully others can chime in with their thoughts. The red speckled part is starting to look more like what you see on BBWs, so it could be the beginning of a bit of a hybrid layer, maybe (?)

There are certainly some natural stones that act differently depending on their orientation, and how they're cut. Again - I don't know about this in regards to cotis, but it's certainly possible.
 
Dry Coticule finish people where are you:)
Dry slurry on Jnat finish anyone (new thread maybe)?
I guess the isn't many of us. I use arks dry too if i need faster cutting, like for bevel setting on my washitas. After i get through it i put oil on it for the rest of the progression.
 
On the bench today: I did laps for 5 minutes on a dry La Dressante. It had a nice feel to it. I then finished her with 30 laps with dish soap. Curious how the edge is.
 
I honed a bunch of razors tonight and at the end i was running 15 laps on a super hard, glassy vintage bbw side of a natural combo and it picked it up a decent amount . I look forward to shaving with it. Ive never seen a stone like this one and i had no idea it would be like this. Im in love.

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