funny thing with my coticule

[Dripp]

I bought a la grise coticule last fall, and tried to use it as my only stone to hone my razors but just couldn't get it to work for me. I just couldn't get a nice edge, and I wasn't willing to put in the time to make it work, so I decided just to use it as a finisher. During that time I also picked up a Jnat here on the BST to use as a finisher as well. So a couple of weeks ago, I ran a few of my razors through a Norton 4k-8k-coticule, or a Norton 4k-8k-Jnat, and kept a spreadsheet of what I did.

Generally I felt the Jnat edges were a little better so was inclined to use that stone more, but today I pulled out my B&B Le to shave my 2-day growth and it took it on easily. I found myself thinking that I really liked this edge as I was shaving, and that it must be the Jnat. Afterward I pulled up my spreadsheet and low and behold, it was done on the coticule! Boy was I surprised. Turns out that coticule can give me a good edge as long as I use it as a finisher, and I'm sure it has more to do with the user than the rock.

 

[raccoonandbrush]

I have been using Coticules for a while and I am still learning about them. I used to think that all Coticules performed the same. I thought that my softer Coticule would give me as good of a finished edge as my hard Coticule and that my hard Coticule could cut steel as quick as my soft Coticule. I was wrong, they do perform different. Now, after I use my Chosera 1K to set the bevel, I use my soft Coticule to do more work, then I finish on my hard Coticule. My point is one must learn what each natural stone is better suited for.

 

[jpcwon]

So true. I own 6 coticules (A La Grise, a vintage vein unknown, and 4 bouts). Some are hard some soft, but the only thing they all have in common is that they're conticules. Each one does something that the others don't, which constantly makes things interesting. One thing I have found though, is that I had to spend a good few weeks with each stone to find out each one's individual nuances. If you approach coticule honing as all the stones being the same, then your results won't be as consistent...

oh, and don't get discouraged with a particularly "tricky" vein; MY La Grise was hard to figure out but once I did, I was able to get butter smooth edges off of it.. Coticules really are like little puzzles..

JFK said that we chose to go to the moon "not because it was easy, but because it was hard"...I feel the same way about honing with a coticule...I love the challenge!!

 

[Brianskeet]

Coticules are fantastic little puzzles! I have a stone that was just making me nuts trying to figure it out. Finally read a new technique the other dy that seems to have made all the difference. There are some real coticule masters out there. We are lucky to have access to them.

 

[Woodash]

Spreadsheet

 

[jpcwon]

Spreadsheet

That's actually a great idea! I myself have 20-25 razors in my rotation, as well as several different finishing options (6 coticules, c12k, Thuringian, Welsh trio, etc...). It's hard to remember which razors were honed with which stones, so some sort of list or spreadsheet remember would actually be beneficial!!

 

[Disburden]

What happened when you did unicot on the la grise?

 

[cb91710]

What happened when you did unicot on the la grise?

My Wacker 15/16 has been going almost 6 months since it's last honing using Unicot.

Takes a wicked edge and holds it well. It's the only blade I have that I can get consistent HHT using my wife's spider-silk hair.

 

[Dripp]

What happened when you did unicot on the la grise?

I was actually trying to learn the dilucot, and it didn't work so well for me. I never really gave the unicot a shot.

 

[Kentos]

Maybe your spreadsheet was wrong..




just kidding! I found a coticule edge can be both sharp and smooth, but a great deal of skill is needed.

 

[Disburden]

I was actually trying to learn the dilucot, and it didn't work so well for me. I never really gave the unicot a shot.

Give it a shot, it works most of the time for me.

 

[BakerAndBadger]

I started on Unicot. It's a no-brainer. Now I choose to do more of a Pacocot or an abridged version of dilucot and haven't been back to Unicot as I am too lazy to mess with tape but I can certainly say that if you aren't managing to get a good edge on your coti then it's a winner.
I'm currently experimenting with some of my bouts to find a new way of finishing with ultra fast single sided strokes and then maybe 10 X strokes right at the end. I may experiment to see if the X strokes are even necessary. Oh and I don't really count the number of strokes on each side - maybe I'm gonna kill all my razors doing it that way but I feel it allows me to work on evening up the pressure difference between my outward and inward strokes (towards me and away from me).