Guesses about jnat vs coticule

[Basil]

Jnats abs cotis are pretty awesome when you have a good stone.
I was using just a coti for almost 10 years when I decided to give a jnat a try. Jnat gave me a sharper edge but needed more steps than with my coti.

I’ve stuck with the jnat edge for a while but I’m slowly going back to coti edges on some razors. They just feel more comfortable to me.

 

[hobber]

Jnats abs cotis are pretty awesome when you have a good stone.
I was using just a coti for almost 10 years when I decided to give a jnat a try. Jnat gave me a sharper edge but needed more steps than with my coti.

I’ve stuck with the jnat edge for a while but I’m slowly going back to coti edges on some razors. They just feel more comfortable to me.

Basil, for naturals...I have successfully honed and shaved from an exceptional Washita that I have. It behaves almost like the el-cheapo wonderous Kiita I have, except finishing was a little tougher, and I had to go to a surgical black and CrOx before stropping. Still, I was able to achieve success. OTH, with my jnat Ozuku Asagi (very hard!) with a 4-step (5-step with tomo nagura after koma) nagura progression, I have been able to take a ratty gold dollar razor from can't-cut-butter to bevel set to scary sharp in about 30 minutes, BUT the resulting edge is sometimes so sharp that I can knick myself without even knowing it. Scary! By far, the most comfortable and effective edge which I routinely shave with is from a coticule. Agree! The coticule edge is simply marvelous, effective but forgiving, and very agreeable with my sensitive baby face. No rash, no breakout, no nothing except smoothness!

 

[Basil]

Basil, for naturals...I have successfully honed and shaved from an exceptional Washita that I have. It behaves almost like the el-cheapo wonderous Kiita I have, except finishing was a little tougher, and I had to go to a surgical black and CrOx before stropping. Still, I was able to achieve success. OTH, with my jnat Ozuku Asagi (very hard!) with a 4-step (5-step with tomo nagura after koma) nagura progression, I have been able to take a ratty gold dollar razor from can't-cut-butter to bevel set to scary sharp in about 30 minutes, BUT the resulting edge is sometimes so sharp that I can knick myself without even knowing it. Scary! By far, the most comfortable and effective edge which I routinely shave with is from a coticule. Agree! The coticule edge is simply marvelous, effective but forgiving, and very agreeable with my sensitive baby face. No rash, no breakout, no nothing except smoothness!

totally agree the coti is just a great forgiving edge. I’d feel some sting with a jnat edge while using alum, coti edge is no sting no burn and irritation free.
Can’t really go wrong with that.

 

[MO1]

Me from my own experiences and a few theories. Keeping slurry on your jnat keeps you from getting suction to the stone, better glide, just smooth even contact between the edge and the stone. Working that slurry (important to keep it wet, or it will dull the edge instead) has been the most straight forward way for me without trying ninja light strokes with water. If you go from super fine light slurry to only water you will get suction almost immediately.
I avoid suction to the best of my ability and get stellar results.
My coticule (I only have one) gives laser sharp edges, but the edge feels and looks coarse, so I have almost given up on coticule edges, because I can get damn comfortable edges with the jnats I have on hand atm.

 

[musicman980]

My coticule (I only have one) gives laser sharp edges, but the edge feels and looks coarse, so I have almost given up on coticule edges, because I can get damn comfortable edges with the jnats I have on hand atm.

When you say your coticule gives a laser sharp, yet coarse edge, do you mean it's sharp but uncomfortable?

 

[MO1]

When you say your coticule gives a laser sharp, yet coarse edge, do you mean it's sharp but uncomfortable?

Yep, tree tops silently, cuts beard with ease, just feels rough on the skin.
Almost the opposite of what everyone says about coticules. So I suspect I have one on the coarser side.

 

[hobber]

My coticule (I only have one) gives laser sharp edges, but the edge feels and looks coarse, so I have almost given up on coticule edges, because I can get damn comfortable edges with the jnats I have on hand atm.

MO1, interesting. Some cots are stubborn on the finish. I started with a smaller unremarkable cot glued to bbw and could not get mirror smooth with it, no matter what I tried. So, I got an LV cot, and it produces a shiny even edge which results in an incredibly comfortable shave. Have you considered trying a different cot? I will also offer to sharpen a razor for you so you can experience what I’m talking about! Free of charge to you, other than shipping.

 

[SliceOfLife]

Hey MO1... Can you post a picture of your Coti. I'm always interested in what unusual coticules look like.

 

[MO1]

Hey MO1... Can you post a picture of your Coti. I'm always interested in what unusual coticules look like.

Sure, first two is of it dry, last one when it's wet.
Abit more yellowish in color than the pictures show. But the dots are I guess garnet pockets?

 

[musicman980]

Not sure about the dots being garnet pockets, but when you said hyper sharp and uncomfortable I immediately thought of a foil edge. That's a glued stone right?

 

[PaulMallorca]

I had one of those, yellowish with the red dots. A lot of coticules have "eyes" under magnification, but those were reddish and bigger, so easier to see. Under the loupe they look like little wirpools of shiny stars, pretty neat!

It was a good stone, hard and on the slow/fine side of coticules. Shaves prety normal for a coti. It was swap for a fila novodur, so for once, no regrets in losing a stone...

 

[MO1]

Not sure about the dots being garnet pockets, but when you said hyper sharp and uncomfortable I immediately thought of a foil edge. That's a glued stone right?

Yeah, glued stone. I'm pretty sure it's not a foil edge though, because the edge holds up fine, just not comfortable. When using a foil edge it starts out pretty comfortable but drops in sharpness significantly after a few strokes and just gets to a level were you can barely shave wtg.
Atleast that's the way I experience it.

 

[MO1]

MO1, interesting. Some cots are stubborn on the finish. I started with a smaller unremarkable cot glued to bbw and could not get mirror smooth with it, no matter what I tried. So, I got an LV cot, and it produces a shiny even edge which results in an incredibly comfortable shave. Have you considered trying a different cot? I will also offer to sharpen a razor for you so you can experience what I’m talking about! Free of charge to you, other than shipping.

I have considered it, and I am pretty interested in trying other coticule edges.
The economy is just not the best atm, so a project for another time.
But I may take you up on that offer

 

[SliceOfLife]

Looks really soft to me, maybe even a little chalky. If if I'm right and it feels how it looks, I've had a couple of those. In my opinion they're really not good for razors... But maybe with oil?

 

[MO1]

Looks really soft to me, maybe even a little chalky. If if I'm right and it feels how it looks, I've had a couple of those. In my opinion they're really not good for razors... But maybe with oil?

Think you hit the nail on the head there, got a chalky feel to it, the feedback alone almost has a crunchy feel like my shapton 4k.
It's not really super soft, I'd say slightly hard, definitely not as hard as my finisher jnats, nowhere near Arkansas hard. But maybe slightly softer than a shapton glass stone.
Oil works, definitely bumps up the sharpness, but seems like alot of work for a mediocre edge.