My coticule progress

[Skrymr]

I've had my coticule for a few weeks now, so I thought I would share my progress and perhaps get a little feedback from the experienced users here.

I had originally planned on starting with a no name antique store find because it is dull as a butterknife. But my H. & C.W. King called a little stronger. While not as dull as the other razor it would not shave me at all. It's a 6/8, and I think a half hollow, but I'm just not sure.

I spent the first couple weeks just touching up my shave ready straights to make sure of my stroke. The other night I created a slurry with 600 grit wet/dry paper and just started doing x-strokes. Adding a drop or two of water every 20 strokes or so to keep it form getting too thick, the slurry darkened pretty quickly. I was told this would happen, so I was expecting it. I gradually worked the slurry down to pretty thin, and then rinsed the coticule and did about 150 x-strokes on just water, working on not adding any pressure to the blade. All told, I spent about an hour and a half on all this.

The results? Good, but not good enough. The razor shaved me, but it was a little rough.... I was expecting this too, but hoping for more...

So today, I started with a light slurry. Just a few rubs with the paper. and worked back down to just plain water. Shaving my arm hair it just didn't seem there yet. So I did about 200 x-strokes on my blue mystery stone. It felt like cheating, but I wanted a good shave from this razor. I realize I could have spent the time doing all those strokes on the coticule, but using that stone just popped into my head so that's what I did. I was rewarded with a close, comfortable shave. The tip is still not there yet though, and giving me troubles. Any suggestions there?

I'll add pics of my coticule, the razor, and the mystery stone.

An honorable mention should go to munxcub for going through the frustration before me and being able to go into such detail in describing what he was doing. You're thread helped a lot!!

 

[Munxcub]

I still find if I'm not paying real strict attention to making sure I am treating the whole length evenly, my tips will lag behind the rest. All I do is make sure I'm keep even pressure at all points in the stroke, and watch that you're undercutting the slurry/water the entire length of the blade.

If it's still lagging, put your finger on the spine at the tip and do some focused circles or something and try to catch it up.

Keep it up! It's not cheating if you wind up with a shave ready edge. I just hit up some TI paste and CrOx and boy that makes for a keen finish. heh... Glad to hear others learned from my experience.

 

[jkh]

Practice, practice, practice and finding what works for you. There is a ton of great advice on coticule honing and honing in general online - all of which is useless if you can't apply it to the razor in your hand. I know this isn't terribly helpful, but my greatest improvement in coticule honing came when I stopped reading honing tips/tricks and figured out for myself what a blade shaper or duller using the feedback from the stone.

Good luck, coticules can be frustrating, but very rewarding

 

[Bart]

It's not easy to tell by your description where your exactly are with the edge, since you seem to rely little on certain tests and markers to know where you are in the process. But I'll take an educated guess and say that your razor is mostly good, except for the tip, that might not have a fully developed bevel. The rest of the edge seems to be lacking just that final bit of keenness.

For the bevel problem near the tip, you can do localized work on the blade, focussing only on the tip third of the blade, working on slurry until the bevel is fully extended. Keep the consistency of the slurry constant, by adding a drop of water if it shows any signs of drying. When you're done, keep going while you water down the slurry in 7 or 8 steps. The stone appears to be a La Dressante (judged quickly at first sight), if so, you will clearly notice how the abrasive feedback changes from textured to glass-like. You will also notice that the stone becomes audibly quieter.
For this entire process, you must apply some pressure: about the amount that you would be using to erase pencil from paper (enough to remove the pencil, but not so much you rub through the paper, if you catch my drift)
You can do this with x-strokes, but I recommend series of strokes (circles or diagonal) that only flip the blade every 20 passes.
Once done, rinse the Coticule, but not the razor and continue with 2 series of strokes, same pressure, same fashion, but this time, cover the whole length of the edge. Rinse everythng well, and repeat, still using pressure.
Finally, rinse again and finish with 50 light X-strokes.
Strop this edge very well: at least 60 laps linen and 60 leather.
The whole process should not last much longer than 20 minutes.

Kind regards,
Bart.

 

[Skrymr]

Bart, you are absolutely right. The only test I use is to see of it will shave arm hair. I don't have enough hair to do the HHT, and I'm not sure how to do the TPT. I have to catch my son sleeping to get some hair samples.....

I will try what you said and report back. I don't have linen, or even blue jeans to improvise. Can I substitute balsa? I have felt strop, but I don't really like using it.

jkh, you are right too. There is no substitute for just getting in there and doing it.

 

[Bart]

I used to own a felt strop, but it didn't work for me. I was told felt is great for putting abrasive compounds on top, but is not much as a replacement for linen. You could fold a kitchen towel to fit the dimensions of a strop. Secure both ends with a piece of duct tape. In the fold of the tape, you can add a piece of rope, to serve as a fixture/handle.

And old kitchen towel would be best, because you can remove the seams first.

Kind regards,
Bart

 

[Skrymr]

Thanks Bart. I have plenty of those.