My first stone - Coticule

[BCN]

Hey guys !

I just got my first stone from the mail yesterday. I played with it today and got encouraging results: i get a HHT 2 or 3, but only after i strop. Another good thing is that razor cut the hair from my leg above skin level. But i can't make it sharper than this. I guess if i keep trying eventually i will get better results....
Anyway i am delighted with my new (first) stone.
If you have any advices for a new coticule user they are welcome.
I atached some pictures with the stone. Do you have any ideea what type it is ? The guy that send it to me said it's very old, taken from an old barber.
Cheers !

 

[Wid]

That's a beautiful stone. Read as much as you can over at Coticule.be. ( http://www.coticule.be/ ) There is a wealth of info there.

If the stone is a vintage one then layer id can be near impossible. If that were a newer mined stone I would have guess it to be a La Veinette. Someone with more knowledge than me should be along shortly.

 

[BakerAndBadger]

Hope the barber didnt mind it being taken! Lovely stone.

 

[BCN]

A sent these pictures to Jarrod from TSS and he also said he thinks this is a La Veinette. So maybe i have a la veinette what ever that is

 

[Disburden]

LA veinette.

 

[jpcwon]

Nice stone man! I recently just got into coticules myself, having invested in a 2x6 La Grise combo, and 2 bouts. I too have been challenged to get a good edge from my cotis; there's definitely a learning curve! A friend of mine told me that you really want to get HHT straight off of the stone rather than after stropping, otherwise the shave will be rough. So yeah I'm struggling to get a good coti edge too. I can tell you that it takes a lot of practice, versus my Norton 4/8 with which I was able to get almost instant results...I welcome the learning curve though; it's a fun means to a rewarding end!!

 

[Obiwan]

Another vote for LV. Very nice indeed. Keep with it and your results will only improve.

 

[Doc226]

Lovely stone. Appears to be a good size too.

Of course once you get the hang of it and are getting shave worthy edges you migh want to add a few drops of mineral oil and finish with another 40-50 laps.


Guys you knew I was going to say that.

 

[raccoonandbrush]

Nice rock!

 

[Krodor]

you migh want to add a few drops of mineral oil and finish with another 40-50 laps.


Guys you knew I was going to say that.

yup. I'd just also recommend washing it with soap afterwards too.

 

[Grips]

Nice stone. Keep at it it will come. Recently entered the coti world myself. Getting acceptable edges but still looking for better.

 

[cleanshaved]

yup. I'd just also recommend washing it with soap afterwards too.

and not talking about it at that other place

 

[Krodor]

Ok, I'll ask: just how big is that hunk of Belgian goodness anyway? The angle of the pictures makes it look like a monster.

 

[BCN]

Ok, I'll ask: just how big is that hunk of Belgian goodness anyway? The angle of the pictures makes it look like a monster.

It's almost 20/5 cm.

 

[Marco]

Lovely stone. Appears to be a good size too.

Of course once you get the hang of it and are getting shave worthy edges you migh want to add a few drops of mineral oil and finish with another 40-50 laps.

Guys you knew I was going to say that.

 

[life2short1971]

Try using lighter finishing strokes and rub the stone and rinse after 20-30 finishing strokes. Also you may try finishing on a single rub or two of the slurry stone and not just plain water to see if that helps.

 

[BCN]

Try using lighter finishing strokes and rub the stone and rinse after 20-30 finishing strokes. Also you may try finishing on a single rub or two of the slurry stone and not just plain water to see if that helps.

Thanks for the advice !

No matter how hard i try i can't get more than HHT0 directly off the stone. I tried unicot, dilucot etc etc. Today after the coti i made 12 laps on 1u diamond, 7 on crox, and 7 on 0.25u diamond and i got HHT4 all over the blade, but directly after the coti i got 0...
I tried very very light laps on just wather with no succes, also i tried to use water with soap but no improvement.
I will try to finish with just one or two rubs of the slurry stone too see what happents, but i'm not very optimistic
If the blade shaves arm hair and get sometimes a HHT1 there is noo need to go back to heavy slurry right ? I will try just the finishing stage.
Damn, i don't know what i'm doing wrong... I want to get better but don't know what to improve

 

[Krodor]

I found going from very dilute slurry directly to honing lightly 130-150 laps under running water works for me on my rock. Popped hair off the stones, easily after stropping.

 

[MilkyLee]

Since your stone is a natural combo and your not getting the edge you want, I would suggest taking your blade that has gone through the steps on the coti side and now do the same with the BBW side. Make a medium slurry and do dilutions just like a dilucot. After you get to plain water rinse the stone off and do about 50 laps on plain water spraying or rinsing the stone off after every 10 x-strokes. Then when you have finished your 50 x-strokes on plain water from the BBW side go back and do quite a few x-stokes on plain water on the coticule side, probably around 75-100, and see what the edge is like then. I never do a full dilucot on my natural combos anymore because the BBW side polishes the bevel so nicely why not use it? You might be surprised with how nice the shave off the bbw side will be as well.

 

[life2short1971]

You may not realize just how light you have to hone to get a nice edge off the coticule.Your technique also has to be perfect because if you are starting each stroke digging the cutting edge into the coticule without even realizing it you will get nowhere.Make sure the spine is contacting stone first and it never lifts from the stone before the bevel.