Please help me select the best hones from here

[professorchaos]

I think that Bart makes some excellent points, as usual .

Except!... Coticules do leave the best edges

Of course, that's a personal preference thing

+1. Coticule edges are pretty damned good. I think that to get the best edge, the proper hone needs to be chosen for the steel. Coticules tend to produce consistent results so about 1/3 of my razors are honed on them. There are, however, smoother, sharper edges to be had out there. YMMV, IMHO, etc of course.

 

[richmondesi]

+1

If you want to be happy for the rest of your life, use a coti to sharpen your knife,
It's my personal point of view that a coticule will do for you!

Say man!
Hey baby!
I saw your hone the other day!
Yeah?
Yeah, an' it's ug-leeee!
Yeah, it's ugly, but it sure can whey, baby!
Yeah, alright!

 

[Baby Face]

Thanks again to everyone for their input and advice, Bart, you gave me quite a bit to think about. I don't think that response just came off the top of your head though. I suspect you heard this question many times before and have answered quite a few questions like this one along the way and even asked the same questions yourself at some point. I do hope your wrong about one point though, and that is where you suggest I may try every one of them out there.... oh gawwwd please be wrong, I can't afford that. I do not want to catch that disease known as HAD I simply can't afford to get that sick, besides my wife will kill me before I get the cure for it.

Thanks, Baby Face

 

[Bart]

I suspect you heard this question many times before and have answered quite a few questions like this one along the way and even asked the same questions yourself at some point.

All true.
But I generally stay out of this kind of "what hone is best" threads. I happen to host a website about Coticules, part of my passion based on they 're being mined in my beloved Belgium. Would I have lived in Germany, it could have been just as easily Thuringer.de, or in Japan: Nakayama.jp.

That does not mean I do not think that Coticules are the best hones in the world. I also think that my wife is the finest woman in the world.
What I'm trying to say here is that you make a choice based on attraction. The more commitment you can manage to add to that, the more you will love your hone. The same goes for the wife. And they will both reward you in their own typical ways.
Now. Does that mean you need to recommend your wife to another gentlemen who's in search of a mate?

I do hope your wrong about one point though, and that is where you suggest I may try every one of them out there.... oh gawwwd please be wrong, I can't afford that. I do not want to catch that disease known as HAD I simply can't afford to get that sick, besides my wife will kill me before I get the cure for it.

I'm gladly wrong. If you don't want to go that route, then simply don't.

Kind regards,
Bart.

 

[SliceOfLife]

I say get one (at least one) of each.

Bart's got an obsession that's not for me.

I have a couple Thuringians. A lovely Nakayama. And soon will have a wonderful Coti.
A Charnley Forest and I can be happy... I hope.

 

[Baby Face]

I do know about your site Bart, I just recently signed up there under the same nick name, but haven't posted anything there yet. I'm still gaining as much as I can from all the posts in there about coticules. There is quite a bit to know about them and most if not all that information is on your site in one form or another. What is not formally mentioned is talked about in one post or another that's for sure. From everything I have read from all the sites I've been on I think that I do want at least one coticule of as good a quality that I can afford and as good as someone is willing to allow me to have from their supply for sale. I may end up going in a completely different direction when I can start to get some experience and set my preference, but I do think that a coticule should find a place in my honing ritual.

Thanks, Baby Face

 

[mitchshrader]

HAD isn't a curse, it's a blessing.

You know for a fact you'll never be arrested in possession of inordinate quantities of cash..

Gold digging Las Vegas hookers will treat you like you're invisible..

You'll stop getting those 'free' credit cards in the mail...

and last but not least..

you'll never be without a spare paperweight.

Disclaimer: I own one rock too few, but I'm searching for it.

 

[v76]

I experienced way more frustration from the Norton 4K/8K:
I lapped it on abrasive paper and got grit from the paper embedded in the surface. So I had to buy a flattening stone. Then you have to soak before use. Then you have to lap it much more frequently than a coticule. Plus, it's heavy and awkward to hold in your hand. Plus, at 3" wide, its very difficult to hone warped or smiling blades, etc., etc.
A lot of my criticisms of the Norton are valid for any synthetic hone.
My recommendation for a new shaver would be a barbers hone or a narrow coticule.

Sums up why I ditched my Nortons 2 months after getting them... went DMT with Chinese hone and/or barber stones and never looked back!