coticule honing

[novicewetshaver]

So i watched barberdave dilocot/diluark honing tutorial and it was pretty good, but how exactly do you set a bevel on a striaght razor with a coticule stone? what are you looking for? how do you know when the straight bevel is set and is ready to go to the dilucot method of honing on the straight razor? thanks again

 

[global_dev]

Ahhh. The fundamental step. On any stone, you keep going until its done, coti or whatever. Some may be too slow or too fine and not efficient. 1k-2k synth is way way easier.

With a coti, need to find the right amount of slurry to cut fast enough. Refreshing and testing and making sure stone isnt dished.

Bevel setting has a couple of tests that involve tactile feedback. Cherry tomato, thumbnail, thumbpad, and burr

Cherry tomato- test edge into skin of cherry tomato and if it breaks the skin without effort its set. No or as little drag/push as possible

Thumbpad - gently press/drag edge to feel sensation of cut on thumbpad. You know it when you feel it.

Thumbnail - lightly press/drag edge on nail, if it sticky, its good.

Burr - form burr on one side, then got to other side until burr again. Use finger, nail, pin to feel for burr

I much prefer the thumbnail test.

 

[novicewetshaver]

i do have a couple of synthetic 1k's i use for kniffe sharpening. i wanted to see if i could get the honing for straights down on a coti, to see the difference and see hwo the coticule works. do you want a really heavy slurry on a coti when trying to set the bevel?

 

[global_dev]

Depends on the speed of cutting of your stone, but its gonna be more like skim milk, than heavy cream.

Also depends on the grind of the razor and spine wear and bevel reveal. Much easier on an extra hollow

 

[BarberDave]

My Method for bevel setting on a Coticule, 1st bottlecap or dull your edge. Take the slurry stone and get an almost toothpaste, consistency to the slurry and do 10-20 ,hard strokes, depending on type of steel, on one side, feel for a burr, then repeat on other side. Bur should be gone. Add a three drops of water to the slurry and do 5 more strokes, medium pressure and bevel will be set.

I use both the tomato, and Nail test, however, I have started @Bill M 's packing peanut method and very good. Wipe the Stone clean and slurry up the "Heavy Cream consistency do 10-15 strokes on each side and dilute with one spray from a spray bottle or 5 or so drops of water and repeat until you are down to clear water and no residual metal ( graying of the water ), then under running water do as many strokes until the blade sticks. That is as far as you can take the edge, then rinse the Coti, and do 10 spine leading strokes to refine.

You can then strop and shave from there. The edge will be very smooth, however not quite as keen. If your want a more keen edge, but still smooth, take a black or translucent Arkansas stone, some Honing solution or lather and repeat with light stroked the diluark method until it sticks then water only until sticks and then strop at least 100 and you are good to go.

As mentioned above this take a bit longer, but I find that the edge lasts much longer between refreshes, and IMHO better than a synth. I have synths as well as find the above a better overall edge. What is often overlooked is the type of beard you have. If a very course beard a lapping film or japanese stone edge may be better, or even a "Barber Hone". I use that at the shop since I have clients with varying levels of coarsness, also the blade is on that hone after each shave, and not quite as "hungry" on the steel.

 

[global_dev]

My Method for bevel setting on a Coticule, 1st bottlecap or dull your edge. Take the slurry stone and get an almost toothpaste, consistency to the slurry and do 10-20 ,hard strokes, depending on type of steel, on one side, feel for a burr, then repeat on other side.

Interesting method, i am no guru on coticules however this shows that the variety of coticule properties and way to go about things is way varied. In retrospect, i mostly have second hand cotis that people have gotten rid and have never specially ordered a particular type or size. I have a bunch of cotis and just had fun figuring them out regardless of why the previous owner let them go. I’d like to specially order/choose one from the source one day, but I’m in no rush although I probably should be given its a natural resource with limited market vendors.

I think the most important aspect for each coti is experiencing the differences in slurry effect,
Pressure on the hone, stroke movement, etc. you should be examining the edge for the way the slurry rides the edge and the cutting action of the edge into the slurry.

See how fast it can be and also how slow. But if you can see/feel the bevel and edge development, its a great feeling.

I also dont mind a straight coti edge, (some don’t appreciate it) its perfectly nice for me, but i also love to try different things (edges) with no real goal in mind except the experience.

 

[Gary]

I did the one stone hone with coticules for years .
I'd dull the edge and bring it back on the coticule with slurry. I would check to see how well I could shave arm hair . Once I could I would start my dilution (dilucot) . To save on arm hair I would say the tomato trick is a good one to use .

If you have a faster coticule it's much easier to set the bevel. If you have a slower coticule in slurry mode you could struggle especially if the razor is really dull . If I was to perform dilucot now days i would set the bevel with a synthetic 3k or less .