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About slurry thickness

T

Tok

Well-Known Member
Hello,

this is something I was thinking about for quite a time:
There are Layers like LPB that are fast on slurry, but produce lots of slurry dulling. I ask myself: Why not overcome this "problem" by starting with a thinner slurry than on "slow" coticules?

Any thoughts?

Regards,
Tok
 
I always start on milky slurry regardless of a stones "speed" slurry dulling for me is more of an issue when it comes to refining the edge, not setting the bevel.

Regards
Ralfson (Dr)
 
I don't particularly have a problem with slurry dulling, but I started on a LPB... I use slurry that's the consistency of fat free milk, and rock on.
 
Tok said:
Hello,

this is something I was thinking about for quite a time:
There are Layers like LPB that are fast on slurry, but produce lots of slurry dulling. I ask myself: Why not overcome this "problem" by starting with a thinner slurry than on "slow" coticules?

Any thoughts?

Regards,
Tok
Click to expand...
You can always try what Gary tried with his LPB.
Start with a thicker than usual slurry (about the consistency of coffee cream) and do about 30 half strokes.
You may need to add a little water as you go, just to prevent the slurry drying out.
After the 30 half strokes you should be cutting arm hair nicely.
Clean the stone and jump straight to water. 30 half strokes with some pressure on water only. You should see the stone darken somewhat.
Clean again and do 50 x strokes on water to finish.
Worked like a dream for me and still does.

More info here...http://www.coticule.be/the-cafeteria/topic/1622.html?page=1

The whole process is pretty quick with little chance of slurry dulling.

Regards,

David.
 
i start with the same slurry as what bart creates in his video. I would say cream like coffee milk a little but no any thicker . slurry dulling is a problem that has never botherd me as i just dilute till water. so where ever you start if you dilute you will soon hit keeness.

This is what i do now. I start with coffe cream to milky slurry to set the bevel on my LPB. I use half strokes untill i pass tpt. I then do 50 or so normal x strokes on the same slurry with added water if need be. normal a thew drops or a couple. I watch the slurry how it moves in front of my edge. I make sure the razor is under cutting slurry niceley.Then i wipe the slurry of my razor and wipe it back on to my coticule. I then take a thick hair and try the HHT. If i get a violin or a HHt 2/3 or even a three, i then move to water and finish with half strokes and then normal x strokes on water. if there is no signs at all of grabiness on the HHT i will do full dilucot.

today i did just that slurry HHt was a good violin as in i could pop a thick hair near to the holding point , but violin half an inch from holding point. i did 4 sets of half strokes 15 each way. i then finished on 50 light x strokes. The HHT was a solid 4 of thick hair and a very very good 3 of medium hair.

i've done full dilucot on the same razor and my hht was not quite there for some reason. so i redulled and did this method and it works so easy. i've done this several times now and the shaves have been perfect. So i think its worth checking where the hht is after bevel setting, you never no you may be nearly there.

gary
 
"Slurry dulling" just means that on the vast majority of Coticules, the edge left by any amount of slurry on top of the stone, is not going to be sharp enough for a comfortable shave. If the slurry is thick enough, some Coticules won't even reach a shaving state at all.

Hence the need to always finish on water, maybe the odd stone in a blue moon not accounted, but even those will benefit from finishing on water.

There are 2 things that will speed up a Coticule (as any hone likely): Slurry and pressure. You can go overboard on both. When in doubt, always use less (thinner).
Dilution of slurry just serves to progress gradually from a fast action to the slower finishing stage on water. A while back, where we all still believed the word that was spread on a large shaving forum never to use any significant pressure for honing a razor, precise dilution was all we had to render a razor ready for finishing on water. But now that we have halfstrokes (or circles) and abandoned the idea that you may never use any pressure, you can replace a lot of that careful dilution by the application of pressure.

On a hollow ground razor, it is actually not only the augmented abrasive action that helps, but there is also a sort of tapeless Unicot effect going on. With pressure, the blade flexes a bit, which decreases the bevel angle a bit. During the final laps on water, the pressure is released. This releaves the tension releaved and the blade springs back on its very tip. Just like you would have applied a layer of tape to the spine. Because the bevel now rest primarily on the very tip, it gains that last bit of keenness without much problems.

Kind regards,
Bart.
 
Something that really helped me, and was a lightbulb moment was something simple. The slurry should NEVER be the same consistency from one set/lap whats working at the moment, to the next. Just a slight drop each time will help out greatly. I always say its better to underhydrate the slurry than over hydrate it in terms of moving forward. An overhydrated slurry means your going to be honing for some time and almost just polishing.
 
My first ever coticule that i purchased a thew years ago. The first thing i did was honed a shave ready razor on slurry. I remeber i was at my barbers shop. i stropped it and shaved my mate. the first stroke shaved but realy resisted . I thought what. so i did more laps on slurry and it was worse than ever. I just did not no why. At the time there was no coticule.be . So i got my info from SRP. I was told do 100 laps on water. So i did. the shave was much much better but still lacked tiny bit of keeness. I could not pass HHT. I was also told you will never pass HHT. I now no i can. I would say now i no how to get the most out of water stages , by using half strokes and presure , that was'nt thought of back then , this helped me get a great shave from slurry to water. If dilucot is'nt quite there i do the same just work like hell on water. Its still baffling me how i managed to pass HHt of slurry on my lpb, i repeated this on my LV and les lat . I was'nt so successful on my la grosse jaune but not far off. If some one said they could pass HHt of bevel setting slurry i would never of beleived them.

The one thing for sure is by working on my lpb every day in the last 3 weeks or so . This is what i came across . I now no this particular coticule is capable of just that . So i guess its learning what your coticule can do for you.

gary
 
Thanks for your input.

I had a bit trouble with the dilucot. I was thinking, that regardless of how thick the starting-slurry is, since I dilute it down, I will hit the right slurry thickness at some point. That didn´t really work out for me. Then, I tried starting on a much thinner slurry and it worked a charm. Maybe it´s just me.

Regards,
Tok
 
I do the same as you Tok, I never start on a slurry that is thick enough to dull the edge, it seems a little counter productive to me.

best reagards
Ralfson (Dr)
 
When resetting the bevel on my LPB, I mostly start on a thick slurry. But, as soon as it turns dark I dilute it a bit so I get something that won't give me slurry dulling. Reason I do this is that it seems to me the slurry handles better when it's dark so I want to get to that stage asap.
 
RicTic said:
Tok said:
Hello,

this is something I was thinking about for quite a time:
There are Layers like LPB that are fast on slurry, but produce lots of slurry dulling. I ask myself: Why not overcome this "problem" by starting with a thinner slurry than on "slow" coticules?

Any thoughts?

Regards,
Tok
Click to expand...
You can always try what Gary tried with his LPB.
Start with a thicker than usual slurry (about the consistency of coffee cream) and do about 30 half strokes.
You may need to add a little water as you go, just to prevent the slurry drying out.
After the 30 half strokes you should be cutting arm hair nicely.
Clean the stone and jump straight to water. 30 half strokes with some pressure on water only. You should see the stone darken somewhat.
Clean again and do 50 x strokes on water to finish.
Worked like a dream for me and still does.

More info here...http://www.coticule.be/the-cafeteria/topic/1622.html?page=1

The whole process is pretty quick with little chance of slurry dulling.

Regards,

David.
Click to expand...

Thanks for posting that link! I missed it the first time around. I just tried it and it worked great. More details posted in the linked thread.
 
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