Coticule splinters

[danjared]

I realized right now that I don't hear many people talk about these. I find them quite useful, though. Does anyone else use them and how? I don't have any special tools to use them on, but I find them (and a slurry stone due to dimensions) useful for polishing metal and getting into little crevices like tang jimps. Do any of you have recommendations for how to best use them? I find keeping a wet slurry on them difficult.

 

[mrmaroon]

Ive made a splinter out of a slurry stone to hone the inside of a cigar punch. It worked pretty well and sharpened it right up.

 

[danjared]

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Is there anything special to your technique in regard to building slurry?

 

[mrmaroon]

I just rounded an end of the stone to a long point. I never used slurry.

 

[Bart]

A friend of mine sharpens gouges with one of these things:

That is what we're talking about, right?

Bart.

 

[danjared]

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Yup, those precisely. Ardennes actually now sells boxed sets. Mine comes with four splinters in a nice wooden box with dividers. A couple problems are that I find it hard to build slurry that stays on them for more than a couple seconds and that they're soft so get gouged easily. The second part could probably be easily fixed with better technique. Using these after using flat hones is like learning to hone free after learning using only guides. That's not a fair comparison as these splinters serve a very special purpose, but that's the best comparison I could think of.

 

[Bart]

I was told, the secret is saliva. . Human spit sticks better than water.
Yet Caleb, has a good point. A bit of pressure and no slurry can work amazingly well on a lot of tools. They're generally not hardened as much as a razor.

Kind regards,
Bart.

 

[danjared]

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I don't know if I'm brave enough to use saliva. I know, it's silly.

I'll try using pressure. Maybe my angle was also not consistent enough, resulting in whatever I sharpen digging into the splinter.

I keep finding that my technique is constantly improving. Or, at least I keep finding more mistakes...

 

[Bart]

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I hear you. It's a cultural thing. I remember when I was young, I saw older men spitting in their hands all the time. Many old-timers wouldn't use a shovel or a hammer without a good spit. I'm from a generation that stopped doing that, and now I never see any one doing it any more. I find it awkward myself.
Try a water based lubricant instead. Should work the same as spit.

Kind regards,
Bart.

 

[danjared]

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Agreed.

Maybe a bit of soapy water might work. It's amazing what a little bit of a surfactant will do.

 

[Paul]

I used to spit in my hand all the time when playing baseball... never any other time. Baseball players are weird :

 

[danjared]

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Yeah, but you're also from Texas, no? That automatically makes you weird.

(Only kidding. I was born and raised in Texas (El Paso).)

 

[tat2Ralfy]

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We are still talking about using coti splinters here right?

Bwhahaha

BTW I spit on my hand for extra grip when using tools sometimes
But I am old.....:blink:

Regards
Ralfson (Fossil)

 

[danjared]

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You know, I wondered that for a second myself but tried not to say anything.