Dilucot method

[jfdupuis]

Hey guys,

I haven't yet mastered this method, but my goal is to be able to use it as my main tool instead of the unicot. After doing some reading and watching Bart's video again today, I'm a little confused as to how to proceed. In his video Bart goes from having fairly thick and dark slurry to wiping off half of the stone and continues with his routine....I thought you were supposed to go very slowly and dilute slow enough not too skip any steps and allow the edge to develop. Based on the video it looks like he's going from dark slurry to almost nothing in one step...Any comments? Thanks guys!

JF

 

[RicTic]

Unless I'm mistaken he only wipes some of the slurry away, before continuing.
I assume it's done once the bevel has been restored fully after dulling.

*unsure

Either way, I continue diluting without removing or refreshing slurry.

 

[Matt]

Well, you have the 1[sup]st[/sup] dilution at 1:02, 2[sup]nd[/sup] at 1:26, 3[sup]rd[/sup] at 1:52, 4[sup]th[/sup]at 2:20 5[sup]th[/sup] at 2:45 and so on... I'm too lazy to count them all, but you've got plenty of diluting there.

In fact, this slurry isn't that thick. You're probably mistaking slurry grayness (i.e. amount of steel in it) for thickness. At 5:30, when it is washed partially off, you actually can see, that it gets really runny on the hone, and after washing off it behaves like mere coloured water. If it were not for the steel in the slurry, you wouldn't tell apart the slurry from water by looking at it in the final stages of Dilucot. But you can definitely feel it under your razor.

Bart might do some "dilution skipping" here, but:

1. 
   [li] this hone seems pretty fast, so it probably is able to catch up after bigger dilution step;[/li]
   [li] remember he's an experienced honer and knows his gear - it's all the magic with Coticules, you've got to learn each one.[/li]

So it's definitely not "one step" as you stated. Feel free to ask more questions if needed.

Hope that helps a bit?

OK, now I have some test shave to do

edit: Actually this "one step" is the last but one dilution, then goes another dilution and water. It is really further thinning already quite thin slurry for squeezing the last bit of keenness from the edge. Patience and experience, it's all it takes, my friend

good luck,
Matt

 

[jfdupuis]

Okay... So should i try to set rhe bevel then clean the stone start with lighter fresh slurry then
Do the dillution?

Jf

 

[wdwrx]

I've read that the pros, and I try my hardest to, keep the same slurry they start with. I believe that the slurry gets "seasoned" a bit during use, in that the aggresivness of the garnets is reduced as they wear a bit, which makes me think that it might help to create a finer edge. I don't always succeed, sometimes there's crap that gets into the slurry, and TBH... I always seem to have to go back and start again with another very light slurry anyways, but I try to keep the same used slurry to the bitter end with that idea in mind.

Cheers,
-Chris

 

[Bart]

In the video I did many dilutions. Matt explained it quite well. In the end, you're left with very dirty looking water, but there's little to no "stone" in it. That can indeed clearly be felt in the kind of abrasive feedback that comes from the surface of the hone. I have often noticed that have less "stone" and more water, tends to make the slurry look more black. I think that happens because the presence of "stone" acts as white paint added to the black steel discoloration.

Normally, I get up and do the finishing stage standing at the sink, which is located only 2 steps from the kitchen table. But for the sake of doing that video, I couldn't be bothered with having to move over the entire video setup, so I did the finishing on the spot. I would normally rinse about half of the stone under a running tap, make an additional set of halfstrokes. Next I rinse the entire stone, do another set of halfstrokes. Then I clean the hone and the razor, using my hands and the running tap and do a final set of halfstrokes. Then I clean the hone again and finish with about 50 light X-strokes.

Kind regards,
Bart.

 

[tat2Ralfy]

Normally, I get up and do the finishing stage standing at the sink, which is located only 2 steps from the kitchen table. But for the sake of doing that video, I couldn't be bothered with having to move over the entire video setup, so I did the finishing on the spot. I would normally rinse about half of the stone under a running tap, make an additional set of halfstrokes. Next I rinse the entire stone, do another set of halfstrokes. Then I clean the hone and the razor, using my hands and the running tap and do a final set of halfstrokes. Then I clean the hone again and finish with about 50 light X-strokes.
Kind regards,
Bart.

That's very very close to how I do it, the only thing I do different is instead of rinsing half the slurry off, I dilute right down to just dirty water, from there it's the same as Sir Bart.

Regards
Ralfson (Dr)

 

[Bart]

That's very very close to how I do it, the only thing I do different is instead of rinsing half the slurry off, I dilute right down to just dirty water, from there it's the same as Sir Bart.

Regards
Ralfson (Dr)

But I don't rinse half the slurry off. I rinse half the dirty water off.

 

[tat2Ralfy]

But I don't rinse half the slurry off. I rinse half the dirty water off.

Now that makes a lot of sense :thumbup:
its all in the little things eh?
thank you for that

Regards
Ralfson (Dr)

 

[Bart]

But I don't rinse half the slurry off. I rinse half the dirty water off.

Now that makes a lot of sense :thumbup:
its all in the little things eh?
thank you for that

Regards
Ralfson (Dr)

Yes, rinsing off half the slurry, is a detail that surely would lead to disappointing results. I could not leave much dis-ambiguity there. I think we follow pretty much exactly the same procedure, my doctor friend.

Kind regards,
Bart.

 

[garyhaywood]

what i have also done is i just tip the hone up and let the dirty water run of. you will find the slurry will stay on the hone you can then add a splash of water and carry on.

i'm sure also bart stops at that point and rinses his hone as he feels the hone is not abrasive and its like he honing on water so at this point he adds a splsh of water. so you have to listen and feel as said in dilucot write up. once it feels like your honing on water your there and ready to finish ing stages.

but my advice would be to just keep going untill you feel your honing on water . this can take quite a thew dilutions, it won't harm.