ShavingUniverse.com

Register a free account now!

If you are registered, you get access to the members only section, can participate in the buy & sell second hand forum and last but not least you can reserve your preferred username before someone else takes it.

Forgetting How - :(

yohannrjm

Well-Known Member
I'm a big proponent of honing razors with a coticule, because I've had excellent results using coticules for everything past the bevel-setting stage. I started out with one coti, and now I have several of them (various veins and sizes).

Initially, I acquired many razors that needed honing, so I had a lot of practice using the coticules, and my results were great. Shaves were close, and smooth. :love: Of course, once the razors were honed properly, I didn't need to do much more than strop them before use, so I stopped honing as much.

I haven't bought any new razors for a while, and when I recently picked up a couple of new razors, I went back to my hones. Imagine my disappointment when I couldn't get a good edge on them with a coticule. I was able to get excellent edges with my Thuringian, but I prefer a coticule edge, and I wasn't able to get them as sharp as I like.

I'm currently looking at this as an opportunity to re-learn the coticule (dilucot). Still, it's a little frustrating to know that there's a great edge 'buried' somewhere in there and I can't get to it right now.

Anyone else have this happen to them?

I'll post some pics of the coti's I have soon.
 
Dear Yohannrjm could you advise what razors you bought.
rgds
Emmanuel
 
i have collected a thew coti over time. as i have all top line razors now, and they all except a couple honed and finished with coticule, infact my only razor finished with crox is my damascus razor . you will have good and bad days with any hone including coticule . i have good days almost every time i hone , its the amazing shaves that get there but not every time . thats what i aim for now so any thing less is not good for me . just stick at at it, i'm sure you'll get there when you don't expect it.

gary

i went throught a bad patch 6 months ago. then every thing came together on a certain razor , well it was my first ti razor. now they are my favourite shavers and i have 5 of them.

i found extra laps helped massivley. slower dilution .also let razor rest and have another go next day. so just bang some extra laps and sets in and you may notice the differance.
 
Hey Gary - thanks for the encouragement. I'm sure it's just a matter of time before I get it right (again) on the cotis. Maybe I'm just going through a bad patch, as you suggested.

I'll take your advice and give it a break before returning to the hones.

emmanuel - The razors in question are:

1) Wilkinson's Special - this one still hasn't got to the point where I've been able to shave with it. I've only tried it on a coti.

2) King Pelican (NOS) - This one wouldn't hone up properly on a coti, so I finished it on a Charnley Forest and it shaves really well now.

3) Vintage Friodur - This one also didn't get to the point where I was comfortable shaving with it when I used just a coti. I then moved to my Asagi and I was able to get a great edge.

I've tried to touch up a couple of edges on one of the cotis recently and I wasn't pleased with the outcome. In each case, I was able to get a superb edge with the Charnley.

I don't think it's the coticules that are to blame, of course. It seems that my technique has slipped a bit. Furstrating!
 
if the pelican finished on the charnley and you like the shave of a good coticule honed edge . try 100 laps on coticule with some lather, reson i say lather is the controll will be easier , you can of corse use water its your choice . then you will have the coticule edge , sounds like your struggling to get that final keeness that most of us have struggled with.
gary
 
Hi

I had a few months off due to a house move. I can empathise with you and assure you that the issue to only temporary.

I now only have one coti so I set about re honing all my razors. With the coti as the non variable the razors were the factor I had to consider. Basically what I did was to make notes on each razor ie how many laps, dilutions etc. When I acheived the edge I wanted I repeated using the data for each razor as they were all different. Repeating the action was well worth while as the honing process was much more accurate. All this takes time but now I hae a very good start when I want to hone a particular razor in the future. I have also found that the most obvious statements apply ie take your time, be in the right mood, do not be afraid to experiment and take notes so at least you have a starting point next time

good luck
 
I have my honing highs and lows, when it comes to Dilucot. Through the years, the lows have become closer to the highs. The sinusoidal curve looks like this:



You're going to be fine. Just stay at it and don't be shy of Unicot.

Good Luck,
Bart.
 
Gary, I took your advice on the Dilucot page and I went back to the coticule with the Wilkinson. I raised a slurry with a couple of passes of the slurry stone over the coticule, and then did 50-100 strokes with a couple of dilutions to water.

I then added a variation with a light slurry on the BBW side. Then I returned to the coticule with only water for 100 laps.

The result was HHT 3 with some points of HHT 4 (using my daughter's hair).

Tomorrow I'll try the only test that matters - the shave test. We'll see how that goes.

Thanks again, Gary and everyone else.
 
In addition to what has already been said there are times when it's not that you have forgotten but you'll get a razor that has different steel that may be brittle/ hard etc and it will throw you from your usual easy success.
 
We have talked about it in the past (Bart) but I almost never hear anyone speak of it now. When I want to get the last little bit out of the hone and don't want to start all over again, I will raise a light slurry and use a piece of milder steel to "prime" the slurry with steel. It has a great effect on the slurry and dilutions seem to go smoother. YT, Denny
 
Well, the shave today (with the Wilkinson) was pretty good! :)

Two passes and it was pretty close. The shave was smooth, with no tugging. I'm quite pleased with it.

I think there's still some improvement to be made on the edge, so I'll work at it again later.
[c]
-----------------------------------------------[/c]

I think the best thing I did was to take a break from the honing. The reinforcement and encouragement I received on here was pleasant, and then, when I returned to the razor my outlook had changed and it worked out.

A bad attitude is bad for honing!! ;)
 
My fried yohannrjm i have been covered alreay by the mates.One that would i like to add is to:
1)Keep the stone on the hand and never on the table even the stone is larger and heavier.2)Round the edge of the stone quite, a way that to not effects the razors edge at all.I assume that in time will succesful excellent result.
Best regards
Emmnuel
 
Hey Emmanuel,

I do also like to hold all my hones while honing. It's just what I'm used to, so I never hone with the hone on the counter.

I'll make sure the edge of the hone is chamfered, so that the edge doesn't hurt the razor.
 
Back
Top