keenness turning point?

[justalex]

I've finally got myself into regular good edges - sometimes better than good edges from my coticule and I was wondering is their a point at which on water the coticule starts smoothing out the edge more than gaining keenness?

What I'm wondering is: can you do an infinite amount of strokes on water and max out the keenness? or is it a balance that you need to find between sharp and smooth and if you go past this balance your losing keenness and gaining smoothness?

Just something I've noticed recently when finishing that the razors with less strokes had sharper edges.

kind regards Alex

 

[Jim1]

Alex,

I have no answer for you but I've had basically the same question lurking in my head for a while. I'm having a tough time knowing how many pure finishing strokes to perform. My guess is that you and I just need to get better with our HHTs so we know when to call it quits. I know all coticules are different, but if some of you out there could give a rough estimate for how many finishing strokes you perform on the average razor it might help point us in the right direction.

Much thanks! Jim

 

[Emmanuel]

Hi Alex.Once the razor shaves your arm hair well or marginally.Here is the point. Try to reach an edge that shaves arn hair well without any effort.Some times you will see that during polishing process you get an edge that stay same even you apply 1000 strokes ,or you loose keenness .
Bart suggests to rub the hone once by the slurry stone and continue with a touch up.That works.
Personally i rub the coticule strongly and across the surface ,then i rinse the hone thoroughly
applying on clear water some half strokes and more x strokes . The surface now is a little bit more aggressive because is refreshed but that the secret,The HHT improves clearly.
Best regards
Emmanuel

 

[Emmanuel]

Jim my response is for you too.
Best regards
Emmanuel

 

[justalex]

That's a good tip Emmanuel, The thing is I've been so busy honing my collection I haven't got round to shaving enough with one razor that, its needed a touch up.

My coti is very quick on slurry but incredibly slow on water, which is why I was wondering about this, as out of the 20 odd honing sessions, one came out with a super smooth, super sharp edge and after reading the descriptions of a mellow, engaging and brisk edge I would have to say the other razors I honed came out with a mellow edge as well, but were sometimes lacking in the keenness dept, which made me think: can you go over the point of max keenness where it starts to decline and smoothness increases at the cost of being sharp?

Jim: You've probably read it already but a very good guide is http://www.coticule.be/dilucot-honing-method.html. What I've done which gave me a very good indicator of how fast your coti goes is if you follow Gary's guide on the left and look for these factors;
1. how dark slurry goes, mine's darkens after 2 strokes when setting a bevel.
2. the sound of the razor on the hone & how cloudy the bevel is. a mirrored bevel is no indicator of a good shave but I use it to know when to move on to the next dilution as well as the increased glide of the razor on the hone.

if you can stay on a certain slurry for as long as it takes to get progress in those two factors, I move onto the next dilution. For me that was the hardest part, I moved on too quickly, leaving me with an unfinished bevel or an edge that couldn't be caught up on water. I'm just - like most coti users - figuring out how to get a consistent finishing progression, which I know I'm so close to but, just need to judge it and experiment more.

hopefully, you'll figure out your progression Jim and so will I.

kind regards
Alex

 

[BlacknTan]

Hi Alex.Once the razor shaves your arm hair well or marginally.Here is the point. Try to reach an edge that shaves arn hair well without any effort.Some times you will see that during polishing process you get an edge that stay same even you apply 1000 strokes ,or you loose keenness .
Bart suggests to rub the hone once by the slurry stone and continue with a touch up.That works.
Personally i rub the coticule strongly and across the surface ,then i rinse the hone thoroughly
applying on clear water some half strokes and more x strokes . The surface now is a little bit more aggressive because is refreshed but that the secret,The HHT improves clearly.
Best regards
Emmanuel

I don't post much, but I come here often to read and try to learn something..

Emmanuel's post here is a good example of little gems that can be mined from this site!

 

[Emmanuel]

Thanks mate for your kind words.
Best regards
Emmanuel

 

[pinklather]

The only reason for logging in and posting its to second the appreciation for your kind posts, Emmanuel. I appreciate your kind help.