My coti and some pics of the "store"

[du212]

I have bought a new coti from an spanish vendor, a 200x50 mm stone. I am a newbie in honing and I have started with the unicot method, as it seems more easy for me.

This is the coti with a razor that I've honed for a friend



...repeating


A rough coticule


repeating


The stones that the vendor stores, because they are needed to provide service to many prfessionals that use the cotis to hone their tools : woodcarvers, surgeons,...



I have honed with succes some razors with the unicot method, but for the touch ups of the edge ....What process do you reccommend me?

 

[Matt]

Well, the method to touch up the edge depends on how the bevel was created. If a razor has a single bevel, you just hone it on light slurry and then finish with water (it is not for me to advise, whether slurry touch up should be done with X-strokes or half strokes). But if it has double bevel, you need to tape it first, the question is how many layers were used before. Probably the best way is to reset or rather nullify secondary bevel and start it from scratch, but that I guess can hardly be called a 'touch up'.

This raw Coticule is a beautiful piece of rock. How did you get this?

kind regards,
Matt

 

[Disburden]

Very cool post and welcome to the site! Feel free to send more pics! :thumbup: :thumbup:

 

[du212]

Thanks for the answer. Very helpful.

The raw coticule was in the office of the spanish coticule vendor, they are located in Irun, a city from the North of Spain, next to the french border. It's not mine, :-/ , it's for showing purposes in the fairs or showrooms. The owner of the business, Esteban, is a very kind person, he told me about a lot of features of the belgian coticules, the extraction from the quarry, the process of production, the differences among the different stones,....at least 2 hours of conversation, I really enjoyed the visit.

Esteban don't know anything about wetshaving he sold the coticule for professionals that use sharpen tools, as woodcarvers, surgeons, ... but I am the first wetshaver who bought a coticule to him....

 

[du212]

More pics
:thumbup:

A little natural coticule and a pocket knive with cow horn handle, handmade


The worst picture


Another view of the rock

 

[tat2Ralfy]

Hi, I would say for unicot touch up, apply the same amount of tape as the razor was finished with (most often 1 with Unicot) 30-60 laps on water only (maybe 100 if your coticule is SLOW) doing X strokes or rolling X for a smiling blade, finish with 60 laps on cloth strop and 60 laps on clean leather, thats what I do, if you start using slurry or half strokes you will enlarge the secondary bevel too much and make hard work off achieving the right level of keenness.

If you need more than a touch up, with Unicot you will have to dull the edge on glass, reset the 1st bevel, tape and create and finish the second bevel, the key is to realise that Unicot works because the secondary bevel is so small, once you enlarge this by adding slurry, or indeed if the edge has deteriorated past the point were your coticule with just water will bring it back, then you will have to rehone, although I believe a good Unicot edge thats maintained properly should survive around a years worth of shaves before it needs a re-hone.

Regards
Ralfson (Dr)

 

[Matt]

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I wrote that assuming (I really don't know why) that you're about to touch up a friend's razor without knowledge of the previous honing. Obviously, if it was your own job, then it's all as Ralfy so benevolently explained.

kind regards,
Matt

 

[tat2Ralfy]

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Indeed Sir Matt, methinks a serious touch up where unicot is the method of choice would soon stray into the realms of "re-hone"

DU212, is it a unicot hone that you are asking about touching up?

Humbly Yours
Ralfson (Dr)..... (You know, the Strange one!) Bwhahahaha Bwhahahaha (cough)

 

[du212]

Right, I am talking about a unicot hone, for one of my razors (Henckels Friodur 5/8), but the razor in the picture (Henckels Friodur 11/16) was honed with the unicot method because it was not shave ready.

I have used the coti to touch up a previously honed with unknown method,.....50 X strokes with water, and the edge feels sharp enough again, I don´t know if mine is the correct action, but I wanted to try the ability of the coti,...and I was not dissappointed, the razor is a good shaver (Filarmonica 14 medallon taurino)

Regards , Jose

 

[tat2Ralfy]

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Thats very cool then, as said- retape and 30 to 60 but maybe even up to 100 laps on water only (sounds a lot but takes only a couple of minutes)-HHT (Should be 3 or 4 on unicot) strop-HHT-Shave-Enjoy :thumbup:

Regards
Ralfson (Dr)

 

[kinematic]

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That's a big ass piece of coticule. It would surely last countless generations.

 

[Bart]

Great thread and very nice pictures.:thumbup:

An excerpt from the

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:
[note]Edge maintenance.

Because of the small cutting bevel, a Coticule with water is very effective for touching up the razor. This is best done at the earliest signs of edge deterioration. 30 laps should suffice. Obviously, tape must be reapplied for this task.

With each touch-up the secondary bevel grows a bit wider, till we reach the point where the Coticule with only water will no longer offer adequate sharpening puissance. This is easily remedied by removing the tape, which allows the initial bevel to grow in favor of the secondary bevel that has no choice but to diminish. About 30 laps on slurry should suffice to bring the secondary bevel within reach of the Coticule with water again.[/note]

Kind regards,
Bart.

 

[tat2Ralfy]

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Well there you are, I can only say sorry Jose, for my misleading reply. 30 laps should do it, if not you can shrink the 2nd bevel back to a manageable size, as stated above, outstanding Sir Bart :thumbup: