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My Coticule Experience

smgunn

Member
Hi All,
I've been spending a lot of time here for the past few months reading and learning about the magical world of coticules. Due to the fact that all my time here has been spent reading and learning, I have not posted until now. First (and most importantly), I would like to give a real heart felt THANK YOU to everyone here @ coticule.be for all the support and priceless advice that you give away to those like me for free. The successes that I've achieved with my coticules are completely credited to this website and the patrons herein. I can tell you that over the past 6 months I've come to understand the "ZEN of HONING". I think the use of a coticule may be the best medium to understanding this, at least it is for me.
I would like to share a little about my two coticules and how I am able to use them. Please keep in mind that I've been honing Straights for less then a year, and using coticules (only 2 so far) for 6 months. I realize that my assessments could be completely wrong here, but what I'm doing really seems to be working nicely for me.
The first one here Is a 150x50 natural combo. I first thought it was a La Dressante Au Bleu because I've seen pictures of others that look similar. After using it and learning more, I now think that It is a La Nouvelle Veine. The blue line on the side, the prompt transition to BBW, and the fact that it is painfully slow both with slurry and water makes me think that it fits the description of the slow side of this layer which Sir Bart describes in the Layer info. This is a very hard stone. It's much harder then any of my other hones except for my Translucent Arkansas. It feels very similar to the Arkansas while honing, much like honing on glass. It doesn't easily give up slurry with a DMT plate. I like using my other coticule as a slurry stone when using this, it helps out a little with the speed. Though I have successfully done a few dilucots with this stone, It is just way to slow to be the "do it all" coticule for me. I have been able to do a few "dilublu's"(SP?) with the BBW side of this stone much more quickly than the dilucot. Is this something that is not uncommon for slow coticules or am I just mistaken?
I don't want to give the impression that I'm unhappy with this coticule, because that couldn't be further from the truth. Where this coti really shines is as a finisher. I have done a lot of experimenting (I didn't believe it at first) and I swear that when finished on water, this coticule consistently produces edges that are slightly keener than my 12K Naniwa SS. I wasn't expecting a coticule to produce an edge as sharp as this one does, yet it still has that signature coticule smoothness though it is less forgiving than my other coticule. I always use this stone either as a finisher or a stepping stone to a Y/G Thuringian, whether I'm using synthetics or using my other coticule.
The coticule side is really thick it's about 20 mm at it's thickest and 14 mm at it's thinest



I think the BBW side is absolutely beautiful. It's really cool that it's a purple tinted mirror of the yellow side. Do all natural combos reflect the same patterning on both sides? I can see that it makes sense for that to happen during it's formation.


My other Coticule is a small size 7 Bout glued to slate. I have no idea what layer it is from. For me this coticule seems to be the exact opposite of my other one. It's small, it's very soft, it's not a combo, It's not a beauty queen, and it's extremely fast both with slurry and on water. I've come to think of this as the Yen to my other coti's Yang. I wasn't exaggerating about it's speed. I would say that with slurry it may be faster than my 1K Naniwa SS. I think that's amazing 'cause it's so small when compared to the Naniwa. Because it's the perfect size for my hand, I tend to use it more then any other hone for eavy bevel work or removing damage. With slurry it begins to get darker with just 3 to 4 half-strokes, while my larger coticule barely starts to turn grey with 3 to 4 SETS of half-strokes. I can get very consistent results using the dilucot method with this coticule. It's been a very forgiving stone to me and the perfect one for learning the many uses that coticules are capable of. If I use a very light x-stroke this stone produces the most comfortable shaves I've ever had.

I feel I'm very lucky to have two Coticules that are so completely different that one would never guess that the were of the same breed of stone. I really look forward to owning more coticules in the future. I've read here that each and every coticule is unique and you have to learn how to use them individually. For me this has been nothing but the honest truth. It almost feels like each coticule was teaching me what it does and how it does it, more like the coticules were using me instead of the other way around.
Again, Thank you to everyone here @ coticule.be. This is a wonderful community that I feel is a privilege for me to be a part of.
Thank you,
Sean Gunn
 
Great report and thanks for sharing. It really seems like you got the hang. Keep enjoying!
And a warm welcome from my side.

Cheers
BlueDun
 
welcome

I had the luck of finding this site just when I started shaving with a SR and learned a lot. Saved me from a lot of experimenting with different stones. I have a la dressante and a la grosse blanche and have good results with both. Greets Ron
 
Hi Sean,

Welcome to Coticule.be. I took the liberty of changing your picture references so that the attached photos show up in your text. (if you het the edit button, you can see for yourself that it's actually simpler than you could have imagined:) )

It's a great story, and I think you're spot on to conclude that both Coticules compliment each other very well.
Thank you for sharing your experiences. It was an heartwarming read.

Bart.
 
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