Selection difficulties - La Dressante or Les Latneuses

[urmas]

I have a great desire to buy one more coticule for me. Since my budget is limited, I want it to do well for me. That is why I would like to ask experienced users for advice. So far I have achieved quite promising results unicot but dilucot is failed despite of many attempts. This is quite frustrating for me. I hope to get a bit quicker and easier to use coticule than the slowish La Verte coticule that I have. Please, judge not me wrong, La Verte coticule is certainly very good but I believe that it does not fit very well in my nature. I'm pretty consistent but at the same time I'm quite impatient too. Often I find myself using several types of hones at once ... and so on. To feel good, I need some quick results.

I suppose I might want to buy:
1st La Dressante, which I like due the smaller garnet. When ordering, I would ask Rob to pick for me a little faster and harder specimen. Is such a request would be justified in my situation?
2nd Les Latneuses with hybrid side. Hybrid side is interesting for me.
3rd Maybe something different based on your recommendation.

I ask for your help. All suggestions and opinions are welcome.

Thank you in advance,
Urmas

 

[danjared]

I'd imagine that with whatever you're after, you're not going to have much luck finding a Les Latneuses.

 

[tat2Ralfy]

As said from me also
And if I may say that buying another stone will not improve your honing skills in any way, if anything it will slow down your development and cause frustrations
I took almost 1 full year to develop the skill needed to perform Dilucot on almost any razor I try, and that is with the old Dilucot method, using 300/400 strokes at least, if you are able to unicot on the stone you have, but fail at Dilucot then I am afraid the problem IMHO is with your technique, and as you say patience is something you lack, I would imagine that is exactly what is needed my friend
Just the way I see it buddy

My kindest regards
Ralfson (Dr)

 

[Bart]

I have to agree with Dr Ralfson.

La Vertes are not the fastest, that is true. But I consider them to be among the easier ones to get good results.

Let's compare to "La Petite Blanche", one of the yesteryear's most celebrated Coticule layers. La Petite Blanche is a very fast layer. Great when you have a razor that needs a lot of work, more work than you ever needed to do when you are shaving with a razor and maintaining is with your Coticule. The kind of work required when you've kept the razor going with pastes for 2 years...
But at the same time, the limit induced by slurry is significantly less keen on a La Petite Blanche than on a La Verte. That means that the gap to bridge with the Dilucot or other procedures, is much bigger on a La Petite Blanche than on a La Verte.

The time you've saved during the bevel correction stage, will be lost during the refinement stage. Finishing on water is just the same anyway.

I can easily imagine how frustrated one can become with his Coticule. You're struggling at home, you do everything right; or so you think, and you still don't get the results that other people are raving about. Maybe it helps to know that I struggled too, probably longer than most of you guys. But I was just lucky that no one I knew or could read about was doing what I was trying. I could only get frustrated about not being able to copy rare previous successes.
In other words: just keep at it. You can hone a razor in less than 10 minutes on a La Verte, even one that requires considered work. It only takes practice.

Kind regards,
Bart.

 

[Paul]

On the other side of that:

I started with a La Petite Blanche, and got good results really quickly. Then, with other types, I struggled because the characteristics were totally different than my LPB. Ralfy really gave you the answer, IMHO. Keep the one you have, master it, then revisit the idea of buying another.

 

[urmas]

Thank you for the encouragement. I believe that this is one more important thing what fellowship of coticule.be is offering. I appreciate it highly. :thumbup:

Now I will continue to learn about my La Verte.

Thanks for support,
Urmas

 

[tat2Ralfy]

Ah LPB oh sweet sweet LPB :love:

I do love my little (with a capital L) La Petite Blanche

My warmest Regards
Ralfson (Dr)