standardgewehr
Active Member
Disclaimer: I am still largely in the dark, although this forum and website are a source of light to which my eyes are slowly becoming accustomed... this intent of this post is to puzzle things out by throwing my experiences out there for review and discussion with you the experts, not to pretend any expertise of my own.
One of the first razors I purchased on FleaBay was a nice (despite a few pits/flecks I still need to completely polish out) "New Old Stock" Carl Wüsthof Gladiatorwerk 5/8" round point, advertised as shave ready if I recall correctly. It wouldn't shave as received... I ended up honing it on my first set of hones, a 4k/8k Norton and finished it (as well as I knew how) on a Chinese 12K. It shaved OK, but as I am no honemeister my handiwork left me a little cold. It seemed to lack the smooth power and low feedback of a big heavy razor like my Hart or 7/8 Friodur, or the higher feedback of my ERN or super high feedback of my recently acquired, wafer thin bladed DD Satinedge. The shaves I got were OK but nothing to write home to momma about.
For this reason, I picked this piece to try my first Dilocut with, imagining and hoping for a large degree of improvement. After dulling on a glass, sixty half strokes on "Coticule Milk" shaved arm hair. After that, x-stroking through fifty laps for each one of five very slight dilution stages (turning the stone 180 degrees each progression), finalizing with somewhere around 150 laps on plain water and a clean coticule, left me with the following:
1. I am amazed at the power of the coticule and truly impressed by this combo stone purchased from Zib. This stone seems purer, slower and harder than my other narrower, older combo stone, and in my very limited experience, the feedback more pronounced of the two.
2. As the blade grew sharp, there was definitely a very delicate, almost velvety feeling of drag, especially at the end of the stroke but the further I went the earlier it started. Towards the end, adding greater amounts of water was the only way I could reduce the sensation. As I progressed past the initial stages and the slurry slowly diluted, I had the sensation of the blade being sucked against the coticule, almost as though honing on a magnetized surface, and allowing me to feel the texture of the surface of the stone through the blade. What this means, I have no idea. Enhanced feedback as my technique improved, or just too much fluid on the stone? Or does my combo stone just suck?
3. Not sure if it's a poor honing or stropping job, or a bad sample of hair, or poor HHT technique, but the best I could achieve was a "violin".
4. Despite the lack of joy on the HHT, I got a completely irritation free, super close BBS shave on 2 days growth, perhaps my most comfortable and close shave to date. I was even able to go against the grain everywhere but the front of my chin and upper lip (still not that skillful yet) with impunity. Yet, at the same time, the overall character and feel of this blade were unchanged. Still very neutral, like leaving the treble and bass adjustments on a stereo dead in the middle and feeling strangely neutral. I guess that's not a bad thing since the final result was pleasing. Also, I think I like razors with pointy tips even better than I like round points, which is a bit surprising as spikes scared the hell out of me when I first started.
I really like the Dilucot method and the result it provided, and hope it can only get better as my technique improves... I will have to try it on my other Coticule and compare notes. Your observations and comments are requested.
I'll post a picture or two of the razor tomorrow if I can.
One of the first razors I purchased on FleaBay was a nice (despite a few pits/flecks I still need to completely polish out) "New Old Stock" Carl Wüsthof Gladiatorwerk 5/8" round point, advertised as shave ready if I recall correctly. It wouldn't shave as received... I ended up honing it on my first set of hones, a 4k/8k Norton and finished it (as well as I knew how) on a Chinese 12K. It shaved OK, but as I am no honemeister my handiwork left me a little cold. It seemed to lack the smooth power and low feedback of a big heavy razor like my Hart or 7/8 Friodur, or the higher feedback of my ERN or super high feedback of my recently acquired, wafer thin bladed DD Satinedge. The shaves I got were OK but nothing to write home to momma about.
For this reason, I picked this piece to try my first Dilocut with, imagining and hoping for a large degree of improvement. After dulling on a glass, sixty half strokes on "Coticule Milk" shaved arm hair. After that, x-stroking through fifty laps for each one of five very slight dilution stages (turning the stone 180 degrees each progression), finalizing with somewhere around 150 laps on plain water and a clean coticule, left me with the following:
1. I am amazed at the power of the coticule and truly impressed by this combo stone purchased from Zib. This stone seems purer, slower and harder than my other narrower, older combo stone, and in my very limited experience, the feedback more pronounced of the two.
2. As the blade grew sharp, there was definitely a very delicate, almost velvety feeling of drag, especially at the end of the stroke but the further I went the earlier it started. Towards the end, adding greater amounts of water was the only way I could reduce the sensation. As I progressed past the initial stages and the slurry slowly diluted, I had the sensation of the blade being sucked against the coticule, almost as though honing on a magnetized surface, and allowing me to feel the texture of the surface of the stone through the blade. What this means, I have no idea. Enhanced feedback as my technique improved, or just too much fluid on the stone? Or does my combo stone just suck?
3. Not sure if it's a poor honing or stropping job, or a bad sample of hair, or poor HHT technique, but the best I could achieve was a "violin".
4. Despite the lack of joy on the HHT, I got a completely irritation free, super close BBS shave on 2 days growth, perhaps my most comfortable and close shave to date. I was even able to go against the grain everywhere but the front of my chin and upper lip (still not that skillful yet) with impunity. Yet, at the same time, the overall character and feel of this blade were unchanged. Still very neutral, like leaving the treble and bass adjustments on a stereo dead in the middle and feeling strangely neutral. I guess that's not a bad thing since the final result was pleasing. Also, I think I like razors with pointy tips even better than I like round points, which is a bit surprising as spikes scared the hell out of me when I first started.
I really like the Dilucot method and the result it provided, and hope it can only get better as my technique improves... I will have to try it on my other Coticule and compare notes. Your observations and comments are requested.
I'll post a picture or two of the razor tomorrow if I can.