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taming the edge

G

garyhaywood

Well-Known Member
I noticed i had a a couple of my ti razor s and one shefeild razor that absalutley pop ed the finest of hair. The shaves were sharp but not as comfortable as should of been. I did more and more work on water. the shaves were exactly the same. Sharp but there was a bite that was'nt typical of a coticule edge. I would say it was very crispy. infact ralfy one of the razors was the ti i sent you. remeber how it felt? i just could not improve the edge. Then i read what bart posted go back to misty slurry then water. So is i did just that. Now the HHT did drop.

the shaves were absalutley mellow , i could not beleive it my self. Totaly differant feel, and still sharp, but atg was so much more comfy, just how it should be.

Just another good point i thought i would mention. i just persumed the razors were not keen enough, while having a hht of 4/5 and more i was lost as to what to try next. just through reading the post on the site i picked up on what bart mentioned and tryed just that, and it worked.

nice to learn somthing new.

gary
 
Wonderful stuff indeed Gary mate, it just shows how sometimes we have to rethink what we are doing

Regards
Ralfson (Dr)
 
Gary what you believe exactly the edge was more keen before misty slurry or less. I remember something of my father ,was calling a kind like this edge <false edge> .I don't know the exact meaning that wanted to give ,but i know that the mentioned edge was wild as was saying .He was dragging the edge on his thumbnail rehoning on the limewater according he was saying.I thing that is parallel way.
Best regards
Emmanuel
 
Great work, Gary.:thumbup:

I believe the circle is round now. Every serious Coticule user will take this route for sharpening razors: In the very beginning, the edges lack keennes. The inexperienced user depends on other solutions (CrO on a strop) to make up for it, and wonders if what the more experienc guys are saying is actualy true. Then, with more practice, the user succeeds in hitting sufficient keenness, and he experiences what I like to call the epiphany of the Coticule edge. At first he only reaches that goal occasionally. Later he learns to approach it close enough to be satisfied with his results. Eventually the results become better and better overall. This is a process that goes with 1 step forward at a time, and sometimes even a step backwards. Finally the Coticulist starts to occasionally get results that can only be described as too sharp to be completely comfortable. I have examined such edges and I disagree that there is any real problem with them, accept that they are sharp enough to start peeling off skin cells. Once the Coticulist figures out that the edges only need to be dialed back a bit, that's when the circle is round. Honing on a Coticule stops being a chase for sharpness at that point. It becomes the science of finding a sweet spot, in the pleasant knowledge that you have the skill and the tool to find it. You have become a master in your art.

Congratulations,
Bart.
 
I must say it baffled me for some weeks. Just as you say the edge felt like its was hitting my skin to much and not gliding over the skin surface. I actauly put it down to the ti steel at one point. then i thought it could not be as i have had smooth great shaves of my silver wing , which was now to crispy. I took them all back and they all shaved like a differant razor . the sharpness was the same the comfort was just so much better, infact just as i lke it. before i dialed the edge back i have to say two pases and the shave was ultra close. My initial thought was gosh that is close but why the hell it catching my skin . Any way its all sorted now . The reason i reckon this happend was at the time i was doing to many set on my hybrid . then on water i was spending loads of time trying get the max out of hht. What i have stated doing now is dilucot 6/10 sets once bevel is set, i scrapped slurry to water to save messing and just go throug dilucot, finish on water . I take a thick hair not my usaul medium hair. If the hair catches and pops at least 10 to 25 mm from holding point with catchand tugs the hair in half and i feel the response to the hair in a good way. I just strop and shave . I've not had a problem since.

thanx gary
 
Wonderful wonderful wonderful :thumbup:

See Gary I always said you were a master at this mate, it shows the time and effort was much better spent at the stone than the boozer lol

Regards
Ralfson (Dr)
 
vgeorge said:
Emmanuel, would you be kind enough to clarify "limewater"?
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George i translate my father words literally ."limewater" was calling the misty slurry.
Best regards
Emmanuel
 
tat2Ralfy said:
Wonderful wonderful wonderful :thumbup:

See Gary I always said you were a master at this mate, it shows the time and effort was much better spent at the stone than the boozer lol

Regards
Ralfson (Dr)
Click to expand...

i'm out with festa this saturday, well we have good days with coticule i never posted my bad days. its nice when it works and worth the input.

gary
 
Emmanuel said:
Emmanuel said:
Gary what you believe exactly the edge was more keen before misty slurry or less.
Click to expand...

Thank you very much Garry for your reply.

Best regards
Emmanuel
Click to expand...

keeness was the same the edge after misty slurry was just smoother, it was like the slurry conditioned my edge and made it more comfortable.
 
garyhaywood said:
i'm out with festa this saturday, well we have good days with coticule i never posted my bad days. its nice when it works and worth the input.

gary
Click to expand...

Oh give him my regards, for sure I know about the bad days mate, they do get less and less though eh

Regards
Ralfson (Dr)
 
A timely thread, Gary. Cheers for Bart's description of the skills development finally coming down to chasing a sweet spot.

Last night was a delight, both in trying a new razor (a story of it's own - 110 yrs old, no wear of any kind, including the pivot, and the original mirror finish was intact, unpolished - Henry Sears & Sons 1865 Prussia). 9" x 1-1.7" LPB - wonderful for bringing it to the finishing stage, but my issues w/ keeping my hand/arm steady has me switch to a wider 7"x2" Dressante for finishing. 7 dilutions to the Dressante. I stopped and did other things to rest the hand/arm to maximize steadiness when I returned to finish on water. HHT's mostly 3s, w/ a couple 4s. Then I got greedy. 'Cleaned and dried the Dressante and applied 1 small drop of Emmanuel's recipe of turpentine & beeswax. 30 x-strokes, 30 circles, then 15 more x-strokes. Mostly 4s with a couple 3s before stropping. I did not test after stropping, but because I've had issues getting sufficient keenness, I stropped 300 linen (real linen) and 100 shell. The test gave weepers. The full shave this morn. was keen beyond smooth comfort. Tonight, 8 x-strokes on water and the edge was back on it's best behavior (like my other Henry Sears). I've had to throttle back keenness only once before on a Uniblue, and had to do so several times on an asagi. Sweet spot = joy & comfort. I hope to become more consistent in finding that spot, and then to anticipate or develop some intuition about how a blade progresses that finds the spot with less adjustment.
 
I think it is easy to over do it. I find so long as you get a nice 3 of the hone on a thick hair at least 15 to 25 mm from holding point you will get a more mellow shave . trying for the ultimate hht can undo the comfort. I'd rather test shave and have a razor that is smooth but just cold be a tadge more keen . You then dial in on keeness gradualy.

trial and error the shae will tell you every thing you need.

gary
 
This is good timing, for me as well, with this thread. I was just on my way here to discuss my recent experiments with diamond paste. Over the last couple weeks I have been testing out multiple blades that I had re-finished using .25 diamond paste. I had been frustrated, blade after blade, with sharp, but harsh and uncomfortable shaves.

Finally, last night after I could not handle any more of this discomfort, I re-finished one of these razors on my LD coticule. Immediately, the razor was back to the smooth, easy shaves that I had been getting before I started playing around with the diamond paste. It made me wonder why I had wanted to try to achieve a sharper edge. I think, however, that it is just something everyone has to go through... to experience the different edges. I can understand why people migrate back to the coticule edge. It is a very comfortable shave.
 
Drybonz said:
I can understand why people migrate back to the coticule edge. It is a very comfortable shave.
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Yep Drybonz. Because is the smoother and the more friendly for the human face.
Best regards
Emmanuel
 
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