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Water won't stay on bbw/coti

jasp

Member
Hey all,

I wanted to share a story/experience I found interesting, I'm not trying to say or prove anything here, just saying what I'm experiencing.

First off, I have my great grandfather's natural combo bbw/coticule.

When I first got my hands on the hone, it was dirty. It felt glazed over, and I could imagine it had lost all of his sharpening abilities and quality, no water would stay on the hone, and would just drop right off, the water just disappeared off the hone like a magic act, the surface on the coti and bbw was darkened.

So I then proceeded to lap the hone clean, both the bbw and coticule side. The hone looked as good as new, no problems with it, water would just stay on the hone. The hone itself feels very hard and is a very soft finisher. I had to use quite some elbow grease to lap that hone.
Ever since I lapped the hone I have been using it with water only, and to experiment with some lather occasionally.

I took out the hone earlier today and experienced something strange, the coticule/bbw feels somewhat ''clogged''. I'm not saying it is less effective, but there is something going on here.
It seems to me the coticule and bbw have a somewhat metal shine to its surface caused by what I assume are metal particles released from the razors (what else could it be :| )

That doesn't bother me as much for the fact that water will not stay on my coticule or bbw surface at all.
I've got a couple of pictures to illustrate what I mean:
I was trying to hone my razor on the bbw side, and I was a little annoyed that the water would just 'drop off'
I liberally put water on the coticule, and immediately this happens:
[img=800]http://users.telenet.be/jasp87/IMG_0341.JPG[/img]
then in a second it looks like this;
[img=800]http://users.telenet.be/jasp87/IMG_0339.JPG[/img]
[img=800]http://users.telenet.be/jasp87/IMG_0337.JPG[/img]
I found this rather weird and was wondering what was going on here.
I have never used oil on the hone, but it feels like it has an oily protective layer on it, even on the sides, it's pretty weird.

So I read a coticule (and bbw?) cannot get clogged and they self renew their surface by releasing grit. Maybe the fact it is such a hard stone has something to with it, I don't know.
When I used the hone in the past, I always used it with tap water and just rinsed it off with tap water, rub my hand over the surface and let it air dry, maybe water drying on the hone had something to do with it? No idea.

It seems the only way I can keep water on the hone is to hone on lather.

My great grandfather's razor box came with 2 razors a hone and - a pencil - B) . Hah, I don't know, but it is weird to keep a pencil in that box with your razors and your hone. Coincidence? Probably. Did he use it for maybe an indicator for lapping purposes? I don't know, maybe. It is a green pencil and I can see it clearly on the bbw and yellow side; I just wanted to say this cause that has been on my mind for a while now, he might've experienced the same I am experiencing, though I haven't got a clue.
It's weird, I might try to soak it in water for a while and see if that changes anything, I somehow doubt it will.

That's it, just wanted to share this,
if you want to give some feedback or say anything feel free to do so.
Just wanted to share this observation of my experience.

Oh yeah, I did hone on the bbw side and have yet to shave with the razor, so I have no idea if this phenomenon actually has influence on the honing properties and qualities of the hone, tho I have also never shaved off the bbw without using the yellow next, so there is nothing I could actually say about it or compare it to ;) .
Although I have a hunch that with some metal built up, as it seems, and the water not staying on the hone it could have some effect on the edge and maybe cause the hone to lose some of his sharpening quality. Again, I have no idea.


Anyway,
have a good one,
cheers,
Jasper

*edit*

hmm, silly me totally forgot I once wrapped my coticule for transportation purposes in some medical alike gauze dressing stuff, that couldve had something to do with it, woops :p
 
Jasper,

I first thought there may be a simple explanation to that phenomenon and that its that one of the former owners used this hone with oil as lubricant. But since you wrote that you planed the hone and it still behaves like that it makes the oil hypthesisi less likely. Coticules are supposedly not porous. Therefore, the oil will not soak in and once freshly planed you should be ok. However, there's no black and white here either. So ...
...MAYBE your hone is somewhat porous
...and MAYBE the former owner used oil excessively
...and MAYBE you just did not remove enough material to get to the unspoilt matter
THEN my theory might still be valid. And since it seems the most likely one to me it still might be the correct one.

Cheers
BlueDun
 
Hey, thx for the replies

After I lapped the hone, the water stayed on it without problems though.

I was indeed also thinking about how the hone got so '' clogged '' when I first received it, it collected plenty of dust and dirt, maybe oil was involved, or maybe even dry honing which didn't let the metal particles rinse away.

Anyhow I did wrap my hone is some sort of "special" medical gauze material for transportation purposes before, this was after I lapped it, it wasn't normal gauze but it was nice soft and thick so I wrapped it around the hone for protection.
It had some sort of special film on it I believe, so I'm starting to believe this actually could've left some sort of residue?
I did rub some lather on the hone which didn't seem to do all that much.
I was thinking about lapping the hone again, but sine I lack the tools for doing this right now, I simply soaked my hone for an hour or so in water. It seems to me that the gauze must've left some sort of residue on the hone, which is my best guess.
When I now put water on the hone, it stays on fairly well, so yeah I don't know :thumbup:
 
I'm no chemist,

Just one theory though, maybe it has been soaked in something thats reacted with or degraded the sedimentary matrix.:-/
Perhaps something like this could occur over time to make the sediment porous.
Just throwing out possibilities.

Joe
 
Actually, you don't need "tools" to lap your coti. Just some sandpaper and a reasonably flat surface. Some people won't do it without a glass plate, but I simply do it on the kitchen top - works perfect for me (different story with my lady, though ).
I personally would would plane the baby again and then give it a thorough rub with good ol' dishwasher soap. If that does not cure the issue, then I would start to assume that somebody pulled a fast one on me and sold me some sort of Chinese-Plastic-Imitation-Cotcule :blink:

Cheers
BlueDun
 
This Coticule has almost beyond doubt been used with oil. Coticules are not entirely non-porous. It's possible to try oil and clean the surface thoroughly afterwards, without ever experiencing this kind of water beading issue afterwards. But in the old days, it was in some areas customary to use Coticules with oil. They work well that way, but the prolonged exposure does eventually saturate the rock. There is very little (or perhaps even nothing) you can do to remove the oil once it is deep in the stone. But the good news is that it doesn't matter. You can either keep using the Coticule with oil. Results will be great. Or you can add a few drops of "Dreft" (dish washing detergent) to your honing water, which will stop the beading.

Best regards,
Bart.
 
aha!
thank you guys for the replies, I appreciate it, this is a great place to be!

Got some pictures I'd wanna share,

I found some old pics I took back in the day of the hone before I lapped it.
http://users.telenet.be/jasp87/2.png
http://users.telenet.be/jasp87/3.png
http://users.telenet.be/jasp87/1.png

as stated, it is indeed highly likely it was used with oil of some sort, both sides looked pretty dirty, and when I put water on it it drifted off like you would expect with an oily surface

After I lapped it:
http://users.telenet.be/jasp87/-.png
http://users.telenet.be/jasp87/4.png

kind regards,
Jasper
 
Looks like an oily one to me too

Just a thought, if you have a dishwasher, and a very understanding or often absent wife, you may want to try putting the stone through a cycle, works well for other naturals.

Best regards
Ralfson (Dr)
 
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