Well I decided to have a play with my new coticule today. Bart over at Coticule.be believes it to be from "La Nouvelle Veine" and as such is a slow stone.
I went for the Unicot method in which you deliberately dull the razor then start the honing without taping the spine but once the bevel is properly set you tape it to create a micro bevel.
Unfortunately being a slow stone forming the bevel was a task that I wasn't winning and I was starting to get rather disappointed that the slurry on my slow stone remained so light indicating that it was removing very little metal.
Eventually I gave up and set the bevel using my King Combo stone 40 half strokes on 1000 with slurry then 20 laps without slurry then 20 laps on the 6000 side with slurry then 20 on just water. I then raised a slurry on the Coti and did about 30 laps on a thick slurry, then taped and did 30 laps on a light slurry then 60ish on just water.
After stropping the HHT seemed OK and I waited to do the shave test until this evening fully expected to have to head back the the hones.
The result - WOW! I've experienced Neils honing skills and my edge was pretty damn close (but not quite as good of course). Clearly the challenge is for me to repeat this result but I was totally gob-smacked by the smooth, sharp result. A bad workman may blame his tools but in this case I reckon the good tools made for a good job!
I went for the Unicot method in which you deliberately dull the razor then start the honing without taping the spine but once the bevel is properly set you tape it to create a micro bevel.
Unfortunately being a slow stone forming the bevel was a task that I wasn't winning and I was starting to get rather disappointed that the slurry on my slow stone remained so light indicating that it was removing very little metal.
Eventually I gave up and set the bevel using my King Combo stone 40 half strokes on 1000 with slurry then 20 laps without slurry then 20 laps on the 6000 side with slurry then 20 on just water. I then raised a slurry on the Coti and did about 30 laps on a thick slurry, then taped and did 30 laps on a light slurry then 60ish on just water.
After stropping the HHT seemed OK and I waited to do the shave test until this evening fully expected to have to head back the the hones.
The result - WOW! I've experienced Neils honing skills and my edge was pretty damn close (but not quite as good of course). Clearly the challenge is for me to repeat this result but I was totally gob-smacked by the smooth, sharp result. A bad workman may blame his tools but in this case I reckon the good tools made for a good job!
but I can't see me needing a Charnley or Escher. Truth be told while I enjoy the King Combo I have a real fondness for natural stones.