Thread: the hell with Mexico, I've moved to Belgium

I've been honing my razors with nortons (made in mexico), followed by a chinese, my results have been passable, but not as good as most of the razors I have bought thru the classifieds.

Last week (Thanks to Sham !) I got my first coticule, a natural combo, I spent days reading all the posts on using a coticule (special kudos to Bart ) and yesterday I went to work on a dovo, one that I have never been able to get shave ready.

long story short, my cheap (best quality) dovo gave me an outstandingly smooth, velvety, BBS this morning,and I am in Awe - All Hail the Beligium Natural

I should add that I didnt use the bbw, only the coticule, I started with slurry to set the bevel, once it passed the TPT, I (following Bart's advice) began diluting my slurry every 10-12 passes, until it was all water, then polished until the stone was almost dry, stropped 30/60, and Voila !1

I am now officially a Certifiable Crazy Coticule Collector (I bought a second stone already )

Thanks SRP for all your help and guidance, Straight shaving just got a whole lot better !

Aside from the fact that coticules just plain work great, there is something extremely satisfying about using a ROCK rather than a synthetic amalgam.

Congratulations on the conversion!!!

Originally Posted by Utopian

Aside from the fact that coticules just plain work great, there is something extremely satisfying about using a ROCK rather than a synthetic amalgam.

Congratulations on the conversion!!!

Amen! My Norton hasnt seen the light of day for quite some time.

Originally Posted by currentman

I am now officially a Certifiable Crazy Coticule Collector (I bought a second stone already )

Welcome to the Certifiable Crazy Coticule Collector's Club If those beautiful razors in your collection are any indication you'll have a helluva rock collection sooner than later. Great bunch of razors you have there following that link. I love my coticules but I still like my Nortons too.

Originally Posted by Utopian

Aside from the fact that coticules just plain work great, there is something extremely satisfying about using a ROCK rather than a synthetic amalgam.

Congratulations on the conversion!!!

I agree, very satisfying using a rock thousands of years old, also I really like the smell and the feel, it's almost as though the coticule is giving you cues as to your progress

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

Welcome to the Certifiable Crazy Coticule Collector's Club If those beautiful razors in your collection are any indication you'll have a helluva rock collection sooner than later. Great bunch of razors you have there following that link. I love my coticules but I still like my Nortons too.

Thank you for the kind words, I added a seven day set in earlier today, but I still have about 12 more razors I need to add to the gallery, (I have a fondness for the Bokers ) but I will updating the website as soon as I have time.

as for rocks I already have a good start:
norton 220/1000
norton 4K/8K
norton lapping stone
chinese 12K
Coticule/BBW natural combo 7 1/2 inch
Swaty 2 line
Swaty three line
American Swaty three line (not a real swaty, just a knock off with a courser grit)
Carborundum razor hone
On its way in the mail - Coticle/slate back 6 inch

I guess I have AD already, but its quite enjoyable at this point, and its my way of helping to stimulate our economy

Originally Posted by Utopian

Aside from the fact that coticules just plain work great, there is something extremely satisfying about using a ROCK rather than a synthetic amalgam.

Congratulations on the conversion!!!

Synthetic amalgam? I would say "frozen snot" .

Originally Posted by matt321

Synthetic amalgam? I would say "frozen snot" .

No, it would be artificial frozen snot!

Originally Posted by nun2sharp

Amen! My Norton hasnt seen the light of day for quite some time.

Same goes for me.

Beware for CSA (Coticule Slurry Addiction). It's incurable.

Thanks for sharing your experience.

Kind regards,
Bart.

I've never tried the Norton, so am not sure of it's abilities. It must be popular for a reason though.
I went straight down the BBW/Coticule route. I got mine from Sham too, some time ago. It's a great stone! At the time he saw no use for the BBW side. I'm not sure of his views now, but maybe he feels the same as he's got too many stones to choose from!