Thread: Crystal Hone... This is diffeent...

I am the proud owner of one of Mr Lillicrap's (could there be a more unfortunate name?) Green Uranium glass DE hones, it came bundled with an old strop I bought.

Having seen some rough treatment over the years it's lost a couple of corners.

Prior to being relegated to the status of an interesting paper weight I did try touching up a DE blade on it.

Then I decided that life's just too short........

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

The lillicraps were the main DE blade hones. They are famous for them. I don't think the uranium glass has any Uranium in it. I think they called it that because of the color.

Of course I could be wrong. If you get them let us know if they make you glow in the dark.

Supposedly some manufacturers did use uranium in glazing so don't bet the farm that that these don't have very small amounts in the glass. I linked these as an example only, had one given to me years ago.

Bob

I keep my alum block on one of these.

The glass does straighten an old school "Blue Blade" and
like a butcher's steel realigns and improves the edge. When used with
rogue suspension or toothpaste they can lightly hone an edge.
Modern teflon coated blades do not have as good a temper
as I would want to hone.

The old pre teflon Blue Blades did respond to honing.
But the best Blue Blade was still scraping whiskers
and an uncomfortable shave. Lathering made a big
improvement so the good old school shave soaps were
highly valued.

The light green ones that respond to a UV light did
have uranium. The rose glass gets its color from
trivial amounts of gold chloride or selenium.

On uranium and glass. The amount of uranium in some
ceramics gives pause to those that worry about total
body radiation exposure. Especially the bright orange
ceramics. "Vaseline Glass" is a term that has been adopted for a type of
uranium glass which is transparent, has a yellow-green hue in daylight and
fluoresces bright green under Ultra-Violet light (black light).

One LILLICRAPS hone on a shelf in the shave den is not a worry IMO. If you decide to
collect a wall of this stuff you need to get educated. Still it is radioactive....

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

The lillicraps were the main DE blade hones. They are famous for them. I don't think the uranium glass has any Uranium in it. I think they called it that because of the color.

Of course I could be wrong. If you get them let us know if they make you glow in the dark.

No, mot "uranium".. From the planet"Uranus"... Much more mysterious...

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

The lillicraps were the main DE blade hones. They are famous for them. I don't think the uranium glass has any Uranium in it. I think they called it that because of the color.

Of course I could be wrong. If you get them let us know if they make you glow in the dark.

The green lillicraps razor hones definitely have uranium in them, all you need is a black light, the ones you check money with, and they glow bright green, makes an amazing display item. They are radioactive, although a very small amount.

Ah, with the McKee picture that makes more sense... I kept trying to picture a DE blade mounted into the razor and using a hone like this. But, taking the blade out and putting your finger in the center then sweeping side to side makes perfect sense as far as application.

Many things glow green with both short and long wave UV. That doesn't mean it's Uranium. Has anyone found any copy from long ago saying it contains Uranium?

Uranium glass - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Here's a link complete with geiger counter readings. Some are quite high but they don't seem to have tested the glass hones.

VASELINE GLASS / URANIUM GLASS: AN EXPLANATION OF WHAT IT IS

I have one of those hones, not the same brand, it is good for stropping , since it is glass it will not hone really.
There are Carborundum made ones that are abrasive and can hone, I have one of those but have not played with it enough to get an idea of how well it works.