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Vintage Pink Glass Crystal Stropper Razor Hone Strop Sharpener | eBay
I've seen half-pipe style strops/sharpeners before but never like this... Would it even work without grit of some sort? Or, do you have to have film or a spray to put on there first?
Cool looking item...
Shawn
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I think they used them on DE-blades back when they weren't coated in teflon and god knows what.
Yea, it looks like an English made one I have that is pre war and slightly radio active, I think I read somewhere. They were for DR blades.
Bob
A bit of history on crystal hones:
In the 16th century Hernan Cortez reaches the South American coast. There he finds a mysterious crystal hone, believed to be one of only a few in existence. He then dies mysteriously.
Cut to 20th century US, where Professor Henry Jones and his curiously effeminate newly-discovered son posture through some crudely drawn US 50s stereotypes and then head for Peru, discover the crystal hone in the grave of a conquistador, outwit some post WWII Nazis, and unwittingly unleash an alien space ship that has lain dormant for millennia.
Turns out the crystal hone belonged to one of these aliens, and they were reticent to take off for an intergalactic flight without the ability to hone their razors along the way. So they preferred to sit for thousands of years under the earth in South America waiting for some random to come along and bring the hone back. I mean, who wouldn't do that, right?
Anyway, these crystal hones are quite rare but a whole lot of trouble, as you can see from the above history. Caveat emptor.
James.
My moonshining great uncle couldn't afford a fancy one like that and used the inside of a drinking glass with toothpaste. Good collectable though!
~Richard
I have heard on this forum of guys going through WWII with 1 blade and a glass cup used for keeping it sharp.. Also, I learned to finish hone using a bottle for straights.... Saying that, I quit using the bottle when I got some proper stones, and the stones work better... But, I could see that back in the day if all you had was a rough stone and a bottle... then it would be better than nothing... In fact I was so used to using the bottle, that when I got some Shapton's, I used the glass side instead of the stone side.... Yea, I am a moron..:banghead:
These are the type I was talking about PAIR 1930s ART DECO LILLICRAP'S HONES URANIUM GLASS STROP RAZOR KNIFE SHARPENER | eBay and are similar but with a small amount of uranium in the glass.
Bob
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.
Just enough grit in that toothpaste & the shape of the glass , was probably just enough to refresh an edge on a DE blade for a while. :shrug:Quote:
Originally Posted by Geezer
I have one similar,
Attachment 141969
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........
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.Quote:
Originally Posted by thebigspendur
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....
No, mot "uranium".. From the planet"Uranus"... Much more mysterious...Quote:
Originally Posted by thebigspendur
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.Quote:
Originally Posted by thebigspendur
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?
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.
Well, shut my mouth!
Ya don't say. :angel: That was too good to pass up, couldn't resist. Never leave an opening like that.Quote:
Originally Posted by thebigspendur
Bob
