Thread: Expensive Norton barber hone?

They are quite special as far as barber hones go.
I wouldn't hesitate calling it as good as many of the usual finishers we talk about around here, and a whole lot faster.

Here's a couple pics of mine

Originally Posted by Birnando

They are quite special as far as barber hones go.
I wouldn't hesitate calling it as good as many of the usual finishers we talk about around here, and a whole lot faster.

Here's a couple pics of mine

Those are very nice Birnando but I bet they were not as expensive as the one on eBay. Sure, I bet they are more than the conventional hones but these are meant to be barbers hones but I still think the one on eBay is a little pricey.

Originally Posted by engine46

Those are very nice Birnando but I bet they were not as expensive as the one on eBay. Sure, I bet they are more than the conventional hones but these are meant to be barbers hones but I still think the one on eBay is a little pricey.

I'm afraid not mate
I paid about $950 for mine, if I remember correctly.
I've seen them go for above $1250 actually, and have had a couple questions from members here to sell it to them for about a grand.

Originally Posted by Birnando

I'm afraid not mate
I paid about $950 for mine, if I remember correctly.
I've seen them go for above $1250 actually, and have had a couple questions from members here to sell it to them for about a grand.

WOW, my bad. I have never seen any go that high before but I've been wrong before & not afraid to admit it! Sorry my friend! So then actually that is a good price for that one.
Steve

Yep lots of barbers hones go cheap just not those if you can find them. Tc

As a group these axe men, or at least the ones down here, are quite susceptible to suggestion and peer pressure.

I propose we start a concerted push to convince one or two of the more successful of the Aussie axe men that, while the Nortons are OK, they'd be far better off using whatever it is I have a lot of sitting around in my storage boxes...

James.

I have to admit that, until Birnando told of his hone, I thought the "racing axe" stories where all tongue in cheek.

There are a lot of buyers for those hones. A toolmaker asked me to sell a pile of frictionites and super punjabs for him a few years ago, and I did. They all went to australia. When I tried to list them at 80% of what I expected to get, and without international shipping, I only sold one. When I opened them to international shipping, a single guy in australia who was reselling them bought all of them for a pretty stiff price (meaning he was getting a stiffer price in country).

Every time I listed a couple and he bought them, he said "if you have more, let me know. I'm interested"

I thought I had a domestic buyer in wisconsin before I opened them to international shipping, but when I got the paypal payment, the shipping address was wisconsin and the payment address was australia (as in a proxy address to be able to buy things that were US domestic only).

I don't know what they do to hone their axes when they have a lot of time, but in between runs, they take having a good dry hone pretty seriously. The buyer described most of his customers as amateurs, and that the axe events were like community based/local and even at that level, people were pretty competitive.

I've never scored one of those, but I remember Sham had one for awhile and he said it was a great final finisher for razors. That surprised me since I know they are coveted by the ax men.

I'll have to revise my statement about them not being that fine, if sham says they're a great finisher, then they must be.

I like the frictionite sort of as a comfortably dull, but slightly sharpener than most mediocre coticules kind of edge. Since it does eventually settle in, I guess it could probably be driven to excellent fineness.

Which leads me to wonder if the axe-man is really that fine (the norton) or if it's just pretty fine but very hard, thus allowing the particles to dull and polish well.

The trouble with the frictionite is that on a big one, especially, they feel so good when you put a little water on them and use them to hone that holding yourself to 5 strokes per side is impossible. They have like a soft natural stone feel but without being soft.