Thread: Anyone here buy this?...

The Norton razor hone in outstanding condition razors axes sharpening stone | eBay

Nice price, could be an axe guy that bought it. For that money, though, I'd get a 10" escher or a nice Jnat and have leftover money for a few nice razors.

That was JamesT's if you look at the username. I'd have sold it faster than he did if I had it. People obviously love those norton hones. they make a frictionite look cheap, and I have to admit that a frictionite with some water is like a slice of heaven in terms of the feel.

I sold a super punjab last week, and it went to a user in australia who had "stihl" in his name, I get the sense that the competitive axe men have decided these hones are a handy size?

Originally Posted by DaveW

I get the sense that the competitive axe men have decided these hones are a handy size?

There are many other stones that can be had at similar size or cut to size. I wonder what qualities do those Nortons have that make them so desirable?

Perhaps not as many qualities as you might think. Every group or niche have their "fashions" or "lore" that gets developed. I'm in no way saying the Escher is a bad stone, but take that as an example for us. It's OK, quite a nice stone in fact and it serves its purpose, but it has reached almost mythical proportions in terms of price. We used to laugh 6 years ago at someone wanting $400 for a fully labelled y/g of good size. How long would that last at that price now? And there are just as good, if not better, stones for our purposes out there at a fraction of the cost.

No, I suspect these axe fellows are just as susceptible as us to word of mouth, fashion, and creating legend. There's probably some bloke on an axe forum right now showing this off and getting envious congratulations from the members.

James.

Originally Posted by Jimbo

We used to laugh 6 years ago at someone wanting $400 for a fully labelled y/g of good size. How long would that last at that price now?

The Eschers have improved considerably in the last 6 years though ........

OK. What IS the deal with these. They are manmade Nortons. Are they the best hone ever, or what? What is up with the "Axe Man" moniker? Can you sharpen an axe with them? Looks like an old 2 sided barber's hone to me. Do they finish like, better than Eschers? Since I shall obviously never have one to find out, what's the deal? I am looking at the pics of it. Shoot, the lighter side looks like a ringer for a Norton India stone. I Dunno.......
I would just like to know.......

Oh, and PS: I am running downstairs right now to put mine in bubblewrap with a "do not sell until retirement" sticker on it...

James.

I bought one a year or two ago.
It is a nice barber hone, finer than any other I have.
As Sham will be able to confirm, the thing that makes this one a bit special is that it will take an already shave ready Edge, like off of a Y/G Escher finished Edge, and actually improve on it's sharpness.
Weird, I know, but it actually does...
It can be argued that it actually takes the edge too far.

Either way, I will keep mine as part of my retirement plan