Thread: barber hone?

My Father is a bit of a pack-rat and recently "found" an old hone, it is marked True Edge along the top of the hone. I believe it is a barbers hone. What is the proper technique for using this type of hone? Is there anything I should do prior to trying my hand at using it, treating it etc? If I could afford to buy Lynn's dvd I'd shell out for it in a heartbeat, but right now I'm totally broke, so my only recourse is to ask stupid questions, so please bear with me guys.

The great thing about barber hones is that they can be used dry, with water, or with lather. I prefer to use mine with water or lather, just because it prevents the hone from getting dirty. Most barber hones are medium to fine cutters; your best way to find out what type of hone you have is to use a razor that you don't really care about and do about 5 round trips with the hone and then strop and do the thumb test or the hanging hair test.
As far as treating it goes, if it looks really dirty or clogged, you could get some GoJo and apply it. The pumice will clean the cutting surface of the hone. That's about all I can add, I'm sure other members will add some more information on it. Let us know how it works for you!

I'm sure it's going to be fairly dirty, it does feel gritty, not rough like a stone, but gritty like sand or dirt. It has been years since it has been used, and he dug it out of the barn where it was stored. Once clean, what type of angle should I use?

I cleaned mine with go joe and it works well. I have two of them and after cleaning them I let them dry and lapped them together. The barber hone is a real fine grit. It is used to refresh a razor between honing. i am sure that you could sharpen a razor with them but it will take a long time. They are definitely not quick cutters, but I will use one after i hone on a Norton to polish the edge.
Phil

so it's more of a tool to use in between honing when the razor starts to pull a little bit, if I'm understanding correctly. Just to touch the blade up a bit.

yes, thats correct. Unlike the other posters I would not try to use a barber hone to hone a razor from scratch and actually don't believe you could, but I do love barber hones. Then again, with a few months . . .

I actually did hone up my first straight with a fine cutting barber hone to shaving sharpness. Needless to say, it was a learning experience...I learned to use coarse, medium, and fine hones!

how long did it take you? I can imagine that was a learning experience.

I think it took me somewhere around the neighborhood of about 40 minutes or so, and around 200 or so round trips on the hone. I stropped and checked the edge after each 20 passes once it started feeling a little bit "sticky" on my thumb. After that day, I bought a Col. Conk razor stone, and I use that in conjunction with two barber hones and a Chinese waterstone to great effect.

Thats very fast . . . congrats! The nice thing about slow hones is you learn a good stroke and don't make dramatic mistakes with one stroke.