Thread: Maintain razor using a barbers hone?

Originally Posted by niftyshaving

How does it hone without lapping (try it first).
It may have a fine and useful polish that you
may wish to keep and enjoy. Or is it too abused
for this....

Haven't tried it , i always thought u had to lap it first before you use any hone, but actually its in extremely good shape( a little too good) it is super smooth to the touch and like i said when i put water on it it wicks it away and its hard to keep water on it , so should i use lather, or oil? sorry for the iphone pics

Take some scotch brite and wash it down good. The old barber who gave me my first Swaty in the '80s used them dry. Get any residual gunk off of it that may have accumulated over the years and try it without lapping. If it works well it won't be an issue and if it doesn't you can always lap it.

I have used them with water as a finisher before I had high grit hones and as a re-touch hone dry. They are a brute to lap unless you have something like a DMTXX so if it was me I would try it cleaned up and as is. I have a long one that I've used (with the x stroke) and never lapped and it works spiffy.

Here are the instructions that came with a NOS Swaty I got awhile ago.

I have used a barbers hone (enders) for many years..I keep the acutal water sharpening stones out in the garage and a barbers hone under the bathroom sink fro touch ups. I have had good luck with the Enders. I haven't used lather though....I just run it under some warm water for a minute or so. I actually think people get a little carried away with stones and hones..They didn't use Japanese water stones back in the day, and still managed to pull off a decent shave....

Originally Posted by Wintchase

I have used a barbers hone (enders) for many years..I keep the acutal water sharpening stones out in the garage and a barbers hone under the bathroom sink fro touch ups. I have had good luck with the Enders. I haven't used lather though....I just run it under some warm water for a minute or so. I actually think people get a little carried away with stones and hones..They didn't use Japanese water stones back in the day, and still managed to pull off a decent shave....

Had more money in the bank too.

Originally Posted by thewatermark

Haven't tried it , i always thought u had to lap it first before you use any hone, but actually its in extremely good shape( a little too good) it is super smooth to the touch and like i said when i put water on it it wicks it away and its hard to keep water on it , so should i use lather, or oil? sorry for the iphone pics

+1 on comments by JimmyHAD

No oil. Lather is good so is just clear water.
It should be super smooth to the touch, that is a good thing.
I do not have a Swaty the good ones are supposed to be super
smooth.

So first give it a cleaning and try it.

Old barber hones are made of fired clay and stuff.
A lot like a common flower pot.

Ceramic making is interesting... ceramics can have a surface
slip that is much finer than the bulk of the material.
They can also be full of "grog" or even sand to prevent shrinking
and cracks. Depending on how well milled and classified
the grog (think filler) is the inside of an old ceramic hone
can differ drastically from the surface clay slip.

Apparently lots of people do lap their barber hones and it
works well for them.... but if you are lucky and have a well
conditioned near ideal surface there is no value in risking
damage to it.