Thread: Barber hone lapping.

Picked up an old barber hone today real cheap from a local shop. I'm not sure how practically useful it will be but I loved the packaging.
My question is should I use the same lapping methods for this as my Nortons? Maybe try something a little less aggressive?
Thanks.

Most barber hones are really hard to lap. But if it is dished you'll have to. I use sandpaper on a kitchen worktop.

I recently did mine with a 400 grit diamond plate. It took awhile these old hones are very hard. YMMV

I've used the sandpaper on tile and also just a dmt coarse. the wet/dry paper i think works better if the hone needs lots of work. but if you use a diamond plate use it under water, place the diamond in the bottom of your kitchen sink add a few inches on warm water and with mild pressure begin lapping the hone ... you will be a while most likely.

As long as there are no major chips on the face or other things that might impede proper honing, I wouldn't try to lap it at all. Just a good cleaning with some scotch-brite should be all it needs. It would ruin some barber hones to try and lap them.

I find that you can tell how flat one is by the pattern of the water on it when you hone. If the water spreads out flat and evenly across the surface then your barber hone is flat.

Hey there

I used a Diamond plate, then used finer grit sand paper to get rid of the scratches. A tip ... get a wire brush to clean the barber hone residue from the diamond plate ... it is REAL hard to get off. Do it under running water too to make the process easier. You can get a diamond plate that will lap that barber hone for around £6 from the bay.

Good luck

Carl.

The surface of most barber's hones is very hard. Different grits are attainable by what is used to lap one in the final stage. Some were made and advertised with different grits on each side by using this method. Same stone, different grits! It is easy to see how a barbers hone responds by lapping it with different flatteners. Very interesting! JMHO

Originally Posted by sharptonn

The surface of most barber's hones is very hard. Different grits are attainable by what is used to lap one in the final stage. Some were made and advertised with different grits on each side by using this method. Same stone, different grits! It is easy to see how a barbers hone responds by lapping it with different flatteners. Very interesting! JMHO

I did notice this. After lapping with 320 the hone was VERY aggressive. I could have probably set a bevel with it. I moved up two more progressions to 1200 and it calmed down significantly.

As has been stated they are usually so hard and you can easily ruin a good swatty by finishing at a grit more coarse than the swatty is which isn't hard to do as there are few lapping. Media which are that fine. If the current surface is badly pitted however maybe some fine silicone carbide will do the trick.