The barber hone was from a company that hold barber and shaving supplies made for them. They sold very good products. SRD razors and hones are excellent, I expect that your barber hone will be as well. If you are interested in barber hones Modine has been doing a lot of work on establishing grit equivalence on them at http://www.razorandstone.com - The Front Page The general rule with barber hones is start with 4-6 strokes and check it. They can be very aggressive and will over hone easily.