What was used back then?

I was wondering about something. These days we have the Chosera 1000K, The Shapton glass and professional series 1000K. The King 1000K and others stones in the 1000 range to set a new bevel, but what kind of stones were used let's say in the 1800's or early 1900's to set a new bevel? I see these days we have a 1000k for the bevel and then 4000k, 8000k, 12000k and then some people finish with a chromium oxide, a Jnat, Thuringian. Please don't get me wrong I love sharpening stones, I own a lot, but I am just curios.

Here's a stab into the misty gray: Our familiar "grit-rated" synthetic water stones only go back so far. What existed before man-made rocks? Natural rocks of course.

Following that line of reasoning I'd expect that the further one goes back in time, the more local the sharpening stone source would be to the sharpening of razors.

A real wealth of European natural stone information including history is found ... can't find it (4 searches no coffee) ... where a maker of Coticules list a link to a series of 4 long PDF articles. Very good and thorough information.

I'm sure there are razors in service that have never seen a synthetic stone. We tend to forget the hardships of the other half of the world.

Good question jelajemi, I would guess it varied as much as it does today. A soft Arkansas, Hindostan and some J-nats can set a bevel. Here is an early collection of razor hones found in Missouri. Were they used as a “progression” together? The Dalmore Blue pictured is dated 1822 and while it would take some time to set a bevel properly it can be done. The two small coticles that came with this set are finer finishers.

Here in KC we are lucky to have a time capsule that was discovered not long ago A Historic Kansas City Attraction &laquo The Arabia Steamboat Museum - A Historic Kansas City Attraction Arabia Steamboat Museum – Kansas City. They have many exhibits one of which is a collection of Str8 razors. Sharpening wheels and stones and many hewing tools also were on board. One stone of the exhibit looks to be a huge coticule. It’s behind glass so I could not get a closer look. It’s fun to think about, keep searching and post your results.
Mike

coarse
http://i.imgur.com/KdEw1vk.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/kh57JhT.jpg

finer
http://i.imgur.com/cqYDuu1.jpg

finest
http://i.imgur.com/kyjqwy5.jpg

-In Roman times, there was an expedition sent to "Belgica" to fetch the newly discovered stone that worked well with all kinds of sharp instrument, The Coticule.
-In 1770 Jean-Jacques Perret a French Master Cutler, in his books on shaving, and cutlery, talks about how to choose a coticule and how to use them, to set a bevel, a finish with them.

http://straightrazorpalace.com/honin...ds-1771-a.html

Great question.
Whenever we are talking about old barbers or "those good old times of straight razor" everyone is thinking about Eschers, Coticules and other fine finishers, not anything coarser.
If lower grits were used for bevel setting, I'm not sure if they were actually in the form of stones. A stone was always more expensive than some emery powder. And, I suppose the powder would also be faster. With a very flat surface to hone with the powder, and if you chose the correct grit, you have a stone that could perform nicely even with today's standards.

And, of course, there was the brick choice. Find a flat brick, and hone on it. They do a decent job, possibly faster than many natural stones, and definitely cheaper. They could damage the edge, but it's better to take your chances than to hone on a Thuringian for 10 hours. I guess this was the first man made hone.
But, was this practiced? Or, when the razor needed some edge restoration they would throw it away and get a new one?

The choice of brick grits was endless, from a fine rouge to a coarse emery were determined mostly by the local iron bearing (red)clays and the firing temperature that was determined by where the brick sat in the stacks inside the huge brick kiln.

I was around in the late 50's when the local brick kilns were firing every couple of weeks. The kilns were built up to the size of a small house and mostly torn down and then rebuilt for every firing. The local women screaming about dirt and the depletion of local suitable clay finally made an end to them. The smoke from the wood fires was produced in prodigious amounts for a couple days during firings. At one time there were three massive brick yards here and they helped build many cities along the Mississippi Valley.

~Richard