Thread: Van Camp velvet edge

Has anyone heard of a van camp barber hone. I found one at an antique shop. Can they be shaved off of or used to touch up razors?

I don't know of that brand, but there are probably dozens out there that I have never heard of. Barber hones vary in quality. A photo would help. If it is in decent condition, then it will probably refresh a razor, if you know how to. I collect a few barber hones but rarely use them to maintain my razors. If you are in search of a stone to maintain your razors, then maybe you should examine others before making a purchase.

Here is a link to help guide you;

Category:Hones - Straight Razor Place Library

Originally Posted by Hirlau

I don't know of that brand, but there are probably dozens out there that I have never heard of. Barber hones vary in quality. A photo would help. If it is in decent condition, then it will probably refresh a razor, if you know how to. I collect a few barber hones but rarely use them to maintain my razors. If you are in search of a stone to maintain your razors, then maybe you should examine others before making a purchase.

Here is a link to help guide you;

Category:Hones - Straight Razor Place Library

here is a pic of what I have

Nice looking stone, thanks for sharing it. It should be fine for touching up your razors.

thank you hopefully it works out great!

there is so much out there that has been packaged and sometimes embossed for this company or that one it gets pretty hard to tell where it came from. A little experimenting goes a long ways. As long as it is sound give er a go.

So I still haven't gotten my new dovo professional honed, but my inpatients kicked in and was dying to try out a shave. So I spent some time on this barber hone and got the razor to pop off some arm hairs. Then I stropped her up and gave it a go. Not bad. Much better experience than what I was having with the old vintage razor I tried restoring. Left a little burn afterward but it cut through the hair fairly good. So I bet after I get it honed professionally I will have my first baby bottom smooth shave. Can't wait.

So I took my razor to a guy to hone it. I'm not positive but I think he used the spyderco stones. I stropped it then saved with it and felt better but I'm still not getting that super smooth feeling. Could just be me being new. But I was thinking about trying a couple laps on my van camp and see if it is any better, but scared now cause I paid someone to hone it and I don't want to go backwards. Any suggestions?

if it was honed with tape on the spine and you use the barber hone without tape you will not get any mileage out of indue to the slight change in angle. However if it was honed without tape and you tape it on the barber hoe you will create a slight micro bevel, which is not a bad thing. If it was honed with tape and you use tape on the barber hone it will sharpen the exhausting bevel. So with that logic you should tape it to get mileage out of your effort. Until you know your barber hone you should keep your stroke count low as in 6 to 8 because some of them can be very aggressive. That being said I also think you should give it a couple of shaves to try and establish your technique. Watching a couple of stropping videos wouldn't hurt either.

Thank you for the heads up on the tape I had never thought of it that way. I have no idea if he used tape. I did do about 6-7 laps on it tonight then stropped it, and it shaved quite nicely. The next time it starts to feel like its time to refresh on the hone I will try the tape idea. But for now, I think it's mainly going to be a technique thing and me really finding my groove shaving with a str8 vs a modern multi-blade. Thank you for your advice.

Jamison