Thread: What I missing about frictionite jones

Ok so what's the deal. I see 2 on the bay right now. One for just under $200 and another one for $300. It's a man made stone. Why are they so high?

Hone not jones. My stupid phone won't let me edit

It is like a snowball rolling down a hill. Gains momentum and more snow sticks. Guys hype them on shaving forums and it goes from there.

As with a lot of things here I guess.

I definitely don't know much, but I remember reading somewhere that competition lumberjacks use them during competition, and thats why they fetch high dollars, because they are not made any longer. Someone who knows more will be along soon.

I have had one and it is a good barber hone, but not magic by any stretch. Not sure about the lumberjacks with the frictionite. I know they pay crazy money for a two sided Norton barber hone. Routinely goes for $600.00 USD if not for more.

Well Rene, that is good news for me because a have a few. The fine side hits pretty high as a grit equivalent and it produces a very nice edge with only a few strokes. There are a few barbers hones that were head and shoulders above the rest when it come down to the shave. Frictionite 00, Panama, Fenslers Ruby Red, Lakeside Blue just to name a couple off the top of my head. The frictionite 00 is suppose to be number two but there have been tests that have shown others are actually smoother, they just have not received the correct promotion. I'm with Joel in that I doubt it is exclusively wet shavers that are pushing the market. Watch a segment of logger sorts and see what those guys do with those axes and you will know that they are insanely sharp, and they don't have that much time between rounds. My niece is a wood carver and they are always looking for the next thing to touch up an edge on the fly too.

Thanks jimmy. I have plenty to keep me busy. I though about it but no way. I won't touch them at these prices.

Well Shaun your in luck with the prices they are at. I have a bunch of barber hones but never really crazy about them. I do like natural hones

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

I have had one and it is a good barber hone, but not magic by any stretch. Not sure about the lumberjacks with the frictionite. I know they pay crazy money for a two sided Norton barber hone. Routinely goes for $600.00 USD if not for more.

It's the lumberjacks. I sold 6 or 8 frictionites last year, and they all went to a guy in australia who was selling them to people for local lumberjack competitions. the guy said that they were used during the competitions (as opposed to before) to touch up axes between runs.

Not one of them went to a shaver, even though I listed them for everyone. I thought one did, because it went to a USA buyer, but the shipping address was in wisconsin and the paypal account was in australia. I tried at first to sell them to the US only, but I got no buyers.

FWIW, I sold all of them (most of them NOS frictionites and super punjabs) for BINs of $180-$225, with the ones on the low end being those that were used a little. The guy who bought them said "let me know if you have any more", of course I don't, and that's the last I talked to him.

The only problem with the sales was that I did them as a favor for someone else who had bought them for $6 each in the 1970s, and thus I sent all of the proceeds from the sale to him, too. He's a friend, of course.

They are a nice barber hone, really nice and like an escher, they are consistent from one stone to the next. They are super luscious as a final stone for carving tools. I kept (and paid for) an 821/825 8 inch bench stone set from the guy I sold the hones for, but I haven't used them for razors much. They have a fantastic feel when you use them, though, but the edge they create is like any other finisher. The same axe man told me he'd take them, too, if I ever want to sell them. The real reason I keep them is the old "well, i don't use them, but if I sold them I'd have trouble replacing them" line of crooked logic.

(lesson to be learned here is if you have one, open it to international sales if you list it on ebay. Same with the norton axe man barber hone if you ever come across one).

Just a nice piece of men made stone, i really like mine, is it worth 300usd i dont think so, would i buy it for 100? Yes i would ;-)