Thread: vintage hones with a chipped edge

A week or so ago I naught myself a old pike hone. It looks like it was never used or at most very rarely. But due in part to its age and unknown storage conditions all those years it picked up two chips on the edges one on each side.
My question to those seasoned in this matter is this. Do I flatten the edges down ,leave the hone alone, or some other option? Is the stone save-able

Pics will be key to good advise. Little chips? The sides can be beveled on the corners.

Chips are negative honing spaces. They usually cannot harm the blade. If they bother you, you can round over the edges of the chips by doing the equivalent of chamfering an edge by wrapping wet/dry sandpaper around a pencil (or smaller rod depending on the size of the chips) and rounding over the edges of the chips.

Originally Posted by honorakr

A week or so ago I naught myself a old pike hone. It looks like it was never used or at most very rarely. But due in part to its age and unknown storage conditions all those years it picked up two chips on the edges one on each side.
My question to those seasoned in this matter is this. Do I flatten the edges down ,leave the hone alone, or some other option? Is the stone save-able

the pike swaty has a chip mid way down on either sides.

You won't have much trouble with chips that are on the opposite side from the one you're working on. You may hang the edge on chips on the side of the stone that the razor is on, though. Given your picture, I'd round the chip on the right side of that pike swaty off by rounding the edge of the stone, and I'd leave the ones on the left alone until or unless they cause a problem. The one on the right is fairly small. Makes me gnash my teeth when I run a razor over one of those and feel it clicking as it goes over it.

Yes, do bevel or round those chip off, I prefer to round off. As said they can catch and ruin an edge.

If you do not have a Diamond Plate use a piece of 220 or 325 wet and dry wrapped around a hard flat surface, or an old file.

You will lose a little bit of stone face but it is worth the aggravation.

You can also flatten the stone face with wet and dry, do not remove too much material, some barber hones get very soft in the middle. You want it smooth, clean with Simple Green and Scotch Brite sponge.

Those are very nice and fine Barber Hones and can be used to finish a razor. Use lite pressure, they can cut quickly.

I rounded the corners with my norton flattening stone.Haven't gone with a higher grit to smooth it out yet