Thread: What should I do with these hones?

Alright I need some direction with two hones I picked up. Is anybody familiar with them? Any recommendations before I dive in this weekend and have at them with my DMT?

#1 Cosmos Hone
Oval, Black and very light. It almost feels like plastic, but it is obviously ceramic. The finish is very shiny. The top has very shallow scratches. The bottom has a chip and deeper scratches.

It's so light that I am concerned that if I lap it I'll destroy the finish. My current plan is to lap the bottom which is obviously useless as a hone currently. After seeing the results of the bottom I would decide what I want to do with the top. If anyone is familiar with one of these hones let me know

#2 Brown Hone
Rectangular, Brown with obvious crazing. This is heavy. Feels like ceramic but could also be natural stone. Crazing on all sides. The cracks do appear to be somewhat wide and deep.

I have restored a couple of hones in the past and they were quite obviously heavy ceramic barbers hones. I just lapped them until they were flat, rounded the edges, and marinated them in Vaseline and they work great.

Here is a progress update. I have dome some work on them. I have been pretty busy and haven't had the time to finish them just yet. I would probably use oil on these both when they are done.

The black hone is turning out very nice. It was so much lighter than I am used to I expected it to be porous. It's actually pretty solid. I worked it last using a 600 grit DMT. Once I remove most of these scratches it should be a great hone.I ran a few restoration razors I have been working on over it and it looks like it will be a decent finisher for a barber hone.

The brown hone I believe is ceramic. As the DMT starts working the surface, I am seeing several small pits. I'm going to keep going and see what I end up with. I tested a few blades on it so far and it is very hard. If I can get past the pits it would be a good finisher also.

The Cosmo looks like ones of those hones which contains F4 Turkish Emery....

The other one reminds me on the Frictionite Material....

Nothing more i can add here....

The cosmos is probably a shellac binder hone also. They are light but harder to lap and load the DMT in areas.