Thread: Lapping a barber hone - Recondition

Is it important to have a flat hone? The following pictures show lapping a barber hone if it is required to create a flat surface on which to hone a razor edge.





Draw a pencil grid on the hone and start lapping. Keep lapping until all traces of the pencil grid are removed.







continued:

Once the hone is flat you can proceed to polish and re-condition the surface with finer and finer grits.







To help re-condition the surface of the hone, Vaseline or other types of compounds can be used. I use my own dressing which is comparable to this to restore surface cohesion. Synthetic Multi-Purpose Grease



Leave in a warm place to saturate surface for 12 to 24hrs.. Wipe off residue with clean cloth.



Vintage barber hones can exhibit shrinkage. Hones surfaces can also show signs crazing or cracking. Even modern synthetic hones will display signs of shrinkage over the months and years. This can be attributed to some different factors.



Keep your hones stored away from heat sources, U.V. light and chemical exposure. With your Barber hone properly prepared and restored, it will provide many years of use. Hope this may help some.
Mike

Nice little tutorial thank you

Great tutorial, just the info I've been looking for. May I ask how far gone can a hone be and still be useful? If crazing can't be felt, is it still good? How about softening of the hone? Is a little soft still useful for a hone, not crumbly, just seems to want to self slurry more than expected of a barber hone.

I followed this tutorial a few years ago to recondition a barbers hone I had found. It worked out very well and I was pleased. Thank you for posting it here.

Bob

If the hone is soft it is toast for finishing. Auto-slurry is NOT something you want happening on a barber hone.